This story was inspired by a simple email from Mike Minassian who resides in Cordoba, Argentina. (Little did he know what his request would involve!)
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| Mike Minassian
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Mike, an avid cook, was searching for a lahmajoun dough recipe to match one made by an elderly woman in his native land. Mike said her lahmajouns were absolutely delicious – in fact, the BEST he’d ever eaten!
Mike tried to recreate the dough, but his results were never quite like hers. While others may have given up, he was – and still is – determined to achieve lahmajoun dough perfection.
Mike said the key to successful lahmajoun is the dough.
“It should not be a bit dry; it should be well toasted but at the same time very flexible and a bit greasy. The borders should be a little burnt like an old scroll. When you roll it up to eat it you should notice that the folded dough doesn´t have any cracks; it’s magic! I´ve heard from some people that this lady puts some fat in the dough, or some butter, I don’t know, I’ve tried
a few things but I can´t get it right, and of course she won´t tell me the secret (after all, she does this for a living!).
“It should not be a bit dry; it should be well toasted but at the same time very flexible and a bit greasy. The borders should be a little burnt like an old scroll. When you roll it up to eat it you should notice that the folded dough doesn´t have any cracks; it’s magic! I´ve heard from some people that this lady puts some fat in the dough, or some butter, I don’t know, I’ve tried
a few things but I can´t get it right, and of course she won´t tell me the secret (after all, she does this for a living!).
So, Mike contacted me asking if I had any clue as to how this lady prepares her lahmajouns. He was familiar with my lahmajoun ‘short cut’ version, but he says he’s old-school and prefers making the dough from scratch. Bravo, Mike!
I sent him four different recipes for homemade lahmajoun dough. The first uses olive oil; another uses vegetable shortening; one uses shortening plus whole milk and evaporated milk; and the last one uses no fat at all.
With the recipes in hand, Mike has vowed to try each recipe and send his results to
With the recipes in hand, Mike has vowed to try each recipe and send his results to
The Armenian Kitchen. I promised him I’d share his experiments with you.
After all, we can’t let Mike’s hard work go unnoticed or unappreciated.
I hope you’ll follow along as I post Mike’s efforts in ‘The Great Lahmajoun Dough Experiment’!
Stay tuned for Experiment #1 … coming soon!!
Stay tuned for Experiment #1 … coming soon!!
Good luck Mike! I'll be keeping a watch out for this one. That always comes up in conversation – the dough isn't raw of course, but even cooked, it has that nice soft-pliable texture as though it was. Seems like magic to me. 😉