Lahmacun Recipe - Baked Turkish Pizza

This lahmacun recipe is a family favorite. It’s rolled-out thin dough that’s topped with perfectly seasoned minced meat, generous amounts of garlic, onions, and fine diced sweet red peppers.

For less than $5.00, you can make six servings of this Lahmacun. The entire recipe costs $3.75 to make, which is only $0.63 per serving.

I enjoy making a salad to go along with this dish. Two of my favorites are this Creamy Cucumber and Avocado Salad and this Simple Arugula Salad.

An overhead picture of three Lahmacun Turkish Pizzas.

Lahmacun is like a thin and crispy pizza that is topped with peppers and onions in a deliciously spiced meat mixture. It works well for lunch or a quick dinner. You can even slice it up to serve as an appetizer to a crowd.

You do not need any special equipment to make this recipe. All you need is a glass bowl, a rolling pin, and a nonstick baking sheet pan. Simple enough, let’s get started.

Lahmacun pronounced [lah-ma-june] can be found all over Turkey. There are different varieties like sarimsakli lahmacun ( with garlic), soğanlı lahmacun (with onions), kemeli Lahmacun (with truffle), and zeytinli lahmacun ( with olives).

All are great, I was aiming for more of an Antep-style lahmacun here. Some know it as Turkish pizza though the method of making it is entirely different.

Three of the Lahmacun Turkish Pizzas on a pizza stone.

Ingredients and Cost

RECIPE COST: $3.75

PRICE PER SERVING: $0.63

2 cups all-purpose flour – $0.38
2 teaspoons kosher salt – $0.04
1 ½ teaspoon cane sugar – $0.02
2 teaspoons dried instant yeast – $0.06
1 ⅔ cup water – $0.00
½ pound ground beef – $1.50
⅓ cup small red bell pepper – $0.58
½ cup onion – $0.12
⅓ cup parsley – $0.29
2 cloves garlic – $0.10
1 teaspoon oregano – $0.05
½ teaspoon dried mint – $0.02
1 teaspoon cumin – $0.03
¼ teaspoon black pepper – $0.02
2 Tablespoons Turkish red pepper paste – $0.54

NOTE: The recipe prices are calculated by using grocery store websites. The actual cost of the recipe will vary depending on what ingredients you already have.

How to make simple lahmacun dough

First, add all of the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine. When ready, add the water and fold and mix until a ball of dough forms.

Secondly, transfer the dough onto a flat surface dusted with all-purpose flour. Dust the top of the dough. Knead with your palms for five minutes straight—adding flour to the surface and to the dough as needed to prevent sticking.

Thirdly, put the dough back into the same bowl you started with and cover the bowl with a kitchen towel or saran wrap. Allow the dough to rest and proof for one hour or until it doubles in size.

Finally, when ready, transfer the risen dough to a floured surface. Cut the dough into six even pieces. Shape each piece into a circle the best you can. With a rolling pin, create a thin circular shape. Add additional flour to the surface, to your hands, and to the rolling pin when necessary.

The Lahmacun dough rolled out super thin so you can see through it.

As you can see in the picture above, the dough is thin enough to where you can see the shape of my hand. If the dough is rolled too thick, your lahmacun will be too thick and puffy for traditional lahmacun.

However, if your dough is rolled too thin, it will be burned in the high heated oven and will be undesirably crunchy.

Tips for making lahmacun minced meat topping

Fine-dice all of the vegetables. In this case, you will fine-dice the red peppers, onion, mince the garlic, and finely chop the parsley. Aim for tiny, tiny, pieces of everything. The tinier, the better.

Massage the meat. Once all of the spices and vegetables are added to the meat mixture, massage, and mix with your hands for NO less than five minutes. This is very important. You don’t want bland food now do ya?

Spread out the meat mixture with your fingertips evenly. Take your time. Take the mixture to the edge. This is not a pizza, there is no need to leave room for a crust.

I like to wet the ends of the dough with meat juices to prevent dried-out and off-white colored edges. Get every nook and cranny. Try to prevent any meatless areas in the center. Sometimes pressing with your palms can help.

How to serve lahmacun

Add an onion parsley salad, which can be a great choice to garnish your lahmacun. To make an onion parsley salad simple about 1 thin-sliced medium-sized onion, 1/2 cup (loosely packed) of plucked parsley leaves, 1 tsp sumac, a pinch of salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Toss to combine. Enjoy immediately.

While you can eat your lahmacun as you wish, squeezing lemon on all over and adding onion-parsley salad—then folding it into a wrap can be one of the best ways to enjoy it.

Recipe FAQ’s

How do you eat lahmacun?

Lahmacun is like a thin and crispy pizza. Some people roll it up like a burrito to eat, or you can use a knife and fork to cut it into pieces. You can even slice it into triangles or squares, to serve as an appetizer to a crowd.

What is the difference between pide and lahmacun?

Pide is similar in shape to a submarine. It has thick and crisp edges with various fillings. In contrast, Lahmacun is similar in shape to a pizza. It is topped with a meat mixture and has thin crispy edges.

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One of the finished Lahmacun Turkish Pizzas folded in half so you can see what the finished crust looks like.

Important Takeaways

Make sure to rest the dough for 1 hour. This will help relax the dough—making it more pliable when rolling it out.

Do not roll the dough too thin or too thick. If the dough is too thin, it will burn in the high temp oven. If the dough is too thick, then what you have made is a pizza, my friend.

Mix the meat mixture with your hands. This is very important. Touch and feel the seasoned meat. You know you’ve mixed enough once the mixture starts to perfume.

Be consistent. Roll each dough out the same. Add the same amount of topping to each one. In this recipe, you will have 6 rolled doughs and each one gets 4 tbsp of meat mixture—no more, no less. Be consistent!

Finally, you want to make sure to bake each lahmacun at an oven set at 500 ° F for 6-8 minutes. This will give you a nice caramelized flavor in the meat. Steamed meat? No thanks!

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