Turkish Lahmacun Recipe: Easy & Homemade
Make homemade lahmacun: a thin round dough topped with spiced ground lamb, tomato, onion, and parsley, baked on a hot stone until the meat browns.
Lahmacun is a Turkish street food: a round, thin piece of dough topped with ground meat, tomatoes, onions, parsley, black pepper, and isot (red chili pepper), then baked until crisp. At home you mix the spiced topping, roll the dough thin, and bake it on a hot stone for about 7 minutes until the meat browns.
It is a favorite lunchtime snack in Turkey and one of the most common foods found at restaurants. Turkish people put parsley, onion, a little tomato, and lots of lemon in their lahmacun and make it a wrap. If you want to taste the real thing, see our guide to the best lahmacun in Istanbul, and for more home cooking browse our Turkish recipes.
Lahmacun recipe
Makes 8
Ingredients:
Spicy Lamb Topping
- 230 gr medium-lean lamb, ground twice
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 3 plum tomatoes, finely diced
- ½ bunch finely chopped fresh parsley
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon red pepper
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- Salt
- ½ cup cold water
- Pita bread dough
- Cornmeal, for dusting
- Butter
Method:
- To prepare the lamb topping, place all the topping ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Season with salt.
- Preheat the oven to 235°C. Place a pizza stone or quarry tile on the middle rack of the oven.
- Dust your fingers with flour. On a cool, lightly floured work surface (preferably marble), turn out the pita dough once it has risen to double its size. Gently punch out the air and roll out the dough into a cylinder and cut it into 8 equal pieces with a sharp knife. Shape each piece into a ball, then press each ball with the heel of your palm to flatten it. Loosely cover the dough with plastic wrap or a damp cloth and let them rest in a warm place for about 20 minutes.
- To assemble, flatten each piece of dough with the heel of your palm once again. Using a rolling pin, roll out each piece of dough into a 10-inch circle. Divide the spicy lamb mixture among the rounds of dough, spreading it thinly and leaving a ½ inch border around the edges.
- Sprinkle cornmeal over the pizza stone or on your baker’s peel. Bake the lahmacuns in batches for about 7 minutes each batch, until the meat is browned. Remove the breads from the oven and brush the edge of each one with melted butter. Garnish and serve warm or at room temperature.
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