Lahmacun

I am so happy to share this recipe with you, which I've been developing for a while. I wish I had lots to say about it, but honestly, I would just love you to make it and see how delicious these lahmacun are. There is nothing quite like beautiful homemade food, and this recipe is proof of that. I froze half of ours, and will just take them out and heat up in the oven, wrapped in foil, for a few minutes. You can watch the method on my new Instagram reel here

INGREDIENTS

For the Dough:

300ml warm water

1 tbsp caster sugar

125ml warm milk

1 sachet (7g) fast action yeast

800g plain white flour

2 tsp salt

50g natural yoghurt

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (+ a little extra)

For the Topping:

4 onions, peeled, roughly chopped
4 large ripe tomatoes
1 large kapya biber / red bell pepper, cored, roughly chopped
1 large sivri biber / green bell pepper, cored, roughly chopped
1 large bunch (50g) fresh parsley, very finely chopped

6 garlic cloves, peeled, finely grated

1 tsp cumin
1 1/4 tsp paprika
1 1/4 tsp  pul biber

2 tbsp tomato puree

2 tbsp Turkish sweet red pepper paste (Tatlı biber salçası)
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
500g 15-20% fat beef / lamb mince

METHOD

For the dough: Pour the water and milk into a large bowl and gently stir in the sugar, followed by the yeast. Let the yeast activate for 5 minutes or so - you will see the bubbles appear.

Sift the flour into a large bowl, stir through the salt, then add in the yoghurt and olive oil, followed by the activated yeast liquid and either stir with a large spoon and flip onto a clean surface to knead by hand for around 10 minutes until the dough is soft, pliable and smooth, or use a mixer with dough hooks for 8-10 mins. 

Rub a little extra olive over the dough, tuck the sides under to form a smooth ball, place it back into the bowl, and cover the bowl with clingfilm and a tea towel and leave somewhere warm and cosy for at least a couple of hours, or even up to three until it doubles in size and bubbles start to appear (anything between 25-35C is a good cosy temp, sometimes I preheat the oven to it’s lowest setting, turn off, then proof the dough in there with the door slightly ajar).

While the dough is proving, make the topping mixture. 

Place the tomatoes in a bowl of hot water, leave for a couple of minutes, then peel off the skins and roughly chop. Blitz the onions in a food processor, then place them into a sieve over a large bowl so excess liquid can drain out. 

Blitz the tomatoes and peppers add them to the sieve too to drain the excess juices. Let the vegetables drain as much as possible, and ease the liquid out by pushing down on them with the back of a large spoon or, preferably, with clean hands while they're in the sieve.

Preheat your oven to the hottest setting and place an overturned baking tray on the bottom of the oven. This will provide the uncooked Lahmacun with a really hot base to crisp up on. Make sure the oven and the overturned tray are fully hot before you cook any of the Lahmacun in there.

Once the dough is bubbly, ready and risen, take it out of the bowl and gently punch it down a little then divide it into 16 equal sized pieces, roughly 80g each and roll into smooth balls on the surface. Cover them with a tea towel so that they don’t dry out.

Take the topping mixture out of the fridge. 

Flour the surface liberally and start rolling out one of the balls into a thin, circular disk, turning at a 45 degree angle each time to you roll, until it’s roughly the size of a dinner plate. Place the thin base on a large piece of baking paper then gently spread 3 desert spoons of the topping across the whole of the base (you can either use your clean fingertips for this, or the back of a spoon but be gently so not to tear the base) leaving a thin perimeter around the edge to allow those parts to bubble and crisp up while they cook. Carefully lift the baking paper with the uncooked Lahmacun up and onto the overturned tray in the oven. Cook for a minute, then open the oven door and carefully and quickly slide the baking paper out from under the Lahmacun, close the oven door and cook for another 2-3 minutes until the edges are crispy.

Once you have the first one in the oven, the trick is to start rolling the others until you've always got one in the oven and another one waiting to go straight in. Stack them on top of each other as they come out of the oven and cover them tightly with foil so that all the lahmacun are fully sealed, and lay a tea towel on top so that they stay hot while the others cook. Serve immediately, keeping the ones you are not eating wrapped in foil.

These are wonderful served with lots of freshly squeezed lemon, sliced onion, fresh parsley and sumac (I like fresh tomatoes and thickly sliced red cabbage in there too), then rolled up and devoured. 

Tips:

•Ensure your oven is on the highest temperature possible to cook the lahmacun.

•Place an overturned oven tray at the bottom of the oven to heat up fully so that it is super hot when you place your lahmacun on it. Crispy bottoms and light crusts all round.

•Once as you open out your lahmacun dough, place it on a piece of baking paper which will make it easier to lift it into the oven.