Pizza with Lamb and Vegetables (Armenian Lahmajoon)

A variety of such dishes, such as sfiha and manakish, became popular in countries formerly parts of the Ottoman Empire, especially Turkey, Armenia, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. A thin flatbread, topped with spiced ground meat, became known as laham b'ajin (meat with dough), shortened to lahmajin and similar names. It is a pizza-like preparation using flour tortilla as the base, while a mixture containing meat, cumin, parsley, and salt is used as the upper layer. Amazingly tasty, this preparation is also known as the Armenian pizza. You will get this food in any restaurant or any cafeteria around the streets of Armenia.

Dough:
1 tsp. active dry yeast
½ tsp. sugar
½ cup lukewarm water
3 cups all purpose white flour
½ tsp. sea salt
1 Tbsp. olive oil

You can use medium sized fluffy flour tortillas and skip the dough making. Be sure when you bake the lahmajoon/lahmacun, that you oil the baking sheet when you bake them.

Topping:
olive oil, for brushing the dough before topping
1 Tbsp. butter
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 large onion, grated
1 tomato
sea salt
1-2 tsp. sugar
12-16 oz ground lamb
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 large lemon, freshly juiced
1 green bell pepper, finely diced
1 pickled jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
1 cup flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 cup fresh spearmint, finely chopped
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. paprika

For the Tomato:
Put the tomato in a deep bowl and cover with boiling water for 2 minutes, remove and peel. Leave seeds and juice with the tomato, do not discard.

Make the Dough:
You can use medium sized fluffy flour tortillas and skip the dough making. Be sure when you bake the lahmajoon/lahmacun, that you oil the baking sheet when you bake them.

In a small bowl mix yeast and the sugar. Add ½ cup of warm water, stir well, cover the bowl. Keep the mixture in a warm place for about 15 minutes to full activate the yeast.

Add the yeast mixture to the remaining flour and water. Knead well until the dough is soft and smooth.

Place the dough in a large oiled bowl, cover and let sit in a warm area of your kitchen for 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

Take the dough out and punch down. Divide the dough into 10-12 balls just slightly smaller than a tennis ball. Roll and set aside on a floured surface and cover with a damp towel. Set the oven at 450°F (230°C).

Make the Topping:
Add the onion, garlic and butter to a skillet and sautè until translucent. Take off the stove and let cool.

Take all your prepared vegetables and place them all in a large bowl. If you have a food processor, this would be the time to give all the vegetables a few pulses to get them all into a fine spreadable size. Do not over-process into mush.

Add pepper flakes, salt, sugar, paprika, cumin and lemon juice into a large bowl with the other ingredients and mix well by hand until you have well mixed, spreadable topping.

Take balls of dough and roll into a round, circle or an oval measuring up to 1/16-1/8" in thickness. Place on a baking sheet that has been oiled with olive oil, canola oil or cooking spray. Brush each round with olive oil (Extra Virgin is best). Top with 2-3 Tbsp. of the topping and spread the topping very thinly. Make sure you have an even layer.

Each baking sheet will hold two lahmajoon/lahmacun. You should have 3 or 4 baking sheets to keep things moving. Keep your eye on the sheets in the oven to make sure they bake evenly. You may have to move things around the oven. The oven should remain at 450°F, not too high and not too low.

Since you are going to be constantly opening the oven, the temperature ideally will stay between 400°F (200°C) and 350°F (175°C). Cooked Lahmajoon/Lahmacuns are crispy at the edges and pliable in the center. You can stack your finished lahmajoon/lahmacun topping side to topping side and bottom to bottom. Cover them with a damp towel to keep them from getting too brittle.

You are now ready to fill them with fresh parsley, cucumber slices, sweet onion slices or other fresh veggies and a drizzle of lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil, roll them up and enjoy these Anatolian delights.