Turkey's beloved 'lamb pizza' — thin, spiced and rolled up with lemon

In Turkey they'd never call it pizza, but it helps to picture one: dough rolled paper-thin, scraped with a paste of spiced lamb mince, capsicum and parsley, and blasted in a ferociously hot oven until the edges catch and the lamb sizzles. Then comes the ritual — shower it with fresh parsley and sliced onion, squeeze lemon over the lot, roll it up and eat it straight from your hand. The dough needs an hour to rise; everything after that moves quickly. Worth every minute of the wait.

1 hr 50 mins 4 servings (6 flatbreads) Prep 1 hr 30 minsCook 20 minsMain CourseTurkish

Ingredients

  • 480g Your Farmer grass-fed lamb mince
  • 350g plain flour, plus extra for rolling (for the dough)
  • 7g sachet instant dried yeast (for the dough)
  • 1 tsp salt (for the dough)
  • 1 tsp white sugar (for the dough)
  • 220ml warm water (for the dough)
  • 1 tbsp olive oil (for the dough)
  • 1 small brown onion, roughly chopped (for the topping)
  • 1/2 red capsicum, roughly chopped (for the topping)
  • 2 cloves garlic (for the topping)
  • 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, plus extra to serve (for the topping)
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste (for the topping)
  • 2 tsp sweet paprika (for the topping)
  • 1 tsp ground cumin (for the topping)
  • 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes (for the topping)
  • Salt and pepper to season
  • Lemon wedges and sliced red onion, to serve

Instructions

For the dough

Mix the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Add the warm water and olive oil and knead for 8 minutes until smooth and elastic. Return to the oiled bowl, cover, and rise somewhere warm for 1 hour, until doubled.

350g flour7g yeast220ml warm water1 tbsp olive oil

For the topping

Blitz the onion, capsicum, garlic and parsley in a food processor to a fine, almost smooth paste — or chop everything as finely as you possibly can.

1 onion1/2 capsicum2 cloves garlic1/2 cup parsley

Mix the vegetable paste with the mince, tomato paste, paprika, cumin and chilli flakes. Season generously and work it into a soft, spreadable paste.

480g lamb mince2 tbsp tomato paste2 tsp paprika1 tsp cumin

To roll and bake

Heat the oven to 250°C — or as hot as it goes — with two large oven trays inside heating up.

Divide the dough into 6. On floured baking paper, roll each piece into a thin oval about 3mm thick.

Spread a sixth of the lamb paste over each base in a thin layer, right to the edges — scraped thin, not piled. This is the whole trick of lahmacun.

Slide the flatbreads, on their paper, onto the hot trays and bake in batches for 8–10 minutes, until the edges are golden and the lamb is sizzling and cooked through.

Serve hot: shower with extra parsley and sliced red onion, squeeze lemon over generously, roll up and eat from your hand.

lemon wedgessliced red onionparsley

Appears in

In every lamb share — Mince (approx 480g)

Your Farmer CSA grass-fed lamb share — Pack B selection of pasture-raised lamb cuts, vacuum-sealed, NSW & ACT delivery
CSA Pastured Lamb Share
From $183.33

Thin Is the Whole Idea

Lahmacun works on a principle that surprises people the first time: the spiced lamb goes on raw, scraped over the dough in a layer thin enough that it cooks through in the same eight furious minutes as the base. That's why the vegetable paste matters — blitzing the onion, capsicum and parsley fine and working them through the mince turns it spreadable, and their moisture keeps the grass-fed lamb mince juicy at pizza-oven temperatures while its own richness stops it drying out. It's a dish that rewards good mince, because there's nowhere for the lamb to hide. If you're weighing up where yours comes from, here's what to look for when buying grass-fed lamb online — or skip the homework and let a Your Farmer® lamb share land it at your door.

Preheating the trays is non-negotiable. A screaming-hot surface under the dough is what gives you a crisp base instead of a steamed one. Rolling each base out on its own sheet of floured baking paper isn't just tidiness, either — it means you can slide the whole thing onto the hot tray without the wobbly transfer that ends weekend projects early.

Swaps and Variations

  • Beef mince: works, with a tablespoon of olive oil worked into the paste for richness.
  • Pul biber: if you can find Turkish pepper flakes, swap them for the chilli flakes — fruitier, gentler, and the authentic choice.
  • Yoghurt drizzle: not traditional street practice, but a garlicky yoghurt over the rolled lahmacun is a lovely home upgrade.
  • Pizza-stone or barbecue: a stone, or the barbecue with the hood down, gets even closer to the wood-oven original.

Storage and Leftovers

Baked lahmacun stack and freeze remarkably well — layer them with baking paper, wrap, and they keep 2 months. Reheat straight from frozen in a hot dry pan or a 200°C oven for a few minutes; the microwave makes them floppy. In the fridge they keep 2 days. The topping paste can be made up to 24 hours ahead and kept covered and cold, which makes baking day mostly rolling and showing off. Leftover rounds, rolled with salad, are a lunch worth guarding.

Reserve your share and the next batch of lamb is already spoken for.

Frequently asked questions

I don't have a food processor — can I still make lahmacun?

Yes. Grate the onion, chop the capsicum, garlic and parsley as finely as your knife allows, and squeeze the excess liquid out before mixing. The paste just needs to be fine enough to spread thin.

Why did my base come out soggy?

Either the topping went on too thick, the trays weren't preheated, or the oven wasn't hot enough. Scrape the lamb thin, get the trays properly hot, and run the oven flat out.

Can I make the dough ahead of time?

Yes — after kneading, refrigerate it overnight for a slow rise. The flavour actually improves. Bring it to room temperature for 30 minutes before rolling.

Can I cheat with store-bought bases?

Large flour tortillas make a surprisingly decent shortcut — spread the topping thin and bake 6–8 minutes. Proper pizza bases are too thick; thinness is the dish.

Do lahmacun freeze well?

Very — stack the baked, cooled flatbreads with baking paper between, wrap, and freeze up to 2 months. Reheat from frozen in a hot dry pan or oven, never the microwave.

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