The Feast of St. Agatha, the patron saint of bread, is celebrated on 5 February. It has long been believed that the bread consecrated in the church on that day can protect against fire, diseases or disasters. Professor Rimvydas Laužikas, a researcher of gastronomic heritage, explains about why rye bread took hold in Lithuania, the mystification of bread, superstitions and rituals, as well as changes in consumption.

Specialists who research bread in the world count hundreds of types of bread, while the first bread in Lithuania was baked 3,500 years ago, in the Bronze Age. It is true that the bread at that time was quite different from what we are used to eating today – in those days, people did not grow rye, did not have mills, and did not have a bread oven.

Recipe for rye bread has remained practically unchanged for 800 years

"In the Bronze Age, bread could be baked from wheat, as well as spelt or barley flour. Interestingly, the modern Latvian name for bread "maize" reminds us of that ancient barley bread. In those days, grains were crushed on a stone surface by rubbing them with another stone – this was coarse enough, or as we would say now – whole grain bread," explains Professor Professor Laužikas.

Bread baking was also special in its own way – since in most cases there were bread ovens, the bread was shaped like a patty and baked on a heated stone or in dishes over a fire. The first loaves of rye bread that we are used to eating were baked only about 800 years ago, and the recipe for rye bread has practically remained unchanged since then.

"Rye bread has taken root in Lithuania and became the main, and sometimes even the only, bread because of the rye that grows extremely well in our climate zone – they proved to successfully grow in the barren lands around the present-day Vilnius, where the state of Lithuania was being created," the interviewee says.

According to him, chaff or wheat flour was often added to the bread when there was a lack of rye grains. Among the exotic crops used for baking bread, it is worth mentioning the mannagrass, a small plant that grows on the shores of lakes and streams.

Bakes more than 120 types of bread

Currently, the variety of bread is no longer surprising, while the white bread products are an everyday product in the shopping cart of customers. Every year, European residents consume over 30 million kg of bread and its products. According to the data of Mantinga, 127 different types of bread are produced today, and the most popular of them in Lithuania are French baguettes with garlic filling and Italian ciabattas.

"Upon remembering what the selection of bread and its products used to be and what it is now, the difference is obvious. The range of bread products has expanded, recipes, the size of bread products and consumer choices have changed", comments Ramunė Puzinienė, Head of New Product Development at Mantinga, a producer of bread, snacks and frozen products.

According to her, if bread used to be baked and bought in large loaves weighing several kilograms, today buyers are offered much smaller packages – 300-400 g each. Although much of the manual work has been replaced by automated production solutions, some bread making traditions are still kept alive.

Puzinienė noted that consumers are becoming not only pickier, but also more demanding about the quality of bread – handmade bread products with an attractive appearance and composition are becoming extremely popular.