131Lagana bread

Method

Traditional Clean Monday sesame flatbread. Makes two medium flatbreads, serving 6 people.

You will need

• Large mixing bowl
• Baking sheet
• Baking parchment
• Pastry brush
• Wire cooling rack

1. In a wide mixing bowl, combine the bread flour, durum yellow flour, fast-action yeast, sugar, and fine sea salt, keeping the salt slightly away from the yeast. 2 min Ready when: flours evenly blended
2. Create a well in the centre, pour in the lukewarm water and olive oil, and bring the flour in gradually until a soft, slightly sticky dough comes together. 3 min Ready when: shaggy soft dough formed
3. Turn the dough onto a lightly oiled worktop and knead firmly for 8 to 10 minutes until smooth, supple, and elastic. 10 min Ready when: smooth, stretchy, slightly tacky surface
4. Shape the dough into a ball, place in an oiled bowl, cover with a clean tea towel, and leave to rise in a warm spot for about 50 minutes until doubled in size. 50 min Ready when: doubled in volume and puffy
5. Preheat a conventional oven to 200C (400F) and line a large flat baking sheet with parchment paper. 5 min · 200°C / 400°F Ready when: oven hot and ready
6. Gently punch down the dough, divide into two equal portions, and roll or stretch each portion on the lined sheet into an elongated flat oval about 1.5 cm thick. 5 min Ready when: two flat oval loaves formed
7. Cover the loaves loosely and leave to rest for 20 minutes to relax the gluten, then use your fingertips to press deep indentations firmly all over the surface, pressing almost down to the baking tray. 20 min Ready when: dimpled deeply without tearing
8. Brush the loaves thoroughly with the warm honey-water glaze and immediately shower heavily with sesame seeds, pressing them gently with your palms so they adhere. 3 min Ready when: generously coated with sesame
9. Bake in the centre of the oven at 200C (400F) for 20 to 25 minutes, until the crust is deeply golden, crisp on top, and sounds hollow when tapped underneath. 25 min · 200°C / 400°F Ready when: deep golden brown and hollow-sounding
10. Transfer the flatbreads to a wire rack to cool slightly; serve freshly baked and crisp. 10 min Ready when: cool enough to handle

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Make ahead and storing

Dough can be mixed and refrigerated overnight for a slow cold ferment; bring to room temperature before shaping.

Best eaten on the day of baking; wrap tightly in a tea towel for up to 2 days or freeze sliced.

Substitutions

• Plain flour or strong white bread flour for Fine semolina or durum yellow flour. Can use 100% bread flour, though durum flour lends authentic colour and crispness.
• Sugar dissolved in warm water for Honey or sugar dissolved in water. Use sugar water for a strictly vegan or honey-free fast.

Common mistakes

• Dimpling the dough too lightly.. The bread will puff up like a standard loaf in the oven instead of staying thin and crisp.
• Skipping the sweet water wash before seeding.. Sesame seeds fall straight off the bread when cut if not stuck with a sugar or honey glaze.

Regional variants

• Lagana with Kalamata olives: Slices of pitted black olives pressed into the dimples before baking.
• Lagana with sun-dried tomatoes: Studded with dried herbs and tomato pieces common in island bakeries.

About the dish

Lagana is the symbolic flatbread baked strictly for Clean Monday (Kathara Deftera), the first day of Great Lent. Classical writers, including Aristophanes and Horace, refer to an unleavened thin dough known as laganon, which evolved across centuries into the yeasted, dimpled oval loaf known today. Bakeries across Greece operate through the night before Clean Monday so customers can buy it warm at dawn to accompany fasting foods like taramasalata, halva, and pickled vegetables on family outings.

Found in all of Greece. Cooked for lent.

Cousins elsewhere

• Focaccia (Italian). A dimpled flatbread leavened with yeast and enriched with olive oil, though lagana is crisper and heavily seeded.
• Manakish (Levantine). An olive-oil flatbread baked hot and fast with surface toppings.

Nutrition per serving (estimate)

419 kcal · protein 13.2 g · fat 11.6 g (saturated 1.7 g) · carbohydrate 65.7 g (sugars 4.6 g) · fibre 3.8 g · sodium 523 mg

An estimate (summed from ingredient estimates) that varies with the exact ingredients. It is not dietary advice.

Written fresh by Epikouria editors from general culinary tradition. Recipe by the Epikouria editors. Clean Monday home bakery style with crisp crust and generous sesame topping..