Lahmacun

Method

1. Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and dough salt in a large bowl, then add the lukewarm water and oil and bring it together with a spatula. Turn it out onto a clean worktop and knead for 8 min, pushing it away with the heel of your hand and folding it back, until smooth and it springs back slowly when you press it with a finger.

   Add in this stepPlain (all-purpose) flour 200 gLukewarm water (about 35 °C) 120 mlInstant dried yeast ½ tspSugar 1 pinchSalt (dough) ½ tspVegetable oil (dough) 1 tbsp

2. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with cling film or a damp cloth and leave somewhere warm for 1 h, until it has grown by about half. Thirty minutes before it is ready, put a baking tray in the oven and heat it to its highest setting (usually 250 °C); a hot tray gives a crisp base.

3. Chop the onion, tomatoes, green peppers, garlic and half the parsley very finely (a few pulses in a food processor works too). If the mixture is very wet, press it lightly in a sieve. In a bowl, combine the mince, chopped vegetables, pepper paste, tomato purée, pul biber, cumin, black pepper and topping salt and squeeze it through your hands for 1–2 minutes until evenly mixed and paste-like. Wash your hands and tools with soap after handling raw meat, and don't taste the raw topping.

   Add in this stepMinced beef or lamb (about 20% fat) 160 gOnion ½Ripe tomatoes 1Long mild green peppers 1Garlic cloves 1Flat-leaf parsley 10 gTurkish red pepper paste (biber salçası) 1 tbspTomato purée (paste) 2 tspTurkish chilli flakes (pul biber) 1 tspGround cumin ¼ tspBlack pepper 2 pinchSalt (topping) ½ tsp

4. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces and roll them into balls. On a floured worktop roll each one out with a rolling pin to about 25 cm across and 2 mm thick. Place them on baking paper, add 3–4 heaped tablespoons of topping to each and spread it thinly and evenly right to the edge with wet fingers or the back of a spoon. A thin layer cooks quickly and keeps the base crisp.

   Add in this stepFlour for dusting 2 tbsp

5. Wearing oven gloves, take the hot tray out of the oven (oven, 250 °C ×2: temperature, number of rounds), slide 2 lahmacun onto it on their paper and bake each round for 7 min. They are done when the edges are golden and lightly charred in spots and the meat is sizzling with no pink left. Stack the baked ones 2 or 3 at a time under a clean tea towel; they soften so they can be rolled.

   oven

6. Slice the red onion thinly and toss with the sumac and the remaining parsley. Squeeze lemon over each lahmacun, add some onion salad, then roll it up or fold it in half and eat it with your hands.

   Add in this stepRed onion (to serve) ½Sumac 1 tspFlat-leaf parsley 10 gLemon 1