Original Recipe
Laganon
Hesychius Dictionary[1]
“Laganon: a type of small cake, dry, made from the finest wheat flour and fried in a frying pan in olive oil.”

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unbleached flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup water (scant)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation Steps:

• Combine flours and salt in a mixing bowl.
• Gradually add water, kneading, until a smooth, fairly stiff dough is formed.
• If dough seems too sticky, add an additional tablespoon of flour; if too stiff, add an additional teaspoon of water.
• Break the dough into four pieces and roll through a pasta maker, setting the rollers closer and closer together, until thin sheets are formed.
• Lay on a cutting board and poke all over with a fork to keep them from puffing up when fried.
• Cut into squares or lozenges about 1 1/2” on a side (a pizza cutter works really well for this).
• You should be able to get a dozen lagana from each sheet of dough.
• Heat 1/4” of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
• If the oil begins to smoke, turn down the heat a little.
• Fry the lagana until light brown and crisp, turning once during cooking.
• Allow to cool and serve with olive paste and/or cheeses.

Number of Servings:
Makes 4 dozen.

Notes:

• Mark Grant writes that since modern flatware was unknown to the Romans, it is likely that they used lagana as an aid to eating. [2]
• Although “finest wheat flour” is called for, I’ve found that mixing white and whole wheat flour gives a pleasing texture.
• Also, it is not likely that even their finest flour would have been as finely ground and as white as modern cake flour.
• Salt is not called for in the original recipe; however, I found the lagana to be rather dry and tasteless without it, so I have added a small amount.

Footnotes
[1] As quoted in Grant, p. 65
[2] Ibid.