Lahmacun (Turkish Pizza)

Crispy, flatbread Turkish pizza, Lahmacun, is fun to eat and a great recipe for a party, since everyone can top their own as they desire.

What is Lahmacun?

Lahmacun is also known as Turkish Pizza (or Armenian Pizza). It brings a cracker thin crust together with a flavorful (and sometimes spicy) minced meat topping.

While lahmacun (pronounced LA-ha-MA-chewn) may look like pizza, it is very different. There is no cheese. It is traditionally spicy. And, the dough is SUPER thin. It’s also eaten rolled up, burrito style.

It might not be your average pizza, but like Polish Pizza, Turkish pizza is the perfect street food. It’s super portable but also incredibly flavorful and satisfying.

How to eat Turkish Pizza

While the dough and thin layer of topping are important to lahmacun, the toppings for Turkish pizza are just as important. What makes lahmacun a fun meal for a party, is that everyone can top it according to their tastes. Onion, tomato, lettuce, parsley, and lemon are all common garnishes to put atop Turkish pizza. (The most common being the combination of fresh parsley, tomato slices, and a generous squeeze of lemon juice.)

Once the pizza is garnished, it is rolled up (burrito-style) and the devouring can begin. Don’t worry if your lahmacun doesn’t roll perfectly. The ideal crust is crispy, so it should crackle and give you a bit of an uneven roll.

If you are going to stretch your lahmacun as you transfer it to the hot baking sheet, you can top it with a little more beef mixture than is shown above.

Our Lahmacun Recipe

Our lahmacun recipe might look a little intimidating because of the long list of ingredients and steps. But, trust us. The ingredients come together super quickly and the steps just take a lot of words to write out the process. Actually, one of the things that we loved about the lahmacun was how incredibly easy it was to make.

The part that we found most tricky about making lahmacun was stretching the dough thin enough. The dough needs to be as thin as you can get it without tearing, so that it crisps up nice and quick in the oven.

After a couple of tries, we found that the best way to create the perfect, thin crust was to roll the balls of dough out to a comfortable 5×7 inch rustic oval. (Rustic is the key here, lahmacun don’t have to be incredibly precise.)

After topping this 5×7 oval with a nice. even layer of topping, we then transfered it from our work surface to a piping hot baking sheet that we had just taken from the oven. As you remove your dough from your work surface, it is common for it to stretch a bit. So, we used that stretching to our advantage, and deliberately, carefully stretched the dough (to roughly 7×10 inches) as we transferred the pizza to the baking sheet. As we stretched the dough, the layer of topping stretched with the dough, transforming it from an even layer to the nice and rustic, thin layer that we were looking for.

This method resulted in a nice and thin crust that crisped up perfectly and still supported a thin layer of filling. Perfect for topping, rolling, and crunching right into!

4.29 from 21 votes

Print This Recipe

Lahmacun (Turkish Pizza)

Prep Time

1 hr

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

2 hrs

 

Each batch of lahmacun takes roughly 10 minutes to bake. We baked ours two at a time.

Yield: 12 lahmacun

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Turkish

Servings: 6 people

Author: Sarah | Curious Cuisiniere

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Ingredients

For the Flatbread

• 4 ½ c unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp active dry yeast
• 1 ½ Tbsp olive oil
• 1- 1 ¼ c water, warmed to 90F

For the Topping

• 1 green pepper
• 1 red pepper
• 1 onion
• 1 tomato
• 2 garlic cloves
• ¼ c fresh parsley
• ½ lb ground beef (85% lean) or ground lamb
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 ½ tsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp paprika
• ½ - 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper

For Serving (as desired)

• Fresh parsley
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges
• 2 tomatoes, sliced
• Lettuce
• 1 sweet onion, sliced

Instructions

For the Flatbread

1. Mix the flour and yeast in a medium bowl. Add the salt and mix well. Add the oil and mix until well distributed.
2. Add ¾ c of water and mix well. Continue adding a little water at a time until the dough starts to come together.
3. Turn the dough out onto your counter and knead until a soft and supple dough forms, 3-5 minutes.
4. Cover the dough with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 min-1 hour.

For the Topping

1. Process the peppers, onion, tomato, garlic, and parsley in your food processor in batches according to its size. Once the veggies are finely pureed, transfer them to a fine mesh sieve placed over a bowl. Lightly strain the veggie mixture of excess juices. (Reserve the juices for later.)
2. Place the vegetable puree in a large bowl along with the raw ground meat, olive oil, tomato paste, paprika, red pepper flakes (according to your heat preference), salt, and pepper. Mix well until a soft paste forms. (If the mixture looks dry, add a splash of the reserved vegetable juices to the meat mixture.)
3. Cover the meat mixture and let the flavors develop for 30 min.

