{"id":192760,"title":"Lahmacun – Turkish Flatbread with Ground Meat","modified":"2026-10-23T09:56:04+02:00","plain":"Thin, crispy flatbreads covered with a raw topping of ground meat, tomato, onion, chili and parsley, baked for a few minutes on a very hot stone.\n\n\n\nLahmacun spends only a few minutes in the oven, and the aroma of grilled meat and chili is already filling the kitchen. The dough crackles at the edges, while the red topping stays juicy in the center. \n\n\n\nIn Turkey, it\u2019s covered with parsley, given a squeeze of lemon, then rolled up and eaten by hand. A whole tray often disappears faster than it took to bake.\n\n\n\nTo round out the table, a few extra-crispy falafels\n\n\n\nWhat Is Lahmacun?\n\n\n\nLahmacun is a very thin flatbread covered with a raw layer of ground meat, grated tomato and onion, chili paste and parsley. Everything bakes together: the dough crisps at the edges and the topping stays tender. It\u2019s sometimes nicknamed \u201cTurkish pizza,\u201d but it has no cheese and no sauce spread on separately, and it\u2019s eaten rolled up, by hand.\n\n\n\nIts name comes from the Arabic lahm bi-\u2018aj\u012bn, \u201cmeat with dough.\u201d Depending on the country, it\u2019s also spelled lahmajun, lahmajoun or lahmajo.\n\n\n\nAnother filled bread fresh from the oven: Georgian khachapuri\n\n\n\nA Meat-Topped Bread from the Levant and Anatolia\n\n\n\nLahmacun comes from a tradition shared by the Levant, Mesopotamia and southeastern Anatolia, where thin breads have long been baked with spiced meat. In the 17th century, the Ottoman traveler Evliya \u00c7elebi was already describing lahm-\u0131 acinli b\u00f6rek, a dough topped with meat.\n\n\n\nIn Turkey, every city has its own style. Gaziantep\u2019s lahmacun leans on garlic and parsley, while \u015eanl\u0131urfa\u2019s favors onion and isot, the region\u2019s very dark dried chili. At artisan bakeries, the meat is often chopped by hand with a z\u0131rh, a large curved blade, and the lahmacun is baked in a stone oven.\n\n\n\nThe recipe below is a homemade version for a regular home oven: medium-fat ground meat, and a well-preheated pizza stone in place of the stone oven.\n\n\n\nIn the mood for another homemade flatbread? Try skillet naan\n\n\n\nThe Main Ingredients in Lahmacun\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe dough contains only flour, water, salt and a pinch of sugar, with no yeast or fat. Resting it, then rolling it out very thin, gives it its suppleness and crispy edges.\n\n\n\nThe topping is built on medium-fat ground meat: its fat melts during baking and keeps everything moist. The tomatoes and onions are grated, not chopped, and their juice loosens the meat so it can be spread in a thin layer. Tomato paste boosts the umami flavor and the red color.\n\n\n\nThe heat comes from two Turkish products: biber sal\u00e7as\u0131, a red chili paste, and pul biber, dried chili flakes. Black pepper and chopped parsley round out the mixture. The recipe contains no garlic, cheese or sumac.\n\n\n\nTechnique Tips for Good Lahmacun\n\n\n\nThe oven and stone need to be very hot before the lahmacun goes in, or the dough will dry out instead of crisping. Dough balls of 30 g make small lahmacuns that are easy to slide onto the stone. \n\n\n\nThe topping goes on raw and generously, spread with your fingertips all the way to the edge. When they come out of the oven, the edges are golden and the center stays soft enough to roll up.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nServe them piping hot with parsley, thinly sliced onion and lemon wedges, so everyone can top and roll their own. For a street food night at home, they go well alongside a kebab, samosas or a martabak telur.\n\n\n\n\n\n\tLahmacun - Turkish Flatbread with Ground Meat\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\tDough500 g flour300 ml water5 g salt1 pinch sugarTopping500 g meat (ground, medium-fat)4 tomatoes (medium)2 large onions1 tablespoon tomato paste1 tablespoon pepper paste (Turkish (biber sal\u00e7as\u0131))1 dessertspoon pul biber ((Turkish chili flakes))1 dessertspoon black pepper0.5 bunch parsley, (chopped)Shaping and BakingA little flour, (for the work surface, rolling pin and stone)\t\n\t\n\t\tDoughStart with the dough so it can rest while you prepare the topping.Pour the water over the flour a little at a time and start kneading by hand.Before the dough has fully come together, add the salt and sugar.Knead until all the flour is fully incorporated.Set the dough aside.This dough contains no yeast: let it rest for a day if you have time, otherwise for 3 to 4 hours.ToppingGrate the tomatoes and onions.Add them to the ground meat in a large bowl.Add the tomato paste and pepper paste.Add the pul biber, black pepper and parsley.Mix well: the topping will be fairly juicy, which is normal.Shaping and BakingPlace the pizza stone in the oven and set the oven to 250\u00b0C.The oven and stone must be very hot before baking: this is very important.Divide the dough into 30 g pieces.Shape them into tight balls.Lightly flour the work surface and rolling pin.Roll the balls of dough out into small rounds.Spoon the raw topping onto the rounds of dough, without skimping.Starting from one edge, press it out with your fingertips until it covers all of the dough.Flour the hot stone so the lahmacuns don't stick.Place the lahmacuns on the stone.Bake for 6 to 8 minutes, until the dough is crisp and the meat is cooked through.\t\n\t\n\t\tIn Turkey, lahmacun bakes in just a few minutes in the stone ovens of artisan bakers. This recipe is the homemade version, for a home oven, using a well-preheated pizza stone.\nThe dough contains neither yeast nor fat, just flour, water, salt and a pinch of sugar. The topping goes on raw, in a generous layer. The 30 g pieces of dough make small lahmacuns.\nMaking lahmacun at home also means choosing your ground meat from a butcher you trust.\n\t\n\t\n\t\tPlat principalTurque","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}