Lahmacun (Turkish Pizza)

How to prepare lahmacun (turkish pizza)

1. Grate the onion and pepper (or blend in a food processor until they become a paste). Saute the paste in hot oil over medium heat for about 7 minutes.
2. Add to the beef/lamb the sauteed onion and pepper (with all the oil from the pan), the tomato blended in a blender, tomato and pepper paste, finely chopped herbs and the rest of the seasonings. Knead the meat very well until it becomes a smooth and fairly soft paste.
   * the meat paste can be prepared a few hours in advance; store in the refrigerator, covered with plastic wrap.
3. Preheat the oven to 240C for 30 minutes to get it super hot. Place a baking sheet in the oven to heat up well (if you have a pizza stone, use it; I improvise with my cast iron grill pan placed upside down; I bake the pizzas on it; if you don't have something like this, a regular baking sheet works too).
4. Divide the risen dough, prepared according to the recipe here, into 5 pieces. Shape each piece into a round roll.
   * for a quick version, you can use ready-made bread dough purchased from a bakery
5. On a floured surface, roll out each piece of dough into a round sheet, as thin as possible. Put the meat paste on the dough and spread it with your hand in a very thin layer (don't put a thick layer, the meat won't have time to cook in those 10 minutes!). Make sure to spread the filling all the way to the edges. Place the formed lahmacun on parchment paper. Transfer it with the paper directly onto the hot baking sheet/stone in the oven.
7. Bake at 240C for 10 minutes.
8. For the quick version, proceed the same way: spread each flatbread with meat paste in a thin layer, making sure to cover the edges as well. Bake for 7-8 minutes at 240C (see the last small photo at the bottom).
9. Serve warm or cold, with mint yogurt (or yogurt with za'atar) and a mixed salad (fatoush). For the lamb version, you can serve them drizzled with lemon juice.

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