Lahmajun (Armenian Flatbread)
Crispy meat flatbread with a fresh onion, parsley, lemon and sumac topping
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 3 cups bread flour
- 1/2 tsp instant yeast
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp Kosher salt
- 1 cup plus 2 tbsp water more or less as needed
- 2 tsp olive oil
For the meat topping:
- 1 red bell pepper seeded and stemmed and cut into pieces
- 1 onion peeled and cut into pieces
- 1 1/4 tsp kosher salt divided
- 1/4 cup parsley
- 3 tbsp biber salcasi pepper paste or sub 2 tbsp harissa plus 1 extra tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 3/4 lb ground beef or lamb
For the onion salad:
- 2 medium red onions thinly sliced
- 1 cup parsley leaves chopped
- 2 tbsp ground sumac
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt more to taste
Instructions
For the dough:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together bread flour, yeast, sugar, and salt until thoroughly combined. In a separate medium bowl, combine water and 2 teaspoons oil. Add the flour mixture and stir or knead until a shaggy dough forms and no dry flour remains. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Using lightly greased hands, knead dough in bowl gently until it tightens up, 10 to 20 seconds, then gather dough into a smooth ball. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at warm room temperature until dough is puffy and about 1 1/2 times in volume, 1 to 2 hours. This is less kneading than you usually do for bread dough but this helps keep the texture of the dough nice for flatbread.
- On a lightly-floured work surface, divide dough into 4 equal portions. Shape each portion into a tight, smooth ball, making sure to seal seams on the underside tightly. Spray balls with oil spray and transfer to a lightly-oiled rimmed baking sheet. Cover loosely but completely with greased plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours. Keep in the fridge until ready to use.
For the meat topping:
- In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, combine bell pepper, onion, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Process, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, until finely chopped, 10 to 20 seconds. Transfer mixture to a fine-mesh strainer set over a medium bowl and let drain for at least 10 minutes.
- Press on onion-pepper mixture to extract any remaining liquid, then return to food processor bowl; discard drained liquid. Add parsley, pepper paste, tomato paste, garlic, allspice, paprika, cumin, pepper, and remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt. Process, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, until mixture is finely chopped.
- Using your hands, break ground meat into walnut-sized chunks and distribute around bowl. Process, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, until mixture is just combined, 5 to 10 pulses. Set aside while you roll out dough. If you refrigerate this mixture, let sit at room temp for 30 minutes before you make the breads.
For the onion mixture:
- Place the red onion in a medium heatproof bowl, cover by at least 1 inch boiling water, and let stand for 5 minutes. Drain onion through a fine-mesh strainer then rinse for 10 seconds under cold running water and shake dry. Transfer to a clean kitchen towel or paper towel and pat dry. Return onion to now-empty bowl, along with parsley, sumac, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine, season with salt and pepper to taste, and set aside.
To assemble and bake:
- One hour before baking, adjust an oven rack to the upper-middle position (rack should be 4 to 5 inches from broiler element), set a baking stone or steel on rack, and heat oven to 500˚F (or 550˚F, if your even allows it).
- Dust tops of dough balls with flour, then transfer to a well-floured work surface, seam side down. Working one at a time, using a rolling pin, gently roll the disk into an 11- to 12-inch round, adding flour to top and underside of dough and countertop as needed to prevent sticking.
- Transfer to a well-floured baking peel (or a rimless cookie sheet if you don't have a baking peel). Scatter one-quarter of topping evenly over top of dough. Using the back of a spoon and your fingertips, gently flatten and spread topping into an even layer, leaving 1/8-inch border.
- Shake peel to loosen dough, then carefully slide lahmajun onto baking stone. Bake until bottom crust is browned and upper edges are lightly browned, 4 to 6 minutes. While lahmajun bakes, begin rolling next dough ball. Transfer baked lahmajun to a wire rack, stacking or overlapping them on the wire rack as they're finished. Repeat assembling and baking steps with the remaining dough balls and topping.
- Once all 4 lahmajun are baked, return them to the oven, overlapping them to fit on the stone, until reheated, about 2 minutes (alternatively, you can eat them warm, room temperature, or cold—lahmajun are great at all temperatures). Serve lahmajun with onion-parsley salad, if desired, and lemon wedges.This recipe is adapted from Serious Eats.
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