Lagana Recipe (Greek Flatbread)
This Lagana recipe produces a traditional Greek Flatbread that is often baked at the beginning of lent season on Clean Monday or "Kathari Deftera".
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 cups room temperature water
- 5 1/2 - 6 cups flour bread flour or all purpose flour
Glaze
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sesame seeds
Instructions
- To a large bowl (or alternatively to the bowl of a stand mixer if you choose to use one), add the active dry yeast, sugar, and lukewarm water. Gently mix to combine and then let it sit for 5 minutes until it begins to foam. [Note: if the yeast does not begin to foam, allow for 5 more minutes. If it is still does not activate, you may have to discard and use fresher yeast as it may no longer be good.]
- Next, add the remaining room temperature water, olive oil, and salt to the yeast mixture. Initially add about 4 cups of flour and begin to mix the dough together, slowly adding more dough until the dough is soft and slightly sticky to the touch. You will likely end up using between 5 1/2 to 6 cups of flour. Knead the dough for about 3 minutes. The dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl when it is ready. [Note: you can use a stand mixer with a dough hook attached for this step. I opt to use the lowest speed on my mixer for bread recipes.]
- Cover the bowl with plastic food wrap and a clean kitchen towel and place it in a warm place to allow the dough to rise and double in size (for about 1 hour).
- Place parchment paper in a sheet pan and sprinkle with a little flour. I use a large sheet pan to make 1 loaf of lagana. Alternatively, you can make two smaller flatbreads if you prefer to.
- Grease your hands with a little olive oil and then transfer the risen dough to the sheet pan, pressing it to form a rough rectangular shape (similar to how you would stretch and press pizza dough). Let the dough rest for 30 minutes to rise again. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F.
- Use your fingers to make dimples in the dough (similar to Italian focaccia bread, this gives the flatbread an authentic last touch). Then, you will need to mix the water and sugar to create the glaze and brush it over the surface of the lagana bread using a pastry brush. Finally, sprinkle the dough with sesame seeds.
- Bake the dough in the preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.
Note: Metric ingredient measurements are provided as a courtesy using a third-party calculator and are rounded to the nearest unit. The recipes provided on this site have not been tested with metric measurements and their accuracy cannot be verified.
Nutrition
Calories: 1550kcalCarbohydrates: 269gProtein: 38gFat: 34gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 6gMonounsaturated Fat: 21gSodium: 3499mgPotassium: 427mgFiber: 11gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 1IUVitamin C: 0.01mgCalcium: 114mgIron: 17mg
The nutritional information provided is based on third-party calculations and is an estimate only. Accurate nutritional facts will vary based on the particular brands used, portion sizes, measurement accuracy and more.
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