Duonos Sriuba is Lithuania's frugal bread soup — dark rye bread simmered with water or broth, onions, and sometimes dried fruit, into a thick, sweet-sour, deeply earthy soup. Born of poverty and the necessity to waste nothing, it is one of the oldest Lithuanian dishes, the taste of a time when dark bread was the only thing on the table.
Duonos Sriuba (bread soup) is one of the oldest Lithuanian dishes, born of the necessity to use every scrap of dark rye bread — Lithuania's staple grain. When bread went stale, it was simmered with water or broth, onions, and whatever was available (dried apples, prunes, or nothing at all), into a thick, sustaining soup. There are sweet versions (with dried fruit and sugar, served cold in summer) and savory versions (with onion, bacon fat, and broth). Both are distinctly Lithuanian in their use of the dark, sour rye bread that is considered the best in the world. The soup is a relic of a time when nothing was wasted.
A bowl of dark, thick, almost porridge-like soup, the color of the rye bread it's made from. The taste is sour-sweet, earthy, with the deep fermented character of dark rye. A savory version has the saltiness of bacon fat; a sweet version has the gentleness of dried fruit. Eaten with a spoon, it is the most ancient, most frugal, most Lithuanian soup there is.
The bread must be dark, sour rye bread (the Lithuanian staple) — white bread will not work. Stale bread is torn into pieces, simmered with water or broth until it breaks down and thickens the soup (the starch in the bread does the thickening — no flour needed). For the savory version, onions are sautéed in bacon fat and added; for the sweet version, dried fruit (apples, prunes) and sugar are added. The soup can be served hot (savory) or cold (sweet).
Variations
Some add dried apples or prunes; some add bacon fat; some serve cold with sour cream in summer; the thickness varies.
On the Palate
Where Duonos Sriuba sits in the Lithuanian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
8 steps · 25 min active + 20 min waiting
- 13 min
Tear 400 g stale dark rye bread into pieces.
- 23 min
Place in a pot with 1 liter water (or broth); bring to a simmer.
- 320 min
Cook 20 minutes, stirring, until the bread breaks down and the soup thickens.
Watch outSimmer and stir until the bread fully breaks down and the soup turns thick and porridge-like — the bread starch is the only thickener, so cook it right down.
- 45 min
For savory: sauté 1 diced onion in 2 tbsp bacon fat; add to the soup; season with salt and pepper.
- 53 min
For sweet: add 100 g chopped dried apples or prunes and 2 tbsp sugar.
- 610 min
Simmer 10 more minutes.
- 71 min
Adjust seasoning; the soup should be thick and pourable.
- 81 min
Serve hot (savory) or chilled (sweet), with sour cream.
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