Traditional Greek Flatbread Lagana

veHey hey,

I am sharing a newer version of this recipe for the Traditional Greek Flatbread Lagana with ingredients in our pantries. We prepare this special bread only once a year on Clean Monday, the first day of Lent. Clean Monday marks the end of the Greek Carnivals and the beginning of Greek Easter. Clean Monday (Kathara Deutera) is similar to “Ash Wednesday,” so fasting begins.

This is a soft and chewy flatbread garnished with sesame seeds. I made two different variations of flatbread this year, the first one turned out very similar to pita bread.  Thinner, with a crunchier taste, I chose to do this because I wanted this one for dipping. The second bread is thicker and much softer and chewier, garnished with black and white sesame seeds, and with just a pinch of salt and oregano.

Speaking of fasting, it’s true that not everyone can fast for 40 days. Traditional fasting mainly involves no intake of meat, dairy, etc. But here’s what makes fasting interesting: With so many vegetarian dishes in Greek cuisine, healthy eating is the way to go when fasting.  So, for those of us who are vegan, or vegetarians, we don’t make many changes in our daily diet, but for others who are meat and potato lovers, well, it becomes difficult.

This coming Monday, March 3rd, is Clean Monday, so everyone is preparing the star of the day, these traditional flatbreads.  So, we can eat shellfish and delicious mezedes, which consists of Greek olives, Halva, Dolmades, (stuffed grape leaves) and Taramosalata (fish roe spread) which are the main meze attractions of the day.

This is a pretty easy recipe for the Traditional Greek Flatbread Lagana that comes together very quickly.  So, if you love to bake and eat bread then try out this flatbread recipe.

Have a great morning/afternoon/evening!

Traditional Greek Flatbread Lagana

foodzesty

A traditional Greek Flatbread garnished with sesame seeds and dried oregano. This flatbread is only baked once a year on Clean Monday with Greek mezedes.

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Prep Time 2 hours hrs

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Course Appetizer, Bread, Brunch

Cuisine Greek, Mediterranean

Servings 10 servings

Equipment

• 1 stand mixer
• 2 mixing bowls
• 1 Baking pan
• 1 parchment paper sheet
• measuring spoons
• measuring cups
• kitchen scale
• 1 spatula
• 1 baking brush

Ingredients

  

• 4 cups bread flour
• 1 ¼ cup water lukewarm
• 2.5 tsp active dry yeast
• 9 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• ⅛ cup vegetable oil
• sesame seeds
• black sesame seeds optional
• dried oregano

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 190℃. Mix the lukewarm water, yeast. Let it sit for 5 minutes until it becomes frothy.
• In the second bowl, combine the salt and flour with the spatula.
• Add the yeast mix to the flour mix, along with the sugar, and vegetable oil. Place the bowl onto your stand mixer and mix until it turns into a sticky dough. You can also do this process by hand.
• Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and set it aside until the dough rises. It might take one to one and a half hours.
• Once the dough has risen, punch the dough and transfer to a surface area that is easiest to knead the dough.
• Knead and start to flatten out the dough into a rectangle shape.
• Use your fingertips to punch in holes throughout the dough. Once the dough is flattened, brush some water with the baking brush from top to bottom, left and right.
• Generously sprinkle the sesame seeds
• Place the bread onto the parchment paper and bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown.
• Let it cool off and sprinkle dry oregano.

Keyword Bread, crust, flatbread, Oven Bake

KALI MAS OREXI!! 🙂