Lahmajun, Armenian Pizza

1. Lahmajun or lahmacun or lahmajoun is an Armenian/ Turkish fast food. This is a thin crust of flat bread topped with ground beef or lamp mixture. You just add some fresh parsley and onion slice then squire a lemon on it. Roll up and enjoy the explosion of flavors in your mouth. 

Lahmajoun means meat and dough. It’s very known in caucus  regions. Originally from Armenia but get popular in turkey. This is similar to the pizza with some  differences. The dough is just flour and water, the topping is a mixture of ground beef and lamp, there is no cheese on it and you roll it up when you eat it. It made in medium sizes like individual size. You have to count between 2 to 3 lahmajun pizzas for each person. The taste is very fresh and interesting. Some people like it spicy and some others not. For the dough there two type of dough, one with and one without yeast. My advice is to make the one without yeast, because you will roll it up so the flat bread should be soft so you can wrap it. I made the one with the yeast but honestly I’ll never do it again, the bread was harder and I couldn’t roll it as usually i do. Beside this dough is the perfect recipe for people who don’t like to work with yeast. The recipe is in two stages, the dough and the topping. Don’t worry it is a simple and easy recipe, perfect for this summer. 

Yields: 11 pizzas 

Prep time: 40 minutes 

Bake time: 1 hour 

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 3 cups of flour plus some for rolling 
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup and 1/4 lukewarm water 

For the topping:

• 400g 14 oz ground beef 80% lean 
• 2 onions finely chopped 
• 1/2 cup chopped tomato
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley 
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste 
• 1 tsp salt 
• 1 tsp black pepper 
• 1 tsp paprika 
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 1 tbsp vinegar 
• 2 tbsp water 

How to make it: 

Dough:

1. In a bowl or a stand mixer pour the flour and the water and mix well. Knead until having elastic dough. 
2. In a floured surface Roll in a log shape and cut into 11 pieces. Shape balls and cover with a dump cloth and let’s them rest until you prepare the topping. It has to be very fin otherwise the dough can tears.

Topping:

1. Chop everything finely and mix all together. You can use a food processor at that point. 

     2. Preheat the oven at 450F 230C. Flat the balls to make a thin circles and place in a parchment paper on a baking tray.  press gently an amount of the topping mixture on it to make a thin topping layer. Bake for 15 minutes or until you see the bottom of the dough is nice and golden. 

      3. Serve with lemon wedges, fresh parsley, sliced onion, hot pepper roll up and yum.