Sfiha

Documented in Aleppo and the Bekaa Valley by the Ottoman tax registers of the 16th century as a baker-shop staple — bakers had wood-fired ovens that home cooks didn't, so families brought trays of assembled sfiha to the neighborhood furn for baking. Lebanese Christian emigrants carried it to São Paulo in the early 20th century, where it became Brazilian "esfiha" and split into a closed dough version sold by Habib's chains.

Aleppo and Bekaa baker-shop staple, listed in 16th-century Ottoman tax registers — bakers had wood-fired ovens that home cooks didn't, so families brought trays of assembled sfiha to the neighborhood furn. Lebanese Christian emigrants carried it to São Paulo in the early 1900s, where it became Brazilian esfiha.

Open-faced meat pie the size of a coaster: thin yeasted dough rolled to a 3 mm circle, topped with raw spiced lamb, diced tomato, onion, pomegranate molasses, sometimes pine nuts, baked hot until the meat caramelizes and the rim crisps. The Baalbeki and Aleppine versions are the canonical pair — Aleppine is acidic from extra molasses, Baalbeki saltier and richer.

The meat goes on raw, not pre-cooked — the 4-minute high-temperature bake (around 280 °C) cooks the lamb just to medium while concentrating its juice into the dough. Pre-cooking dries the meat out and severs the fat-juice transfer that defines the dish. Pomegranate molasses isn't seasoning; it's a tenderizer, dropping the pH on the meat surface so the protein unwinds during the brief bake.