Meat on dough is literally what the name “lahm bil ajeen” means.
It is a very simple concept of spreading a minced beef mixture on dough and baking till crispy and enjoy. But the taste of this simple invention is just amazing if you never tried it before you will be amazed!
“It Is the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary” and those little cute flatbreads are the proof of that! At least for me 😊
The secret to a delicious out-of-this-world lahm bil ajeen bite is the beef mixture and the dough.
There are so many versions of this minced beef flatbread, from Iraq, turkey, Palestine, Syria, and many other Levantine countries but my most favorite one is the Lebanese minced beef flatbread.
Even in Lebanon, there are different versions of dough and beef mixture in each area and village.
The version I am going to share with you today is my own mix and match of the million “lahm bil ajeen” that I ate throughout the year. Omitting what I didn’t love and mixed the stuff that I liked the most. As I recall it is very much inspired the most from the Lebanese Baalbek sfiha (minced beef flatbread) with some adjustments that I develop over the years with each time I prepare or eat this delicious Lebanese staple.
To make these flatbreads even more convenient to prepare. They are freezer-friendly. You can prepare the flatbread in small bite sizes bake and store in the freezer for big parties and dinner bites. The small size makes them the cutest dinner bites ever!
These Lahm bil ajeen aka Lebanese minced beef flatbread or sfiha are very versatile. You can prepare them as mentioned above in small size and serve them as appetizers at your dinner parties. You can prepare them as big flatbreads as shown in my pictures and serve them for breakfast, brunch, or lunch as the main dish.
The perfect pairings with the lahm bil ajeen differ from country to country. But if you want to live the full board Lebanese minced beef flatbread experience you must serve them with some chili powder, lemon wedges to squeeze some on top while it is still hot and some Laban airan on the side to drink with every bite.
even if it seems a new recipe for you. the lahm bil ajeen or Lebanese minced beef flatbread is very easy to prepare. you can prepare the dough by hand or hand mixer. I always prepare my doughs with my bread maker machine, you can check how in the recipe notes, it always gives me the best results with the least effort. and for the filling you just mix the ingredients as easy as that. if you even want a shorter cut to this recipe you use a premade pizza dough or some tortilla or pitta bread but in my personal opinion, nothing is compared to the homemade soft dough in this recipe.
The Laban airan is nothing weird don’t worry. it is simply a salty yogurt drink that we prepare by mixing 1 cup of thick yogurt that we call Laban with ½ cup of ice-cold water and ½ tsp of salt or more to taste and ½ tsp of dry mint. Whisk till smooth and enjoy with the lahm bil ajeen. We usually mix a big quantity in a big pitch and serve so everyone can pour it into his cup and enjoy. You can also find a premade version of the laban airan in the cooled dairy section in the grocery stores.
And now let’s start preparing our delicious Lebanese minced beef flatbread aka lahm bil ajeen my way!
Don’t forget to explore my other Lebanese-inspired dishes if you liked this Lebanese flatbread make sure you.
Lahm bil ajeen (Lebanese minced beef flatbread)
Equipment
- Panasonic automatic bread maker
- stand mixer
Ingredients
For the flatbread dough:
- 1 cup warm milk
- 1 tbsp instant yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp nigella seeds optional
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp butter melted
- 4 tbsp Laban
For the minced beef spread:
- 250 g minced beef
- 250 g minced lamb
- 1 batch (1 cup) minced parsley
- 1 onion diced
- 1/3 cup pomegranate molasses
- 1/3 cup tahini
- 1 lemon fresh juice
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 2 medium tomatoes, finely diced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tsp 7 spices
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp smoked paprika optional
- 1/2 tsp chili powder optional
Instructions
For the dough:
- Add the yeast and salt to the warm milk and let it sit for 10 min to activate.
- Mix the dry ingredients together (flour, salt, nigella seeds) than add the yogurt, olive oil and butter and mix it through.
- Add the yeast milk mixture and mix it. You can knead with your hands or use a hand mixer with kneading attachment. Or you can use like me the Panasonic bread maker (see notes to check the method)
- After kneading or program is done. Let the dough rest covered for 1 hour.
- Divide into balls after one hour and let the dough balls rest for half hour covered.
For the filling:
- While the dough is resting, start preparing your filling.
- Add all your filling ingredients in the food processor and pulse until you have a smooth mixture. Pour into a bowl with the minced meat and mix until everything is covered with the sauce. transfer to a strainer and let it sit in the fridge until some of the liquid is drained you can leave it from an hour up to overnight.
Assembly:
- Preheat your oven on 220 C°.
- Spread the balls with your hands into a flatbread. spread generously some of the filling on top. Bake for 10 minutes until edges start to get lightly golden crispy. Turn on the broiler and cook from top for 4 extra minutes.
- Once you remove from oven, arrange in a large tray. let them cool for only 5 min and immediately cover with a clean towel to ensure that the heat keep them soft and moist.
- Drizzle some extra pomegranate molasses in top and squeeze of lemon and enjoy with some Laban airan on the side!
Notes
- For the dough: you can knead your dough a day before and let it slowly rest covered in the fridge until the next day. You can also form them into smaller balls, wrap them in cling film and store them in the freezer to use later on.
- For storing after baking: you can prepare these flatbreads into smaller mini pizza sizes, bake and store them in the freezer to serve as appetizers at your parties. After baking, let the flatbreads cool for 5 minutes before laying in a Ziplock bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Same procedure for the bigger size flatbreads.
- For storing in the fridge: the lahm bl ajeen can stay fresh and good to eat for 4 days stored in the fridge in an airtight container.
- keep a close eye while baking: each oven temperature is different so I recommend that the first time you are preparing those flatbreads to keep checking with a spatula the bottom of the flatbread once it is golden brown. Turn off the heat and turn on the broiler to cook the meat layer until fully cooked and you start to see little bubbles and the edge f the flatbread is golden crispy.
- Laban airan: it is a very delicious drink to serve with those flatbreads. Just for each 1 cup of thick Laban or yogurt add ½ cup of ice-cold water and whisk till smooth. Then add salt and dry mint and adjust to your taste.
- Kneading the dough: I always use for the dough my Panasonic bread maker. I just mix the yeast with milk and sugar. Add the dry ingredient in the bread maker bowl mix it little add the remaining ingredient on top. And pour the yeast mixture on top. Close and set it to program 28 (pizza dough) let it rest for 45 min in the machine. Then form it into smaller balls of dough and let it rest cover for extra 30 minutes.