Lahm Bi Ajeen (Sfiha)

5 from 3 votes

Lahm Bi Ajeen (Sfiha)

Lahm bi ajeen is a delicious oven-baked savory minced meat pie is known as sfiha in the Middle East. It's made with homemade dough and spiced meat.

Servings:

Ingredients

Dough

1 cup warm water
3 cups flour you can use wholewheat, all-purpose or baking flour
2 tablespoons dry powdered milk
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
⅓ cup olive oil

Meat Topping

1 lb ground beef
1 onion chopped
2 medium-sized tomatoes diced
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses debes remman
1 teaspoon Lebanese 7 spices
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt

Optional

¼ cup of pine nuts

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make the dough. In a large bowl (or bowl of a dough mixer if using) combine half a cup of the warm water (save the remainder) yeast and sugar. Stir the mixture and let the yeast bloom while you prep the other ingredients. The yeast water should foam when ready. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, dry milk, and salt. Form a well in the mixture. Pour in the yeast, water and sugar combination and start kneading with your hands (you can also use a dough kneader for this step). As you knead, slowly add the remaining cup of water, kneading in between each addition. Keep kneading until you are able to form the dough into a ball. Pat the dough ball with a little bit of olive oil. Cover it with a kitchen cloth and let it rest for a minimum of an hour (the more it rests the better).
Make the meat topping. Put the onion and salt in a food processor and pulse for a minute or two. Add in the tomatoes, spices, pomegranate molasses, olive oil, and meat. Pulse until all the ingredients are well combined.
Make the lahm bi ajeen. Heat the oven to 350 ℉ or 180 ℃. Form the rested dough into small round balls (around 10). Flour a surface in your kitchen and use a rolling pin to shape a thin round circle out of each piece.
Bake the lahm bi ajeen. Transfer the pie dough pieces to a greased oven baking dish or baking dish with a parchment paper. Top each with a spoon of the meat mixture. Place the tray in the oven for around 35 minutes or until both the dough and meat topping are cooked through.

Notes

Serve hot.
Drizzle with lemon juice or more pomegranate molasses for added flavor.
The meat pies keep well in the fridge for up to 5 days if kept in an airtight container.
The total time is reflecting the minimum set time for the dough.
Storage: Store baked sfiha in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. To reheat, just bake in the oven at 350 ℉ or 180 ℃ for 8 to 10 minutes or until heated. Alternatively, store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Dough ingredient notes:
- Warm water: The water's temperature is key because it activates the yeast to help the dough rise. When using active dry yeast, the ideal temperature of the water is between 110℉ to 115℉ (43 ℃- 46 ℃) when dissolving the yeast directly in water (as recommended in this recipe). If you don't have a thermometer, mix ⅓ part boiling water with ⅔ part room temperature water.
- Flour: For this recipe, all-purpose flour is recommended. Unbleached flour and wheat flour are appropriate substitutes as well.
- Active dry yeast: This usually comes in small tins and has a granular texture. Instant dry yeast is different than active dry yeast in that it can be mixed directly into the dry ingredients without needing to be dissolved into the water first. If using instant dry yeast and adding it directly to the other dry ingredients, make sure to use water with a bit higher temperature between 120℉ and 130℉ (49℃ - 54℃).
- Olive oil: Adds a fragrant taste to the dough and is the preferred choice over butter or vegetable oil.
- Dry powdered milk: I add just a little bit to balance out the flavor. Regular milk is not an appropriate substitute. If you do not have dry powdered milk on hand, skip this ingredient.
- Sugar: It might sound weird but trust me this teeny bit of sugar makes a huge difference when it comes to taste. You can use white sugar, brown sugar, or cane sugar.
Meat ingredient notes:
- Ground meat: You can use all ground beef, or all ground lamb, or an equal mixture of ground lamb and ground beef. Ground lamb has a higher fat content typically than ground beef, which gets absorbed by the dough.
- Pomegranate molasses: A Middle Eastern staple made of juiced pomegranates, this ingredient is the highlight of this dish.
- Seven spices: This is a very common mixture of ground spices used in Lebanese cuisine. Seven spices is a ground mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, fenugreek, allspice, pepper, and cloves.

Nutrition