Lahmacun is an all-time favorite all around Turkey, in most Turkish restaurants around the world, and in street food as well. If you are craving a crispy and delicious lahmacun recipe in the comfort of your own home try out this recipe. The flavors of this Turkish Lahmacun Recipe will definitely be well worth your efforts.
What is lahmacun made of?
Although the exact place and the date of the first lahmacun are not known, many accept that it is of Levant origin, inspired by Babylonians. Basically, lahmacun consists of thin dough with meat on top. The word lahmacun itself is “lahm bi ajin” or “sfiha” from Arabic. It is pronounced as lah-ma-june in Turkish. Lahmacun is made in different variations and popular in the Middle Eastern countries, Armenia and even in South America.
Ingredients of lahmacun filling:
Turkish lahmacun recipe has been around thousands of years, the ingredients reflect this, as they are common and easily accessible. You might have a problem with finding only one of the ingredients which is called isot. It is dried dark berry flakes giving a spicy and aromatic flavor, much needed for the making of the authentic lahmacun. If you cannot find it in your local grocery try online.
- Ground meat: I use beef with about 12% fat. Mixing 50/50 with lamb and beef might be a more traditional choice.
- Tomatoes: best when in season, use ripe ones as possible. If not available you can use canned chopped tomatoes. Reduce salt and add a pinch of sugar, as canned tomatoes tend to have a salty taste.
- Pepper paste: If not available, double the amount of tomato paste. You can order online with this link. Pepper pastes are generally either hot or mild. If you choose the hot version use half the suggested amount in the recipe and perhaps even exclude the red pepper flakes.
- Parsley: Parsley with large flat leaves will be nice-to-have. Parsley is needed adding to the filling and serving in the onion mix as well as a side to lahmacun.
- Onion and garlic: Squeeze out the water of the onion with your hands or using a colander. Put the chopped onions in the colander and press down. The juice of the onion tends to be bitter and the after taste will be much better if you do not skip this step. You can leave out the garlic, as done in many areas around Turkey.
- Other filling ingredients are red pepper flakes, isot, salt and black pepper to taste.
How to make the lahmacun dough?
- According to this Turkish lahmacun recipe, the dough will need an hour to rest, so start with making the dough first.
- You can use all-purpose flour or bread flour, or a mixture of these.
- You can use any type of yeast available. Just make sure to check the expiry date. Use either 5 grams instant yeast or 17 grams of fresh yeast or 7 grams of original dry yeast.
- Even if you will use instant yeast, follow these steps to activate the yeast better:
- Add the milk and the warm water to a measuring jug.
- Put in the yeast as well and whisk until the mixture is bubbly and the yeast is dissolved.
- Cover and set aside for the yeast to activate for 10 minutes.
- Then mix the flour and the salt and start kneading for about 10 minutes.
- You can use a stand-alone mixer for the dough making. Make sure to use the dough hook attachment and work at low-medium speed.
- Be patient in the end you will obtain a soft and stretchy dough.
- Cover and let rest in a warm place. The dough will double in the end of an hour.
Lahmacun dough 
Cut the Lahmacun dough to pieces
Assembling lahmacun?
Once the dough and the filling are ready. Using a rolling pin make flat thin sheets of dough. If you are new to this, start with making smaller ones. Try to make similar shapes and sizes. Make them oval or round. Sprinkle your hands, your worktop, the dough and even your rolling pin with flour to make life easier. Shake off excess flour when you are done.
Then spread some of the filling on top of the dough, including the sides. The filling should be a thin layer, do not put too much filling or else the dough will become soggy.
Place the dough sheet on an oven sheet and then put the stuffing if struggling to move it with the stuffing on top. The lahmacun can touch each other, but should not overlap.
How to cook lahmacun?
The easiest way to prepare lahmacun is to bake. Preheat the oven to high; 245° Celsius (475° F). Place the oven tray in the lowest rack. Lahmacun will cook for around 7-10 minutes, keep a close eye, or it will quickly be too dry. Bake in batches and prepare the next batch while the previous one is in the oven. If you want to serve everyone at the same time once baked, keep the lahmacun in a covered pot/dish. Put the lahmacun in the pot/dish meaty sides facing each other.
How to eat lahmacun?
Traditionally lahmacun is eaten as if a wrap. The best way is to add a few sprigs of fresh parsley and a few sliced onions mixed with chopped parsley and sumac plus a squeeze of fresh lemon. Curl it up and munch. A glass of cold yogurt drink called Ayran will be a great companion. Serve an Ezme Salad with lahmacun to get even more praises.
