Lahmacun (Turkish Cypriot-style Pizza) is a traditional Northern Cypriot recipe for a classic pitta-like dish made from a thin flatbread base with a lamb mince, tomato, bell pepper, parsley and spice topping. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Northern Cypriot version of: Turkish Cypriot-style Pizza (Lahmacun).
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Ingredients:
For the dough:
625g Strong White Bread Flour
12g Fresh Yeast (or 7g packet of dried instant yeast)
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tsp Fine Sea Salt
1 tsp Caster Sugar
350ml Lukewarm water
For the lahmacun topping:
375g Lamb Mince
2 Plum Tomatoes
1/2 Red bell Pepper
1/2 Bunch of flat-leaf Parsley
8g Turkish Chilli Flakes
60g Tomato Purée
3 garlic Cloves
15g Hot Pepper Paste (Turkish product called Aci Biever Salcasi)
75g Lamb Suet, minced
1/2 Brown Onion
1 tsp sea Salt
2 tbsp Sunflower Oil
freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
Method:
To prepare the dough: combine the flour, sugar, salt, yeast and olive oil in a bowl. Mix with your fingers then begin adding the water until completely incorporated. Mix everything until the ingredients come together as a dough.
Turn this dough out onto a lightly-floured work surface, kneading for 8–10 minutes, adding more water if too dry and more flour if the dough is tacky. By the end the dough should be glossy, smooth and elastic.
Divide the dough into pieces about 85–100g in weight. Shape these into balls then arrange on a greased baking tray and cover with greased clingfilm. Transfer to the refrigerator and store until needed (it will keep over-night).
For the topping: Coarsely chop the tomatoes, parsley, onion and garlic. Combine in a blender, season to taste with black pepper then process to a coarse paste. Transfer the mixture to a fine-meshed sivee, rinse this mixture with water then press with the back of a spoon to remove all the excess liquid.
Turn the solids into a bowl with the Turkish chilli, suet, salt, tomato purée, hot paste and sunflower oil, mixing thoroughly to combine. Now add the lamb mince, mixing to combine with the other ingredients.
When ready to cook, pre-heat your oven to its highest setting, placing the rack in the centre of the oven.
To assemble the lahmacun: take a ball of the dough an set on a generously floured work surface. Using a rolling pin roll into a thin circle, moving regularly as you do so and adding more flour as required- it’s super important the dough can move freely on the surface before we add the mince.
Now, press the lamb mince mixture over the dough leaving some areas of dough exposed around the crust. You need to make sure the lamb mince layer is as thin as possible and remember to keep moving the dough to ensure it’s not sticking as you press the mince onto it.
Transfer the lahmacun to floured pizza tray then pop in the centre of your pre-heated oven. Bake for 1 1/2-2 minutes, rotating the lahmacun as required.
Remove the first lahmacun from the oven and replace with the next flatbread. Squeeze some lemon juice over the lahmacun and top with picked parsley and sliced red onions before rolling up and serving. Continue this way until all the lahmacun have been prepared and served.
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