Crispy Lahmacun – Homemade Turkish Pizza with Minced Meat and Herbs

2 days of action, a team of 5, tons of equipment and dirty dishes, exhausted bodies and happy eyes. Not much to add to a very successful shooting. Except for, you are darn sexy dear Kitchen Stories team! Ole, Clarissa, Pei, Artur und Joni, may I take you for wife, husband and production team? 😃

In case you are wondering why I’m so overly exciting about all of this, let me explain a common challenge most food bloggers encounter at some point of their blogging routine. So taking images of food is difficult, but with some exercise this can actually be done in no time. Showing some life and action i.e. showing a hand is a little more advanced – cut to weirdly bend arms of a blogger who would actually try to hold a spoon while taking a photo at the same time. But then there are recipe videos. You need light, a camera, someone who holds that f*ing camera, someone who has the slightest idea to present food from the right angle, as well as some talent to put this all together into a video that actually makes sense…

Let’s say it comes in quite handy to suddenly have all of these things above waiting in front of your doorsteps.

Unfortunately, just like the intro video, my recipe videos are only available in German for now, but I’d like to share them with you nonetheless. Hopefully I’ll find some time to add Englisch subtitles at some point. Let me know if you want to help me on this 😊

But don’t fret, there is still a written version for you to test out immediately. Enjoy this Turkish street food staple at home! Thank you Kitchen Stories for making my recipes look so darn delicious!

And action!

P.s. Don’t forget to give me a thumbs up on my video below and head over to my friends at Kitchen Stories for hundreds of recipe ideas and how-to videos on about everything: kitchenstories.io

Feel Good Lahmacun – Fructose-Free Turkish Flatbread With Spelt (onion-free)

Crispy flatbread, juicy minced meat and a spritzer of lemon juice. Go classic and serve your Lahmacun with a good dose of ground cuming and some fresh parsley. Or top it with salad and more meat to roll into a filling Dürüm. Lahmacun is by far my favorite street food, reminding me of the busy alleys and buzzing markets of Istanbul on a saturday morning. To make this Lahmacun as easy on your stomach as possible, I swapped the wheat for light spelt flour, skipped the onion an used only a minimum of tomato in this recipe. Best thing about it, this pizza is ready in no time, making your next barbecue and lazy Sunday complete. Afiyet olsun!

Makes 4 flatbreads. Ingredients:

200 g spelt flour (light spelt flour)
1 tbsp olive oil
100 ml water (lukewarm)
2 tomatoes
½ bunch flat leaf parsley (divided)
400 g minced lamb
4 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp garlic oil
¼ tsp dried wild garlic
1 tsp crushed chili flakes
½ tsp cumin
1 lemon (juice) for garnish
½ tsp sumac for garnish
spelt flour for dusting
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to its hottest setting (230°C – 300°C/450°F – 475°F) and put a pizza stone or a baking sheet inside to preheat. In a large bowl, sift spelt flour together with salt and gradually add lukewarm water and olive oil. Knead dough well for approx. 5 min., until soft and elastic.

Portion into dough balls about the size of a tennis ball, cover with a wet paper towel and leave for about 10 min. to rest.

Put tomatoes in a heatproof bowl and pour hot water over to cover. Leave for approx. 30. seconds, then cool rapidly in an ice bath before peeling.

Finely chop flat leave parsley. Set half of it aside for garnish. In a large bowl, mix together minced lamb, diced tomatoes, half of the chopped parsley, tomato paste, dried wild garlic, garlic oil, crushed chili flakes, and cumin. Season with salt and pepper

On a well-floured surface, roll your dough balls into large rounds, about 0.5 cm- (1/4 inch) thick. Transfer to parchment paper.

Spread the lamb mixture thinly on top of the dough and press down gently with your fingertips. Transfer pizza with parchment paper into the oven, carefully pulling it onto the hot baking sheet. Bake for approx. 5 – 8 minutes or until slightly bubbly and brown at the edges. Repeat to use up the rest of the dough and topping.

Sprinkle with parsley. If desired, add lemon juice and sumac to taste. Roll up and enjoy!