U couldn’t escape lahmacun thru my childhood. My family’d get it from the right ethnic groups’ shops / restaurants in Skopje, found it almost common as plain bread in Istanbul and Gaziantep, bonded with a Turkish immigrant family over it in Forst. We’ve rarely gotten any in the US, a special treat from random places we found where the taste’s accuracy was a dice roll.
My mom recently worked out a recipe that tastes pretty damn accurate using things we can get from supermarkets, and I’ve copied it here now that I’m learning to make them for the family. We try to make 18 when we do, where my brother and I eat 4, two lil brothers eat 3, and parents eat 2, cuz this is what gets the usual people present most full.
| bread | 18 servings | 9 servings | 6 servings |
|---|---|---|---|
| flour | 7.5 c | 4 c | 2.5 c |
| sugar | 1.5 t | ¾ t | ½ t |
| salt | 1.5 t | ¾ t | ½ t |
| yeast | ¾ t | ½ t | ¼ t |
| water (lukewarm) | 3 c | 1.5 c | 1 c |
☪ Mix, cover, give it rest for 30 min.
| topping | 16-20 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| ground beef | 1 lb | |
| tomatoes | 5 | (cut outside, no seeds, processor chop) |
| onion | 2 | (split, peel, cut in chunks, processor chop) |
| pepper | 4 | (cut outside, no seeds, processor chop) |
| minced garlic | 2 T | |
| tomato paste | 1 T | |
| pepper paste | 1 T | |
| parsley | 2 "handfuls" | |
| paprika | 1 t | |
| cumin | 1 t | |
| black pepper | 1 t | |
| salt | 2 t |
☪ Mix, cover, let sit for at least 30 min. Up to 3 hours outside fridge.
☪ Turn dough into individual 90g balls. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rest for 20 min.
☪ Set oven to 475°F. Roll the dough out onto pans.
☪ Drain liquid from topping bowl
☪ Put 68g of topping on each rolled-out dough, then cook that for 10 minutes.
☪ Stack each finished batch on plate, bread to bread, meat to meat.