Lahmacun (Turkish Pizza)
These pizzas make an interesting and unique party food. If you’re really adventurous, you can make them on the grill for the beginning of a backyard barbecue to accompany some kofta or kebabs. Just make sure your grill is clean and oiled, Brush the top of the dough with olive oil, flip it onto the grill and peel off the parchment paper. Cook about 2-3 minutes until browned and starts to bubble. Turn and add your topping quickly, make sure it’s easily spreadable, be careful, it’s hot! You could also put the dough on a platter and spread the topping and replace back on hot grill. Cook 3-4 minutes or until the meat is cooked. Make sure to spread it as thin as possible. If you are grilling your Lahmacun, rolling smaller, individual sizes is probably the easiest way to handle them.
I love to make really cool food to take to work for lunch, but these did not reheat well. They were dryer than I would have liked. They still tasted amazing, but so much better fresh. In this case, I would recommend eating them freshly baked, they are crispy and soft at the same time!
Lahmacun (Turkish Pizza)
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 package Bread dough Thawed if frozen
For the Topping
- 2 tbsp Tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
- 1/4 tsp Ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp Sweet Paprika
- 1/8 tsp Ground cinnamon
- 3 oz. Ground lamb
- 2 Cloves garlic, minced
- 1 Small onion, grated
- 1/4 Bell pepper, any color, minced
- 1/2 Serrano chile, stemmed, seed
- salt
Instructions
Make the Lahmacun
- Put a pizza stone in bottom third of oven and heat oven to 475°. You want it really hot. Break off balls of dough about the size of a tennis ball. Use a rolling pin to roll dough into a 10" disk or oval on a piece of parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine oil, tomato paste, parsley, cayenne, cumin, paprika, and cinnamon and stir vigorously with a fork. Stir in lamb, garlic, tomatoes, onions, and chiles and season with salt; set topping aside.
- Spoon 3–4 tbsp. topping onto dough and using your fingers, spread topping evenly to edges. Season with salt. Holding parchment paper by its edges, transfer to baking stone. Bake until dough is golden brown and topping is cooked, 6–8 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough and topping; serve warm or at room temperature. If you don't have a pizza stone, you can just transfer the rolled dough onto a baking sheet. This may take a little longer to cook 10-15 minutes depending on how thin you roll the dough. Sprinkle with salt immediately after removing from the oven.
To Serve
- Either serve as is, with a squeeze of lemon, and maybe even a bowl of freshly made hummus. Or to really make it a meal, top the warm lahmacun with tomatoes, lettuce, parsley and/or onion and a squeeze of lemon juice, as desired. Roll up or eat like pizza!