For Ayran whisk plain yogurt with a pinch of salt and enough cold water to turn it into a drink. Then, for onion mix, just slice the onions and mix with chopped parsley and sumac.
What to do with leftovers?
- If leftover dough, make round small sheets and cook in a skillet, flipping sides to make flatbreads.
- If leftover filling, cook until the meat is cooked for 5 minutes in a skillet, break an egg or two on top, cook a few more minutes until the whites are cooked and the yolk is fluid.
- If leftover lahmacun, you can keep the lahmacun in the fridge for a couple of days, it will get better the next day. Heat in the oven or in a skillet. The microwave will make it dry.
I just love lahmacun, I am happy that my family enjoys this recipe every time. So much that they are willing to wash after me! Hoping this recipe will become a favorite of yours too. Let me know.
Turkish Lahmacun Recipe
Ingredients
Dough
- 500 grams all-purpose flour
- 150 millilitres milk
- 200 millilitres water
- 5 grams instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
Filling
- 300 grams ground beef medium fat, about 12%
- 2 onions unpeeled 250-300 grams
- 2 garlic cloves optional
- 2 tomatoes 250-300 grams
- 40 millilitres olive oil 2½ tablespoons
- 1 pepper 100 grams
- 6-7 sprigs chopped parsley
- 1 teaspoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon pepper paste
- 1 teaspoon isot
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Instructions
Dough
- Start with making the dough, as it needs to rest for an hour.
- Add the milk and the warm water in a measuring jug.
- Put in the yeast as well and whisk until the mixture is bubbly and the yeast is dissolved.
- Cover and set aside for yeast to activate for 10 minutes.
- Then add ¾'th of the flour in a large mixing bowl make a well in the middle and pour in the yeast liquid. Also add the salt on the flour at this stage. Do not put the salt into the yeast liquid as it might stop activation.
- Start kneading with your hands or using the dough hook attachment of your stand mixer. If using the stand mixer use it at medium/low speed if kneading spead is not indicated. Add the remaining flour gradually. With both kneading methods knead about 10 minutes.
- When you obtain a soft dough, that is a bit sticky make one large dough ball.
- Coat with olive oil all around and cover (do not wrap) with a clean kitchen towel or a cling film.
- Set aside in a warm place for about an hour to let the dough grow. If you do not have a warm place, cover with an additional larger towel.
Filling
- You can chop everything using a knife or a food processor. Make sure everything is tiny but not pureed.
- Chop the tomatoes. No need to peel.
- Take out the seeds of the pepper. Chop.
- Peep the onions. Chop. If the onions are too watery squeeze it out to avoid the bitterness.
- Peel the garlic. Chop.
- Rinse and chop the parsley.
- Combine everything into a bowl. Add the spices and the meat. Keep in the fridge until the dough is ready.
Assembly
- When time is up, the dough will be doubled in size. Take the dough onto your worktop. Knead for a minute curling it inwards to get the air out.
- Start pre-heating the oven to 245° Celsius (475° F).
- Cut into 6 equal-sized pieces, make balls and keep covered with a clean kitchen towel. If you choose to make smaller lahmacuns cut accordingly.
- Then one by one grow the dough balls into either round or oval shaped sheets using a rolling pin. Make the sheets thin and equal sized as possible. Sprinkle your hans, the workplace, your dough and your rolling pin with flour if necessary.
- On top spread about a tablespoon and a half of the filling mixture all around in a thin single layer. Do not put too much of the filling, or else it will be difficult to transfer to the baking tray and the dough will become soggy.
- Lay an oven sheet on the baking tray and place the lahmacun into it as a single layer. Lahmacun will not grow much while baking, so they touch each other.
- Place the oven tray on the very bottom rack of the oven. Bake for about 10 minutes until the lahmacun starts getting brown patches on the bottom and crispy on the sides.
- When ready take out of the oven and place the lahmacun with meaty sides facing each other in another pot/dish, keep it covered with a kitchen towel to keep warm. Move on to the next batch.
- While the first batch is cooking prepare the second batch on another baking sheet while waiting to speed up the process.
- Continue until the dough balls and the filling is finished.
- Enjoy while warm. Serve with additional parsley, lemon wedges, sliced onion with sumac and chopped parsley.
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