Page 43 - Erasmus Let's be Eco-sustainAble, towards 2030 Dissemination Activity book

Activity: Athienou Traditional Bread Making

Athienou has a long bread-making tradition and is famous for the
widely known round “common Cypriot bread”. This bread was
made at home mainly to be consumed by the family members. Its
main ingredients are local flour, from which only oats are extracted,
water and salt. Its preparation starts by making the leaven, in other

words the sourdough which is necessary for the fermentation; to
make the sourdough holy water from the Feast of the Exaltation of
the Holy Cross or water from the first rain was used.

In the 20th century, several Athienou families started marketing
their breads as street sellers in their vehicles or in bakeries, thus
making them known all over the island. However, the importance
of bread-making in Athienou is not restricted to consumption and
trade; the preparation of bread in houses and yards was at the

same time a social practice bringing people from different families
and different generations closer. At the same time, bread-making is
closely linked to religious practices which are still preserved by
women in the communities, as they learned them from their
mothers and grand-mothers.

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