Etli Ekmek

Rolled out to half a metre long and baked directly on the oven floor, so it is all edge and no middle.

Lamb. Not vegetarian — contains lamb.

Ingredients

the dough

• 400 g plain flour
• 240 ml warm water
• 5 g fast-action dried yeast
• 8 g salt

the topping

• 400 g minced lamb
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes, deseeded and finely chopped
• 2 long green peppers, finely chopped
• a handful of parsley, chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 40 g butter, melted

Method

1. IT IS ROLLED OUT TO HALF A METRE LONG AND BAKED DIRECTLY ON THE OVEN FLOOR, so it is all edge and no middle. The shape is the dish: a long narrow oval, fifty centimetres by about fifteen, which means almost every bite includes the crisp border. A lahmacun is a round and is eaten rolled; this is a long plank, cut across into strips and eaten in the fingers. And it goes straight onto the hot oven floor or a preheated stone rather than on a tray, because the base has to crisp hard enough to lift a half-metre length without sagging in the middle.
2. THE TOPPING IS CHOPPED COARSER THAN A LAHMACUN'S AND SPREAD THICKER. Onion, tomato and pepper chopped to a few millimetres rather than minced fine, and spread four or five millimetres deep instead of two. It has longer in the oven -- eight or nine minutes rather than three -- so there is time for a more substantial layer to cook, and the dish is meatier than a lahmacun by design.
3. THERE IS NO PEPPER PASTE AND NO CUMIN IN IT. Lamb, onion, tomato, pepper, parsley, salt and black pepper. This is the plainer of the two and it is meant to taste of lamb and butter rather than of spice; a lahmacun's pepper paste here would bury it.
4. THE BUTTER GOES ON AFTER IT COMES OUT, NOT BEFORE. Melted butter brushed over the hot bread the moment it leaves the oven. Brushed on before, it fries the topping and soaks the dough; after, it melts into the surface and is most of why the thing tastes as rich as it does.
5. IT IS CUT ACROSS INTO FINGERS AND SERVED AT ONCE. A long knife, straight down, into strips three or four centimetres wide. It is crisp for about five minutes and then softens, so it goes to the table as it is cut.
6. The flour, yeast and salt mixed with the water to a soft dough, kneaded 10 MINUTES and risen 1 HOUR.
7. The oven heated to its MAXIMUM with a stone or heavy tray inside for 30 MINUTES.
8. The lamb, onion, tomato, peppers, parsley, salt and pepper mixed RAW. Chopped COARSE -- a few millimetres.
9. The dough divided into 3. Each rolled out to a LONG NARROW OVAL about 50 cm by 15 cm, and thin.
10. A third of the topping spread over each, 4 to 5 mm deep, leaving a 1 cm border.
11. Slid straight onto the preheated stone or oven floor.
12. Baked 8 to 9 MINUTES, until the base is crisp and the edges are browned.
13. TESTED by lifting one end: it should hold its own length without sagging. If it bends, the base needed longer.
14. The MELTED BUTTER brushed over the moment it comes out.
15. CUT ACROSS into fingers 3 or 4 cm wide and served at once.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Turkey · All recipes