Sheik's Gourmet Pizza: The Syrian "Speeza"

Chop sweet onions finely. Use a food processor. So much easier.

In a large mixing bowl mix ground beef, yogurt, pomegranate molasses, onions, sea salt, black pepper and lemon juice thoroughly. The mixture can be separated into small freezer storage bags to create 6 Speeza's. Fill each storage bag with six to seven 4 oz. scoops per bag.

Take the dough out of the refrigerator and let sit, wrapped at room temperature for at least one hour. This is a very important step in our goal of not fighting the dough. Cold dough is extremely hard to spread.

Using a 16-inch pizza pan, pour two large beads of olive oil, making a sign of a cross. Next, thoroughly rub in the olive oil with your hand in a circular motion, making sure to get all of the pan right to the edges, covered with olive oil. For proper Sicilian pizza dough, too much olive oil is NEVER an issue.

Next, drop the ball of beer dough into the center of the pan and rub it around in a circular motion collecting the olive oil to saturate the underside. Flip and repeat on the other side of the dough... And then use your hands to ensure that the sides and all of the dough have a good saturation of olive oil. Do not spread the dough as of yet. Simply cover it with a tea towel and forget about it for the next 15 minutes. Let the olive oil do with magic.

Now, begin spreading out the dough on one side, and then flip the dough and spread it on the other side. you should begin to notice that the dough is beginning to spread a little bit easier. Do not try to spread it the full length of the pan. Spread it as far as it will let you and stop. Repeat this three times on both sides and then cover the dough again with the tea towel. Again wait 15 minutes after covering.

Repeat Step 6 two more times. Resting 10-15 minutes in between each time. Don't rush it! If you soak it, it will spread very easily.

Now the dough should be pretty much spread to the edges of the pan. Try to make the spread as even as possible, uniformly, otherwise you may have a huge crust bubbling up when you cook it. Now, take some more olive oil and again make the sign of the cross lengthwise horizontally and vertically on the dough, and then use your hands to spread it evenly all over the dough. Finally, using your fingers, punch fingerprint pits into the dough all over. This will aid in spreading the meat mixture.

Now scoop out six to seven 4 oz. scoops of meat mixture and place as pictured.

Next, spread the meat mixture using your hands. First work your way to cover the edges of the dough with each of the balls contents.and then gradually work in to cover the entire Pizza shell. Top with a generous portion of pine nuts.

Pre-heat your oven to 475 degrees and be sure to wait until it actually reaches that temperature. You want a good and hot oven. Cook the Speeza for 10 to 12 minutes. Cut into 16 equal slices.