Lahmajun
Form: Shaped like a small pizza
Country of origin: Syria
What distinguishes it from other methods of bread making: Bread with meat
Category of bread: (9) Similar to the Lebanese sfiha, but also to certain pizzas with meat. It is one of those breads that has a hard time standing on its own two feet and calls out for some topping or condiments.
Particularity: The lahmajuns in Aleppo have the reputation of being best
Ingredients: Dough: wheat flour; baker’s yeast; salt; water. Topping: ground beef or lamb; tomatoes and tomato concentrate; garlic; parsley; hot pepper; salt; pepper
Syria
It is said that about three hundred years ago, the Armenians came to Syria and set up shop in the large city of Aleppo, in the northwest of the country, not far from the Turkish border. They brought with them their culture, know-how and, of course, their cuisine. Since they already had an excellent reputation as being good bakers, it was no surprise that they soon opened up bakeries and shops and started introducing the Syrians to breads invented long before in Armenia.
Since most of them came from Sassoun, like David, the mythical hero of the Armenians, it was only natural that they called it sassouni. It is evident that Armenian bakers made gastronomic waves in Aleppo. The Armenians are not only known for the famous iflâgiyûn, an egg bread, renowned above all for the number of spices with which bakers came to grace it: ginger, pepper, aniseed, cumin seeds, cumin, poppy seeds, saffron to cite only a few. One mustn’t forget lahmajun, a sort of Armenian and now Syrian pizza, preferably eaten in Aleppo over any other place in the world.
The sassouni dough, a more or less thick risen dough – is spread with pieces of ground beef or lamb, to which is added sautéed onions livened up with the spices. Obviously, this makes one think of sfiha, found in Lebanon, and, more extensively, in the entire Near East, and also of pizza with ground meat and tomato, to which is sometimes added slices of salami or ham cut into small pieces. This all goes to say that when bakers start innovating, they often, by definition, fall into some standards that make up universal bread making.