Lahmacun or Lahma B’ajin or Meat Pizzas

This is a hotly contested dish as to origin, some say Turkish others say Syrian etc. etc. Suffice it to say it is beloved in the Middle East. If you want to skip the hassle of making the pizza dough, you can always just buy it but I have a simple recipe below which is delicious. What makes the meat topping interesting and different is the addition of tamarind syrup which gives a lovely tartness to the flavor of the meat. You can cheat and use pomegranate molasses which gives that hint of sour but the flavor is a little different.

If you make little pizzas out of them (which I particularly like) you can serve this as a snack or first course. If you make a focaccia like object out of it it can also be a first course or it can be served more generously as a main. I usually make both kinds since there are those who really love them and want bigger portions (Ori my grandson, I’m thinking of you. He kept sneaking back to the kitchen for just one more). Either way, I serve tehina (tehini) on the side to dip in since you just gotta (recipe on the blog here: My darling eggplant with luscious tehina dressing )

It’s a hit with both young and old and when I know a bunch of the grandchildren are coming who are picky, I use a more scant amount of the tamarind. If you want a more powerful taste of it, add another teaspoon or two but it’s strong in flavor so beware.

So start off by making the pizza dough and if you have bread flour or pizza flour it does give a slightly better chew but you can use the AP flour as well. Gather your ingredients:

If you have a bread making machine, easy peasy just put the yeast and sugar in first and put flour on top of that and only then the salt (don’t let it touch the yeast, it retards yeast growth) let it stir it together then dribble in the oil and water till a ball is formed.

If preparing in a mixer, use the beater and mix the dry ingredients together as above, then put the oil and water in and flick on and off just till mixed, switch to a dough hook and knead till a smooth ball is formed. Oil lightly with spray or regular oil and cover right in bowl and let rise till doubled in bulk. In bread machine, let it finish the kneading cycle (only knead the dough) and leave closed to rise in the warmth of the machine till doubled.

While the dough is rising, prepare the meat mixture. Now there’s debate about this too, to precook the meat or not, but I firmly come down on the side of no precooking since the high heat of the oven to bake the pizza dough cooks the meat fully and you don’t want it to be dried out.

You are adding fried chopped onion to the mixture (not fried dark, rather light brown) and the tamarind syrup and tomato paste and (not shown) chopped parsley and salt and pepper. That’s it! Mix thoroughly to incorporate the ingredients.

You can add more tamarind syrup if you wish but I stuck with 2 tablespoons when the kids were over, 3 tablespoons when adults come over (who aren’t fussbudgety about their food 🙂 ). K, set aside till dough has risen.

The dough should be nice and pliable and not sticky. Then deflate the dough, and depending how big or small you want your pizzas, divide the dough up. I used a kilo of flour which is approximately 7.5 – 8 cups of flour which gives you a large quantity of dough. I recommend making the whole lot since you can make these and freeze them or freeze the dough and make them at a later date or use half the dough to make regular pizza. The dough will get used up, no worries. Preheat your oven to 425 F/220 C.

Take a golf ball sized lump of dough like so:

and using a pastry mat or a sheet of parchment paper take a bunch of “golf balls” and flatten into rounds (if a drop sticky, sprinkle mat with a bit of flour) like so:

Do this with all or half the dough, as you wish. Place on parchment lined rimmed baking sheet.

The rounds don’t have to be perfect, no worries.

Now take a healthy tablespoon or more to cover the tops of the pizza rounds till the ends.

If it looks too skimpy to you, dollop a bit more on. Now don’t let them rise again and make sure your oven is truly hot and ready to roll. If you wish, you can decorate them with pine nuts, I skip that for the kids and put some on for the adventurous adults.

Pop the tray into the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes or till meat is browned and pizza rounds are light brown on the bottom. You just may have to taste one to be sure! Heh, that’s my excuse, anyway. Serve to the lucky people around your table, whether on Shabbat or whenever you are in the mood for a fabulous treat, and don’t forget to serve tehina on the side!

Lahmacun or Lahma B’ajin or Meat Pizzas

Dough:
2 tablespoons instant dry yeast (make sure it’s fresh!)
1 kilo (7.5-8 cups) 00 or pizza/focaccia flour but you can use AP flour too
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon salt
600 ml (2.5 cups) warm water
60 grams (1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon) olive oil
Spray oil or regular oil to coat dough (if using mixer)

Meat topping:

1 kilo (2.2 pounds) of chopped meat
1 small to medium onion peeled chopped and sautéed in olive oil till light brown
3-4 tablespoons tomato paste or 100 grams
2-3 tablespoon tamarind syrup or pomegranate molasses
1/4 cup or small bunch finely chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
a few pine nuts for garnish (optional)

Prepare the dough in a bread machine or a mixer. In the bread machine on the kneading cycle, put the yeast and sugar in first and put flour on top of that and only then add the salt (don’t let it touch the yeast, it retards yeast growth) let it stir it together then dribble in the oil and water till a ball is formed. If preparing in a mixer, use the beater and mix the dry ingredients together as above, then put the oil and water in and flick on and off just till mixed, switch to a dough hook and knead till a smooth ball is formed. Spray top with spray oil or regular oil, cover right in bowl and let rise till doubled in bulk. In bread machine, let it finish the kneading cycle and leave closed to rise in the warmth of the machine till doubled.

While dough rises, prepare meat mixture by combining chopped meat, sauteed onion, tomato paste, tamarind syrup and finely chopped parsley with salt and pepper. Set aside till dough is ready.

Preheat oven to 425 F/220 C.

Deflate the dough and take a pinch of dough the size of a golf ball (I weighed them between 35-40 grams but you can make them bigger or smaller) and on a piece of parchment paper or pastry mat, flatten dough balls into rounds. Take a generous heaping tablespoon of meat mixture and cover tops of rounds of dough till the edges, using up all the dough and all the meat mixture. Do NOT let rise again but immediately place in hot oven for 10 -12 minutes or until light brown on the bottom and the meat topping is fully cooked