Attica Clean Monday Lagana (Λαγάνα Αττικής)

Attica's Clean Monday lagana is the flatbread of Kathara Deftera, the first day of Lent: lean dough, sesame crust, long oval shape, and dimples pressed so deep they almost touch the tray. It isn't everyday bread. It belongs to that one morning when bakeries open before sunrise and people carry warm paper-wrapped loaves home with taramosalata, olives, pickles, and halva.

The whole bread rests on the dimpling. Press lightly and it puffs into a soft loaf, pleasant but wrong. Press firmly, in close rows, and the dough bakes flat with crisp ridges, tender valleys, and sesame caught across the top. That's the method that makes lagana itself.

I make the dough simple and nistisimo, as the fasting table asks: flour, water, yeast, salt, a little oil, and sesame. A spoon of petimezi in the glaze helps the seeds cling and gives a quiet bronze color. Eat it the same day. By morning it stiffens, which is not failure. It's the calendar telling you this bread was meant for Clean Monday, not Tuesday.