Erez’s Wedding Lamb Focaccia

Sometimes the things we eat are indelibly mapped into our memories, minds, and palates. Deciding to get married to Jay in Tel Aviv was easy since our relationship was cemented here and we lived here. Once our friends and family said they’d happily make the trip to celebrate with us, that sealed the deal. The obvious next question was: What to do about the food? Then someone reminded me that Erez Komarovsky, a legendary baker and cook who lives near the Lebanese border on eleven dunams of land where he gardens and cooks and tends to his chickens, might be able to do our wedding. We whooped with glee when it sunk in that he would be the person feeding our guests. On that night, there were figs split open to reveal jewel-like tuna crudo. There was meltingly tender roasted kohlrabi so delicious my friends gave it its own hashtag on Instagram. And then there was the lamb focaccia, which emerged from a wood-burning bread oven with an aroma so alluring it seduced people off the dance floor. I can still taste that crispy, olive oil–rich dough topped with spiced ground lamb, toasted pine nuts, mint, and a hint of fennel seed, which Erez referred to by its Arabic name, yansoon.

The bread served as a sponge for the lamb fat, which infused it with an extra layer of wow. So many people who were there that night have asked me for the recipe that I called up Erez and asked him if he would share it. Before I even had time to pull out a pen and notepad he began reciting it to me from memory. The multiple kneadings and resting times initially intimidated me, but Erez reassured me that all would be OK when I tried it at home. Yes, the dough is sticky, but if you make sure not to skimp on the olive oil, you’ll be rewarded with a pliant dough that stretches over your palms with ease. The joy is in the imperfect shapes here. Make sure to ask for lamb with a good amount of fat, get your oven as hot as possible, and don’t worry if it takes a few minutes before you slice and eat your creation; the flavors are even more pronounced after a little resting time.

Makes 8 focaccias

Active Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 4 hours (including rising)

FOCACCIA DOUGH

7 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for shaping

1 tablespoon instant (rapid-rise) yeast

3 cups cold water

1 tablespoon crushed fennel seeds

2½ teaspoons fine sea salt

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling and oiling the bowl

LAMB TOPPING

1½ pounds ground lamb (ask your butcher to give you a blend of 70% meat, 30% fat—you want the meat to be the opposite of lean here)

½ cup lightly toasted pine nuts

2 medium onions, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, finely minced

½ cup finely chopped fresh mint, plus plenty more for garnish

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1½ teaspoons ground coriander

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Tahini, for drizzling

Make the focaccia: Sift the flour and yeast into a very large bowl (use your biggest salad bowl or even a large soup pot, if that’s the biggest you’ve got), then pour the cold water on top of the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture starts to come together in a shaggy dough. Let the mixture rest for 8 minutes, then add the fennel seeds and salt and knead to incorporate, 1 minute. Let the dough rest for 3 more minutes, then drizzle in the olive oil and knead until the dough becomes very soft and silky (it will still be loose and a bit sticky, not like conventional bread dough). Place the dough in a large oiled bowl, cover loosely with a plastic bag, and let stand in a warm place until the dough loosens and puffs very slightly, 30 minutes.

Gently fold the dough in half over itself, rotate it 90 degrees, fold it in half again, rotate another 90 degrees, and fold in half one more time for a total of three folds. Cover the dough again with the plastic bag and let it rise for another 30 minutes and repeat the folding procedure. Cover one more time, let rest for a third 30-minute period, and repeat the folding procedure one more time. An hour and a half will have passed by the time this process is over. The dough will be fluffy, risen, and jiggly.

Generously flour a work surface, then turn the bowl over onto the floured surface. Using a sharp kitchen knife or pastry scraper, cut the dough into 8 equal pieces (it’s OK if they’re not perfectly even). Generously flour the tops of the pieces, then cover with a garbage bag or several plastic bags and let rise for another hour. While the dough is rising, set a rack in the center of the oven and preheat a pizza stone on the highest temperature for 1 hour (if you don’t have a pizza stone, you can also preheat an inverted large, clean cast-iron skillet for 30 minutes or a heavy baking sheet for 15 minutes).

Make the topping: Gently combine the lamb, pine nuts, onions, garlic, mint, pepper, salt, coriander, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cardamom in a large bowl. Pour the olive oil into a small bowl and set up a stack of 8 pieces of parchment paper cut to around the size of a standard 8 x 11-inch piece of paper. Using the oil in the bowl, oil up your hands, then stretch 1 piece of the dough, trying not to force the gas out of the focaccia, and into either a 9-inch circle or an oval or whatever you want, really. Gently move the dough onto a piece of the parchment, then top with one eighth of the lamb filling, leaving a 1-inch border around the edges. Slide the pizza-topped parchment sheet onto an unrimmed plate or a pizza peel, open the oven, then slip the pizza onto the pizza stone and bake until the focaccia is puffed and the lamb is fully cooked, 8 to 11 minutes, depending on how hot your oven gets. (Depending on the size of the oven and your baking surface, you may be able to bake 2 focaccias at a time.) Remove from the oven, top with lots of chopped mint, and drizzle with tahini. Repeat with the other 7 pieces of dough.