Sfiha

Ingredients

• Flour500 g
• Dry yeast7 g
• Warm water280 ml
• Lamb — minced600 g
• Tomatoes — grated400 g
• Onions — grated2
• Pomegranate molasses3 tbsp
• Tahini2 tbsp
• Baharat2 tsp
• Pine nuts50 g
• Olive oil60 ml
• Lemon — to serve1
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Dissolve the yeast in the warm water, knead a soft dough with the flour, oil and salt, and work it ten minutes.

   14 min

2. 2

   Leave the dough to rise somewhere warm for an hour, until doubled.

   62 min

3. 3

   Grate the tomatoes and onion and drain them in a sieve, keeping a little of the juice.

   12 min

4. 4

   Mix the mince with the grated vegetables, pomegranate molasses, tahini, baharat, salt and pepper.

   8 min

5. 5

   Divide the dough into balls and roll them into ten-centimetre rounds.

   15 min

6. 6

   Spread the topping in a thin layer, leaving half a centimetre at the rim, and scatter with pine nuts.

   12 min

7. 7

   Bake at 220 °C for eight minutes, until the edges colour. Serve with lemon.

   12 min

About the dish

The mince goes on raw and in a very thin layer. It cooks in eight minutes along with the dough; browned in advance it gives a dry crumb on the bread.

The tomato and onion are grated rather than chopped. Their juice keeps the topping from drying, but there should be no pieces in it — only an even moist mass.

Pomegranate molasses supplies the acidity that balances fatty lamb. In the Baalbek version it is obligatory; in the Beirut one it appears less often.

Worth knowing

• — Spread the topping thin. A thick layer will not cook through in eight minutes, and it cannot go longer — the dough dries out.
• — Drain the vegetables but not to dryness. A completely dry topping turns tough; a wet one soaks the base.
• — Heat the oven fully in advance. Sfiha bakes fast and hot, or the dough turns into a dry rusk.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

560 kcal

Protein

28 g

Fat

28 g

Carbs

50 g

More from Lebanon

• Tabbouleh — A parsley salad with a little bulgur in it, not the other way round. There is ten times more herb than grain.
• Baked kibbeh — Two layers of bulgur and lamb with a filling of mince and pine nuts between them.
• Fattet hummus — Layers of fried pita, hot chickpeas and garlic yoghurt with browned butter and pine nuts.