Lahmajoun Armenian Style

A traditional dish of Caucasian cuisine, Lahmajoun Armenian style is also called Armenian pizza. The main requirement for Lahmajoun is that the thinnest flatbread of unleavened dough must remain pliable and soft, while the edges should be slightly dried out and acquire crispness.

The filling, or rather the spread, in the classic version is made from lamb with some amount of tail fat, but beef or pork flesh can also be used. The minced meat must have fragrant spices, herbs, and some vegetables added. Moreover, the meat spread should not be dry but rather slightly liquid, which is achieved by including water in the main ingredients.

Ingredients

• drinking water – 250 ml;
• rock salt – 0.5 tbsp;
• odorless vegetable oil – 15 ml;
• flour grade 1 – 500 g.

For the meat spread:

• pork flesh – 550 g;
• white onion – 100 g;
• garlic – 2-3 cloves;
• fresh parsley, cilantro – 1 bunch;
• red bell pepper – 1 small;
• tomato paste – 25 g;
• tomatoes – 130 g;
• hot red pepper – 1/3 tsp;
• sweet paprika – 0.5 tbsp;
• salt, black pepper – to taste;
• drinking water – 90 ml.

Cooking

1. Prepare the ingredients for the dough. Use room temperature water.

2. Gather the ingredients for the spread. The bunch of cilantro and parsley can be small or large, depending on personal preferences.

3. Start by making the dough. To do this, pour water and vegetable oil into a large bowl, add salt. Mix everything.

4. Sift some of the flour into the bowl.

5. Stir the liquid dough with a spoon and continue to add the remaining flour.

6. Then transfer the kneading to the table and knead it well by hand. The dough should be of medium density and should not stick to your hands at all.

7. Gather it into a ball and place it in a bowl, covering it with a towel, and leave it on the table while the filling is being prepared.

8. Prepare the tomatoes, bell pepper, onion, and herbs for grinding in a meat grinder by cutting them into small pieces.

9. Grind the meat in a chopper or meat grinder into minced meat.

10. Add the chopped vegetables and grind everything together once more.

11. Transfer the resulting minced meat to a bowl. Season with tomato paste, garlic passed through a press, as well as paprika and hot pepper.

12. After mixing, you need to balance the taste with salt and black pepper, determining their amount to taste.

13. To make the filling juicy and easy to spread on the flatbread, add water to the minced meat and mix well. The consistency should be slightly liquid and sticky.

14. Now it’s time to take out the rested dough. Gently knead it and divide it into pieces the size of a large walnut (you should be guided by the diameter of the frying pan in which the Lahmajoun will be baked). Roll the pieces into balls, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest for 5-10 minutes.

15. Next, dust the working surface with flour and roll out the ball thinly. The diameter of the flatbread should roughly match the diameter of the frying pan, and the thickness should be 1-1.5 millimeters. The thinner the flatbread, the more tender and softer the Lahmajoun will be.

16. Take the flatbread in your hands and shake off the excess flour so that it doesn't burn in the frying pan.

17. Place the dough on parchment or a board. Top with filling (about one and a half tablespoons), spreading it over the entire surface but leaving 1-2 centimeters from the edge.

18. Heat a dry frying pan well, then set the burner to medium heat. Transfer the dough from the parchment to the frying pan (the flatbread should slide off the parchment smoothly without deforming).

19. Cover and bake the flatbread for about 3 minutes (the thinner it is, the faster it will cook).

20. Then remove the lid and dry the dough for 2 minutes.

21. Place the finished products one on top of another. In the center, you can place some greens and a pickled cucumber, then roll up the flatbread.

22. You can diversify the taste by placing sauerkraut with herbs inside – it's a matter of taste. But even without any addition, these flatbreads are incredibly delicious.

Lahmacun should be eaten hot. Thanks to the thin dough and soft structure, the flatbreads can be easily rolled into a tube with crispy edges. Traditionally, sour dairy products are served with such a hearty snack – mainly matsoni and tan. If such products are not available in the store, you can make something similar by mixing equal parts of kefir and water, then adding salt and stirring.

Try it, it's very tasty. Bon appétit!