Kisieliai, a Lithuanian bread baker derived from a centuries-old yeast: about a non-existent village and life under a maple

In that town, which has already disappeared from the map of Lithuania and in that slime Together with her husband Albinas, she founded a Lithuanian bakery. And so as not to forget the name of the village, he gave the bakery the name of the village of Radviliškės, which no longer exists.

Matured in hot tubs, hand baked

Almost a quarter of a century ago, the philologist A. Kisielienė, who worked as a German and Russian teacher at the Panevėžys J. Balčikonis gymnasium and at the same time as an assistant principal, quit her job at the school and started a business with her husband, the Albinas economist, in his hometown.

Today, the Kisieliai family runs Radviliškės Village bakery, where they ripen and bake bread by hand in wooden tubs, tell guests about their Lithuanian path, and organize annual bread festivals.

Now the bakery, located on a single farm, has more than 40 employees, and Audronė, having found a more free minute, gives educational lessons, whether small, large, Lithuanian or foreign, he has to go through almost all the biblical roads of the Cross, not for the cognitive bread, the twelve stations. There are so many eloquent wooden sculptures created by the sculptor Eduard Tito that tell the story of the birth of bread that adorn the house of Kisieliai.

I have centennial yeast

“Radviliškiai is the hometown of a man, but when we have been together for 41 years, I am not saying that it is his, but our common homeland,” says the businesswoman, who appreciates Lithuanian baking traditions.

The woman says that it was not courage that brought them back to the farm, but that there was no other option: “After slime We left the farm where little Albin ran, and we are very sorry. We started driving, tidying up, at first we thought we would rotate between Panevėžys and the town. But eventually, we started to think we had to do something.

We had friends from Germany, they advised us, they helped us step by step, supporting each other, that’s how we started. “

The family bought the first used bread at low cost from acquaintances of the Germans, and received the yeast, symbolic and very important for the production of bread, from the famous baker Petronėlė Kurulienė.

“This grandmother shared with us the secrets of baking bread, and now she is like our advertising face: in her honor, we named one of our breads Petronėlė,” says A. Kisielienė.

He adds that the history of that yeast is unique and actually goes back a century, as in 1924. The Petronėlė born had inherited that yeast from her mother.

The first loaves – in a clay barn

And when they had received the yeast, the little ones began to bake. Initially, it was one type of bread and two types: light bread and dark bread. It was first baked in an old clay soaked clay. slime in the barn: “True, we cleaned it, scraped a large layer of earth, filled it with gravel, bricked the walls with white bricks, fixed everything, and started baking bread there.”

The business took off so fast that soon a small bakery was not enough and A. Kisielius took back his land, where the farm was abandoned and turned into a new bakery.

“An old collective farm calf was in the land of man. We buy back that abandoned farm from the shareholders. Because we changed the use of the land, we had to pay considerable taxes to the state. I don’t think that’s correct, that farm was in an emergency, it wasn’t used at all. Everything was abandoned there and covered in pigeons. We fix everything step by step. This is the main activity going on there now, ”said A. Kisielienė.

And in the old building that turned out from the barn, educational programs are organized. In the old bakery, the family allows guests and themselves to try baking bread.

Business flourished

Audronė says that they were lucky because they became one of the first bakers of this type of bread in Lithuania. For four years, the business grew like a yeast. And already in the 2000s, when the big bakeries flourished, when the bakeries appeared in Maximos, it became more difficult for them. But the bakers in the village of Radvilišk estabans weren’t bad anymore, so they survived.

“Then we went back to the past, to the traditions, to the old, real and tried by life. To the traditional natural bread that our grandparents baked. When we started to bake it, our rebirth began, ”said the founder of the bakery, who appreciates the traditions of Lithuanian heritage.

After some time, Radviliškės Rural Bakery became a member of the Lietuviško ūkio kokybė cooperative and, participating in the “Greetings from the village” project, also reached the shelves of Maxima stores with its products.

“This project has existed for almost a decade and we are working very successfully with Maxima. Now we are in the 15 largest stores of this brand in Lithuania,” said the woman.

The entrepreneur does not hide that selling their products in large retail chains forces them to make an effort and excel.

However, products from the Radviliškės village bakery can be found elsewhere. Both in the markets and in the small shops, and especially in the mobile markets, which abound in the main cities of Lithuania. Every day they are in a different place, but for those who want fresh Lithuanian bread or other pastries, it is not difficult to find them.

