STILL NEW YORK-HUNGRY

14. Hatice's Lahmaçun (well-carbed + fibered)

Guys, let's return to my heroine of many of my shorts / novel series Laura Zimmermann, or better, her Turkish bestie, Hatice Güngörmüs, short, Hattie, or even shorter, Hats, because she has a penchant for hats.

She already contributed

– "5. Döner Kebab"  &

– "12. Köfte Burger" 

to my international cookery.

The Döner, by the way, is even one of Germans' fave "junk" food (that word doesn't do it justice, though), a culinary staple German cuisine can't be imagined without nowadays... like "47. Currywurst!" .

Anyway, another Turkish staple we Germans loooove is Lahmaçun, sort of a pizza with an airy yet crunchy yeast dough topped with lots of veg and a bit of minced beef or lamb, plus some spices.

So it comes that it's very popular among Laura and her international friends (many of them part of the crew at the restaurant where she works, the Meat Me), too.

To those trying to amp their carbs, like me... it's not Hi-carbed, but decently-carbed, nevertheless. Plus fiber because of the selected veg.

Interested?

Nice!

But... I have to admit something:

The recipe is originally for 20(!) mini-pizzas. In that Turks are like Greeks + Italians – the Mamma cooks for the whole company.

Since I'm alone, I can't – and don't want – to eat that much. And I suspect, it's a bloody Sauerei to prep and freeze 'em, too.

So I halved the recipe, but wrote the original quantities in parenthesis behind the "adjusted" ones. I also adjusted the size – the halved recipe makes for four large pizzas, 12-14 in..

I had the butcher halve the fresh beef, and made the four pizzas in two days, with another course between them: two pizzas => another round of "13. Nonno Aurelio's Ricotta-Cinnamon Mac (Yup, Hi-Carb)"  => last two pizzas.

That was due to the freshness of the beef I froze one of the two portions from the butchery, but had to make both pizzas from the other the same day as fresh beef starts rotting (even in the coldest part of the fridge) after at most 24 hrs.

So I made two pizzas, ate one, and put the other into the fridge – on its baking tray – after it completely cooled off. The next day I just shoved the baking tray into the oven and warmed it up at 100-120°C / 210-250°F.

Yep, you guessed it: even if pre-baked, the pizza doesn't get better in the fridge, and that because there are NO preservatives in it

Still interested?

Yeah?

Then quickly off to the kitchen before you change your mind and I'll be stuck with 4 gigantic pizzas!




Serves: 4 12-14 in. pizzas

Or, as mentioned, 20 mini pizzas. Then you divide the dough into 20 mini balls, roll them out thinly, spread evenly with 2 tbsp topping and bake them for 10-15 minutes OR until the dough's golden brown and the topping done but not burned. Keep an eye on 'em! Burning happens quickly

Prep Time: about 2, 2.5 hrs including resting of dough, prepping topping and "downshifting" the recipe into German sizes

Degree of Difficulty: Intermediate Actually Easy, but some steps are a bit tedious



WE NEED


Dough

– 100 (200) ml / 3.4 (6.75) US fl.oz. milk full-fat
– 30 (60) ml / 1 (2) US fl.oz. sunflower oil was out, so I took Canola oil
– 10.5 (21) gr / 0,4 (0.75) oz. fresh yeast In Germany, it's sold in 42 gr / 1.5 oz. cubes
– 1/2 (1) tsp sugar
– 1 (2) tsp salt

– 300-350 (600-700) gr / 10.6-12.3 oz. (1.3-1.5 lb.) flour Actually refined wheat but I used Spelt because it's a bit healthier


Topping

– 1 (2) onions Of course red, as they're the highest carbed – they are sweet for a reason!
– 2 (4) garlic cloves
– 2 (4) middle-sized tomatoes When you can't throw in a window with 'em, they're that size.
– 2 (4) red pointed peppers Also taste very sweet...
– 1.5 (3) green peppers

– 1/4 (1/2) bunch fresh parsley For frozen I can only guess – it's on the pizza last, after baking, so it up to you

– 1 (2) tbsp tomato puree

– 1/2 (1) tbsp paprika puree Didn't get it, so I used a heaped tbsp tomato puree and poured some smoked paprika powder on top.

– 1/2 (1) tsp chili flakes
– 0.75 (1.5) tsp salt
– 1/4 (1/2) tsp ground pepper
– 60 (120) ml / 2 (4) US fl.oz. sunflower or canola oil
– 2x 180 (700) gr / 12.4 oz. (1.6 lb.) minced beef



WE DO


Dough:


1. Gently heat 100ml / 3.4 US fl.oz. milk with 150 ml / 5 US fl.oz water until the mix is lukewarm. Crumble 10.5 gr / 0,4 oz. fresh yeast into a little bowl and pour the lukewarm liquid onto it. The milk-water-mix shall really only be lukewarm, otherwise the yeast won't "work".

2. Mix sugar, oil + salt in a large bowl and mix in the milk-water-yeast-mix. It's perfect when the yeast foams a bit.

3. Bit by bit, add + whisk in the flour. Knead until you have a smooth + sticky dough. That bugger's really sticky, so I used an egg whisk at the beginning and a large wooden spoon toward the end.

4. Cover the bowl with cling film and let the dough rise for 1 hr.



Topping


1. Peel the onion + garlic. I freed the onion from the yellowish stem that makes you cry, too, and chopped them roughly. Wash, de-core + de-stem the peppers + tomato(es). I chopped 'em roughly, too, so my little moulinette didn't have to work so hard.

2. As hinted at above, blitz everything in a blender / food processor.

3. At last, wash, shake dry + finely chop the parsley.

4. Line 1 (2) baking sheets with baking paper and preheat the oven to 210°C / 410°F. Actually, it's 250°C / 480°F, but baking paper burns at maximum 220°C / 430°F... and you don't want it burned into your food

5. Mix veg mass and parsley in a large bowl and add tomato- / paprika puree, spices + oil and mix well with your hands – or a spoon. At last, add + mix in the minced beef and 63 (125) ml / 2,1 (4.3) US fl.oz. water.



Make


6. Flour a work surface. Thoroughly flour the dough, too – remember it's a sticky bugger! – and pour it onto the working surface. If some adheres to the bowl, scrape it out with a spoon and let it drop onto the rest of the dough Knead the dough some more, working in small amounts of more flour until it doesn't stick to your hands so much anymore. Then part it into 2 (4) dough balls, and repeat.

7. Roll out the dough thinly with a rolling pin. Or, like me, very gently, spread it out using your heel of the hand + fingertips, a bit like Italian pizzaiolo. Be SLOW – you don't want holes in the dough At half-time work, transfer it onto the baking sheet, and finish it there.




8. Spread half of the mince-veg-mass on the dough base using a tablespoon, and do so evenly.





9. Bake the Lahmaçun on the middle rack of the oven for around 15-20 minutes – keep an eye on it in the last minutes – the pizza rind shall be golden brown.


Guten Hunger & Afiyet olsun!