Focaccia style lagana is based on the Greek flatbread but with the addition of olives and sundried tomatoes mixed in the dough.
Αncient Greeks colonized Southern Italy and Sicily between 800 to 500 b.C. and then in 146 b.C. the Romans conquered Greece.
During these years the Romans were influenced by the Greek civilization, culture and among other things food.
Until today in some parts of Southern Italy they still speak a Greek ancient dialect called “Griko”and the word lagana is still used there, however, having the meaning of wide tagliatelle.
Classic Greek Lagana
Lasagna comes from this word.
Originally it was an unleavened bread but eventually some yeast was added.
I know that now this is not the time for lagana, as traditionally this wonderful bread is only baked once a year, on the first day of Lent of the Orthodox Easter, and I cannot understand why, as everybody is crazy about this bread.
As I said yesterday, when I made koulouria, I had made double the recipe as with the remaining dough I wanted to make one of our favourite flatbreads: Lagana but this time I decided to try something similar to focaccia.
I remembered seing some recipes of focaccia and one was with sun dried tomatoes and green olives.
The last time I went to the supermarket I had bought some sun dried tomatoes for another recipe and still had some left.
I did not have green olives but I still have lots of throubes olives, which were perfect when I made the Eliopsomo (Olive bread).
Focaccia Lagana with thoubes olives
This focaccia style lagana is delicious when eaten warm but as I baked quite a lot, we ate the last piece today (five days later) and every day it was even better.
It dried and was crispy (not hard) like a rusk with all those beautiful flavours in it.
Update 23/02/2015:
It’s Green Monday today and it’s been raining all day here in Assini, so we ate inside.
I made all the preparation from yesterday, so I left the dough in the fridge overnight and baked them in the morning.
If you want to prepare and bake them on the same day, you will need to bake them after the dough rises.
You can prepare the dough using a stand mixer or by hand.
I made the dough with 1 kio flour and after dividing it into two pieces, I made the classic lagana first.
In the second piece of dough, I added some pitted olives, 2 spring onions with part of the green leaves, some sun-dried tomatoes and rosemary.
The Koroneiki is an olive cultivar from Greece primarily used in olive oil production
Brush the flatbreads with olive oil, cover with cling film and then a tea towel and set aside to rise.
Bake in a convection oven to 200 degrees Celciums for about 20 minutes. As soon as the top one starts browning, swap the baking trays.
While preheating the oven, I added a baking tin filled with water to boil and make steam. I left it inside until the flatbreads were baked.
In the picture you can see the reflection of the baking trays covered with tea towels, while rising.
They were perfect with a delicious crunchy crust and their texture are light and airy.
The first one can be eaten as regular bread or even sandwiched.
The second one can accompany a meal but also eaten as a snack!
Below are some of my Lenten Recipes:
Greek Orthdox Lenten Recipes are mostly vegan. If you think that during Lent, food is bland and boring, think again. I have prepared a roundup of more than 100 recipes for you to choose. A different "lagana" made with olives, sundried tomatoes, onion rosemary, etc. Taramosalata, is a wonderful Greek dip made with red or white fish roe of the cod or carp fish, served as an appetizer. Gigantes plaki is a deliciously hearty vegetarian dish made with giant beans, cooked in a tomato sauce, served as a main dish or an appetizer. Daktyla, also called daktyla kyrion (meaning ladies fingers) is the most popular Cypriot dessert made with phyllo which is very crisp and very juicy, filled with almonds, cinnamon and sugar. They are fried and then drenched in syrup, scented with anthonero (orange blossom water), which make them irresistible. Shiamishi, are one of the best panigyria treats in Cyprus. These are made with homemade phyllo filled with an aromatic, vegan, sweet semolina cream, which is flavoured with anthonero (orange blossom water) and mastic and then deep fried. Focaccia style lagana is based on the Greek flatbread but with the addition of olives and sundried tomatoes mixed in the dough. The amount of dough made one classic lagana without filling and one with the filling. If you are making the first option with throubes olives, in the dough, you can add some orange juice to substitute part of the water.Lenten Recipes
Focaccia style Lagana with Olives and Sun-dried Tomatoes
Ingredients
First option:
Second option:
Instructions
Notes
PIN FOR LATER
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,
pixen
Oh my another keeper… this I must try to make 🙂 I can find the ingredients in my home. Recently I bought a bottle of kalamata olives but it’s preserved in brine instead. Now, it’s good excuse to use in this recipe. You think I can use machine to do the kneading? Will that change the taste and texture? I used to do pizza on my granite kitchen top but I can’t nowadays with a 2 1/2 year old who wants attention and standing on his toes measuring himself against the height of my kitchen top…
As usual, wonderful history behind the food… Soon, I’m going to be very good in Greek History… xaxaxa… 😛
Ivy
Hi Pixen. By all means you can do the kneading in your machine, just use the hook but believe me it’s not necessary as no much kneading is involved.
srilekha
wow! its looking so good!
Ivy
Thanks Srilekha.
Peter G
Another one of my favourites Ivy…I wish I could pop on over and indulge in that beautiful lagana! Love how used olives in the recipe too.
Ivy
Thanks Peter. So many things you can make with Kalamata olives.
Bellini Valli
What a beautiful loaf sis..bread to me is beautiful and makes the whole house smell heavenly:D
Rosie
This really looks SO good Ivy!!
Rosie x
Susan/Wild Yeast
I always love a bread that keeps well for several days. These look just beautiful!
elly
Yum! Beautiful bread!