Putting It All Together

1. Near the end of your resting/rising time, preheat your oven to 450F.
2. Knock back the dough and divide it into 12, roughly even pieces. Roll each piece into a ball.
3. Once your oven is preheated, place a baking sheet into the oven to preheat.
4. On a lightly floured surface, work with two balls of dough at a time. Roll each ball out to roughly 5x7.
5. Spread a scant ¼ c of filling over top of each piece of dough, spreading the filling with your hands or a rubber spatula to cover the entire piece of dough and pressing the filling into the dough. (The topping shouldn’t fall off when you go to move the dough.)
6. Remove the preheating baking sheet from the oven and transfer the topped pieces of dough onto the hot baking sheet. Stretching the dough to a very thin sheet of roughly 7x10 inches as you transfer it.
7. Return the baking sheet to the oven and bake the pizzas for 9-11 minutes, until the edges are starting to turn golden brown.
8. While the first two are baking, make two more pizzas.
9. When the first two pizzas are done, transfer them onto a wire cooling rack, and place the next two pizzas onto the hot baking sheet. Continue rolling, topping, and baking, until all your pizzas have been made.

For Servings

1. Top the warm lahmacun with parsley, tomatoes, lettuce, or onion and a squeeze of lemon juice, as desired. Roll the pizza up and enjoy!

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A pizza party with Sunday Supper

Love pizza? You’re in the right place, because the Sunday Supper crew is sharing a fun collection of pizza recipes today. Thanks to Coleen Hill of The Red Headed Baker for hosting this week’s event!

Appetizers

• Cauliflower Crust Pizza by Monica’s Table
• Cool Veggie and Ranch Pizza Appetizer by Positively Stacey
• Pepperoni Cheese Pizza Sliders by Family Around the Table
• Pizza Beef Wontons by Asian in America
• Pizza Potato Skins by Casa de Crews

Breakfast

• Cinnamon Roll Pizza by Recipes Food and Cooking

Condiments

• Home Canned Pizza Sauce by What Smells So Good?

Desserts

• Caramel Apple Dessert Pizza by The Foodie Affair
• Cheesecake Pizza by The Redhead Baker
• Coconut Macaroon Pizza by Pies and Plots
• Fresh Fruit Pizza by That Skinny Chick Can Bake

Mains

• Bacon Jam, Pear and Butternut Squash Pizza by Caroline’s Cooking
• Bagel Pizzas by And She Cooks
• BBQ Bacon Mango Pizza by Fantastical Sharing of Recipes
• Candy Corn Pizza by Palatable Pastime
• Chicago Deep Dish Pizza by Bottom Left of the Mitten
• Chicken Pesto Calzone by A Day in the Life on the Farm
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• Chicken Vegetable Pizza (Low-Carb) by My Life Cookbook
• Copycat UNO’s Pizza by Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Deep Dish Fondue Pizza by Momma’s Meals
• Deluxe Imo’s Pizza Lasagna Rolls by Crazed Mom
• Easy French Bread Pizza by Confessions of a Cooking Diva
• Everything Pizza Tartin by Sunday Supper Movement
• Fall Veggie Pizza by The Culinary Compass
• Gluten Free Curried Pumpkin Chicken Pizza by Gluten Free Crumbley
• Grilled Pepperoni and Sausage Pizza Wraps by Food Lust People Love
• Hawaiian Pizza Salad by Cricket’s Confections
• Homemade Pan Pizza by Cosmopolitan Cornbread
• Lahmacun (Turkish Pizza) by Curious Cuisiniere
• Lunchtime Pizza Muffins by Jane’s Adventures in Dinner
• Meatball Sub Pizza by Life Tastes Good
• Mexican Pizza by Moore or Less Cooking
• Mexican-Style Corn Tortilla Pizzas by Home Sweet Homestead
• Mom’s Family Style Cavatini by Powered by BLING
• Onion Tart by Wholistic Woman
• Philly Cheesesteak Flatbread Pizza by Family Foodie
• Pizza Grilled Cheese by Eat, Drink and Be Tracy
• Pizza Pot Pies by Brunch-n-Bites
• Pizza Steak Hoagie by The Freshman Cook
• Pizza Toscana by Cooking with Carlee
• Roasted Garlic and Spinach Pizza with Balsamic Onions by Helpful Homemade
• Rustic Bacon & Citrus Pizza by Gourmet Everyday
• Sausage and Peppers Pizza by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Sausage Arugula Pizza by The Bitter Side of Sweet
• Shaved Brussels Sprouts and Bacon Grilled Pizza by Our Good Life
• Spinach and Feta Stuffed Pizza Bread by Mindy’s Cooking Obsession
• Supreme Breakfast Pizza by The Crumby Cupcake
• Taco Dip Pizza by Hardly a Goddess
• Tandoori Chicken Pizza with Fresh Basil and Mozzarella by Sue’s Nutrition Buzz
• The Mac Pizza by Seduction in the Kitchen
• Vegan Margherita Pizza by Simple and Savory

Join the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter on Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat. To get more great Sunday Supper Recipes, visit our website or check out our Pinterest board. Would you like to join the Sunday Supper Movement? It’s easy. You can sign up by clicking here: Sunday Supper Movement.