Meets Keyhole requirements

Audronė laughs that she had never baked bread herself before, and here her mother was still baking. She lay down for eternal rest four years ago, but until then she was the best advisor to a family of entrepreneurs who were thinking of baking Lithuanian bread.

The businesswoman says that not one type of bread is baked, but the real one, without added sugar, with yeast, without yeast. It is acidic, but meets the requirements of a “keyhole.” This brand refers to products that are particularly beneficial for human health. Several products marked with this brand are born in the bakery: wholemeal and bran bread.

On his tracks

Audronė, who dropped out of school, did not forget his pedagogical work, only now it took a slightly different form: “I run the educational program ‘Bread Road’. We accept both students and adults, and companions come. Many foreigners used to visit us. Through those shows, I feel back on my way, I really like it. We tidy up the house. And everything that has been done is being done, and I hope that it will be done in the future, everything is directed in one direction: nurturing and promoting the old Lithuanian folk traditions and the ancient craft of baking bread ”.

The family of entrepreneurs has installed a park of 12 sculptures on the territory of their house, which symbolizes the Path of Bread. They represent the path of bread from the floor to the table.

“It just came to our knowledge then prietelių, sculptor E. Titus, is an infinitely deep spiritual man, and that is reflected in his sculptures ”, said the author of the impressive sculpture.

Every year for a decade, the entrepreneurs of their farm before St. Anne is organizing a Bread Baker Festival, which attracts a lot of people. The sculptors who carve here are also invited. Later an auction is held and these sculptures are sold. Some of them also settled on the Kisieliai farm, turning it into a complete sculpture park.

Affected by the pandemic

The host of the bakery does not hide the fact that his business has been badly affected by a coronavirus pandemic. There were no more guests and the volume of baked goods decreased significantly: “We negotiate at many events and fairs. Sales were definitely not bad. But this year, almost all the holidays are gone. And how much of our bread went abroad. We have been participating for eight years in the Feast of Bread of the member states of the European Union. It did not happen this year. We were invited to a traditional German harvest festival. “

However, the optimistic entrepreneur is convinced that she will somehow survive the tough times. Most importantly, he says, so that employees don’t get sick: “After all, it’s not bad for us alone right now. People will always need bread, and what about hotels, restaurants, cafes, travel agencies? “

In the middle of Lithuania

When asked where a single farm bakery finds so many employees, A. Kisielienė said she should be grateful for the improved regional policy.

Radviliškės rural bakery is located in the center of Lithuania, from Panevėžys up to 40 kilometers, from Kėdainiai up to 32 kilometers, and the Via Baltica highway stretches 8 kilometers from the bakery.

“A couple of months ago, the road from us to Truskava had just ended. Now, wherever we go, there is asphalt everywhere so that employees can easily reach us. The bakery also employs local people – people come from Linkaučiai village, workers from Krekenava, Kėdainiai and Panevėžys districts, ”said the interviewer.

Gets up on the fourth morning

The family, who have lived in the countryside for almost a quarter of a century and have set up a business here, can see with their own eyes how the town is changing rapidly: “What was a quarter of a century ago is now incomparable. People are already different and their approach to work is different. And what used to be? Drunkenness and indiscipline were commonplace. Lately, people are changing in the field. Some of those who were not the best went abroad, the companions died out and the rest went step by step. “

Work in the bakery boils 24 hours: bread is ripened during the day, baked at night, packed at night, and transported to shopping malls in the morning. Therefore, Audronė does not hide the fact that his workday begins on the fourth morning.

Not only the bread is already baked in the bakery. Cakes, centipedes, twigs, buns and other delicacies are born here. On the occasion of Christmas, he even took off a beautiful branch reminiscent of a Christmas tree.

Entrepreneurs often use honey for cakes, which the bees bring to the 28 hives lined up here.

Bread for the Kisieliai family is not just a business.

“For Lithuanians, bread has always been a tradition, a process that requires a lot of love and is very important. We strive to keep it that way, ”said A. Kisielienė.

The family’s dream is to preserve the village of Radviliškės and the traditional baking traditions. Looks like the founders of the bakery will have to pass it on to someone. After all, young son Vidmantas, who works as a commercial director and goes from Vilnius to the bakery, is solving the problems of public sales and purchasing during a mixed year.