The Plant-Based Community Cookery School
The Plant-Based Community Cookery School
Lahmacun is often called “Turkish Pizza”, although is eaten throughout the Middle East, including in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, where it is known as Sfiha! Think thin and crispy dough baked with a richly spiced, veggie packed topping – using Mr. Organic tomatoes and chargrilled peppers – that gives this dish its signature flavour. This is pizza like you’ve never experienced it before! Chef Tarryn Williams (they/them) brings 6+ years of experience as a plant-based head chef, pastry chef and cooking teacher. Tarryn taught teen participants this recepie during our free youth community classes, in partnership with Mr Organic.
For the flatbread dough:
375g strong white bread flour
4g instant dried yeast
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon caster sugar
210g lukewarm water
For the spiced veggie topping:
1 large aubergine
1 - 2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
150g mushrooms
1 jar Mr. Organic antipasti chargrilled peppers, drained
2 medium vine tomatoes
3 tablespoons tomato purée
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoon aleppo pepper / pul biber chilli flakes
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 jar Mr. Organic antipasti chargrilled peppers
Juice ½ lemon
Salt, to taste (¼ - ½ teaspoon)
Method
Start by roasting the aubergine. Preheat your oven to 200C. Then, pierce the aubergine all over with a fork and rub the skin with a tablespoon of olive oil. Place on a baking tray and roast for 20 - 30 minutes until very soft and darkened. Set aside.
Turn up the oven to the highest heat.
Make the flatbread dough. Weigh out all the ingredients except the water for the dough into a medium bowl, making sure the yeast doesn’t come into contact with the sugar and salt.
Gradually add the water, mixing with a wooden spoon to bring everything together into a shaggy dough. Then turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 - 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
Divide the dough into 100g portions and roll into balls. Lightly oil a baking tray and space the dough balls around the tray, Cover with cling film and place in the fridge for minimum 30 minutes, maximum 3 hours. They will rise and grow in size over time.
Make the vegetable topping. Prepare the vegetables:
Dice the onion
Roughly chop the garlic
Dice the mushrooms
Roughly chop the chargrilled peppers
Remove the stem of the aubergine, then roughly chop
Grate the tomatoes on the large holes of a box grater
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and fry for 4 - 6 minutes, until translucent and fragrant. Add the garlic and fry for 30 seconds, followed by the mushrooms, with an additional pinch of salt. Cook until the mushrooms are shrunken and lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
Add the tomato puree, oregano, smoked paprika, aleppo pepper, ground cumin, ground cinnamon and brown sugar to the pan with a tablespoon of water. Fry for 3 minutes, to cook out the spices and the tomato puree. The mixture should start to bind together and darken.
Mix in the chopped tomatoes, peppers and aubergine, and cook for 3 - 5 minutes to cook off the liquid from the vegetables. The mixture will form a thick, coarse paste in the pan. Turn off the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Taste for salt and add more if necessary.
Roll out the dough balls between two sheets of baking parchment, into rounds as thinly as you can. Place the rounds onto a baking tray lined with paper, two per tray.
Top the flatbreads with 3 - 4 tablespoons of the vegetable mixture, spreading a thin, even layer almost all the way to the edges – leave a 1cm border of crust all the way around. Drizzle with olive oil. Your lahmacuns are ready to bake!
Bake for 5 - 10 minutes (it will depend on your oven), until crisp and brown all around, and on the underside of the lahmacun.
Drizzle with gremolata (see recipe) and serve immediately, with hummus!
