Sfeeha (Lebanese Meat Pies)
Description
Sfeeha always satisfy and eating them all day long would be great if only my waist would allow it. Their crispy exterior with their steamy soft meat interior take them to the top list of comfort food! You will find sfeeha at all bakeries in Lebanon – these hand-pies are portable and delicious!
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 1 kg. / 2lb 4 oz. all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon salt
- ¼ cup sunflower oil
- 2 + 1/4 cups whole milk
For the meat filling:
- 500 g. / 1 lb 2 oz minced lamb meat
- 2 small onions diced
- 4 medium-sized tomatoes chopped, no need to peel the tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder optional
- ½ teaspoon seven spice or allspice
- Chili flakes optional
Canola or sunflower oil to grease your baking sheets
Instructions
- Start making the dough: In a large bowl, mix the flour, active dry yeast, sugar, salt and oil. Add the lukewarm milk and mix well.
- Knead the dough until it is of one texture. Slam it a couple of times on a countertop before you cover it with cling film, this will strengthen the gluten in the flour, resulting in a very light and fluffy dough. Watch the video! Set aside for one hour or until it doubles in bulk.
- In the meantime, prepare the meat filling: Place the tomatoes and onions in a blender and blend until smooth, you may even use an immersion blender.
- Transfer the pureed tomatoes to bowl, add the minced meat, salt, spices and chili flakes if used. Stir well to homogenize the mixture.
- Strain the filling to get rid of the excess liquid, this is a crucial step to avoid unravelling the sfeeha while baking.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Place the rack in the center of the oven
- When the dough has doubled in size, flour a counter top and break off the dough into equal balls roughly the size of a ping pong ball.
- Stretch each dough with a rolling pin to a round circle ½ cm. thick, making sure to flour the countertop and the rolling pin every now and then to avoid sticking the dough.
- Place a tablespoon of the meat filling in the center of each circle dough. Watch the video above to learn how to shape the dough; I have provided you with two ways to shape the sfeeha, choose your preferable way! The classic way is to pinch the two opposing ends of the round dough, creating a square shape sfeeha.
- The other way to shape sfeeha is to crimp the edges around the filling, creating pleats as you go! Watch the video to make it easier to understand.
- Lightly grease two large baking sheets with oil and place the sfeeha on the greased baking sheets, don’t crowd the sheets.
- Bake each sheet for about 12 minutes to a golden color. Serve warm with a squeeze of lemon juice for an extra kick or some plain yogurt / Purslane Yogurt Salad on the side. Total joy!!
Video
Notes
If you make this recipe, share your pictures on Facebook! I would love to see your creations!Hashtag them #Hadia's Lebanese Cuisine
Check our Lebanese Meat Fatayer/ Lebanese Meat Turnovers
Another meat pie worth checking out Gaziantep Lahmacun
A great Lebanese appetizer worth learning about: Lebanese Cheese Sambusek!
Check our Lebanese Meat Fatayer/ Lebanese Meat Turnovers
Another meat pie worth checking out Gaziantep Lahmacun
A great Lebanese appetizer worth learning about: Lebanese Cheese Sambusek! Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!