Vegan Lahmacun

For the crust
2 cups of all-purpose flour
¾ cup of warm water
¼ cup olive oil
1 + ½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 small package of instant yeast (.25 ounces)
NOTE: you can also use store-bought pizza dough if you’re pressed for time

For the topping
½ red pepper
½ serrano pepper, stemmed and seeded
1 Roma tomato
1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
¾ cup vegan ground round / vegan meat crumbles
3 tablespoons tomato paste
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon paprika
⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt, divided
½ teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

Garlic sauce
1 cup plain vegan yogurt
4 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and fresh cracked black pepper, to taste

1. To make the garlic sauce: Mix all the garlic sauce ingredients together in a bowl, and refrigerate.
2. If you are making dough from scratch: In a small bowl, combine sugar, yeast, and warm water. Let the mixture sit until foamy, about 10 minutes.
   Meanwhile, in a stand mixture, or large bowl, mix flour and salt. Make a well in the center.
   When the yeast mixture is ready, add it to the well, with the olive oil, and mix to form a dough.
   Lightly flour a clean surface, and transfer the dough. Knead until smooth, about 6 minutes. If you are using a stand mixer, simply knead the dough in your stand mixer for about 2 minutes.
   Lightly oil a large bowl, and place the dough inside. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel, and allow it to rest until doubled in size, roughly 1 hour.
   After it has proofed, punch down the dough. Divide the dough into 6 even balls and transfer to a floured baking sheet. Cover with a damp tea towel and let rest for 45 minutes.
3. If you are using pizza dough: Allow it to come to room temperature, and rise.
4. To assemble: Meanwhile, heat the oven to 475F with a pizza stone in the bottom third of the oven.
   In a food processor, pulse peppers, tomatoes, parsley, onion, and garlic until everything is finely chopped. To a large bowl, add the pepper mixture, olive oil, ground round, tomato paste, cayenne, cumin, paprika, cinnamon, ½ tsp salt, and pepper and mix with your hands until everything is thoroughly combined. Season with additional salt if needed.
5. When the dough is ready, one at a time, roll dough into a 10″ disk. Brush off any excess flour and transfer the dough disk to a piece of parchment paper.
6. Top the dough with 3–4 tbsp of the pepper/ground round mixture, and spread it out evenly, and right to the edge of the dough.
7. Transfer the dough with the parchment, to the pizza stone, and bake until the dough is golden brown, about 5–9 minutes.
8. Repeat.
9. Serve immediately with a squeeze of lemon, garnish of chopped parsley, and a side of garlic yogurt sauce. You can eat these sliced into triangles or rolled up.

1. Find more of Candice’s recipes at The Edgy Veg and follow her on Facebook.