Beef Sfiha
Traditional Arabic flatbread: light dough, real beef topping, and baked fresh.
Brazil has the largest Lebanese diaspora outside the Arab world — over 7 million people of Lebanese descent. That kind of presence leaves a mark.
Syrian and Lebanese immigrants arrived in São Paulo in the early 20th century, bringing their spices and wood-fired baking traditions with them. Their sfiha — small open-faced meat pies fragrant with cinnamon, cumin, and lemon — was celebration food, passed around at family gatherings.
Over the decades it adapted quietly. The dough got fluffier, the filling gained tomatoes and lime, the spices mellowed just enough for Brazilian palates. Today sfiha is one of the most recognizable street foods in the country — proof that food travels better than anything else, and that when it lands in the right place, it transforms.
Meat Filling Ingredients
- 700g of ground beef
- 5 diced tomatoes
- 1 diced onion
- 1/2 cup of chopped mint
- Juice of 2 lemons
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
Dough Ingredients (50 servings):
- 1 kg of all-purpose flour
- 30 g of active dry yeast
- 3/4 cup of granulated sugar (125 g)
- 125 ml of soybean oil
- 500 to 700 ml of warm water
- 1 tablespoon of fine salt
- Cornmeal for dusting
Filling Preparation
- Set aside all the filling ingredients.
- In a bowl, combine the ground beef, tomatoes, onion, lemon juice, salt, and herbs. Mix everything well.
- Place this mixture into a colander over a bowl and let it drain for about 10 minutes.
Dough Preparation
- Mix 500 ml of water (reserve the rest) with the yeast and sugar, then let it rest for 10 minutes.
- Add the flour (set aside a small portion), oil, and salt.
- Mix everything with a wooden spoon.
- Pour the dough onto a floured surface and knead it.
- Gradually add the remaining flour and water, alternating them bit by bit, until the dough looks smooth and no longer sticks to your hands.
- Let it rest for 10 minutes.
- Take a dough ball, dust it with a little cornmeal, and open the dough with your fingertips, leaving the edges higher.
- Using a spoon, add the meat filling and spread it evenly over the sfiha.
- Place all the filled sfihas on a baking sheet dusted with cornmeal and bake in a preheated oven at 230-250°C (450-480°F) for about 15-30 minutes or until fully baked.
Prep Time: 1 hour.
