Although it has lost its overwhelming importance in the folkloristic Gozitan diet, bread accompanies the great majority of local dishes, be it stews, bakes or salads. It also goes down well on its own with some freshly picked tomato and with one or two Gozitan sheep cheeselets.

Gozitan bread is normally round in shape, and crispy brown from the outside. Since wheat flour is the main ingredient, the inside is white with frequent "holes" caused by trapped yeast gases released during the baking process.Taste is generally slightly salty and very tender, especially if it is from the day's bake. Taste might however vary a little depending on whether the oven is heated by log fire, petroleum or electric.

This subtle difference in taste makes bread from every Gozitan bakery worth a try. The local bread is not at all considered as light food. Although it has a generous fibre content, its richness in carbohydrates makes Gozo bread a considerable stomach filler.The popularity and high quality of our bread is shown by the variety of bakeries peppered across the island.

Apart from bread, our bakers often specialize in a variety of traditional baked products such as Ftira (typical Gozitan pies), Pastizzi (traditional cheese or pea cakes), Panini (bread buns), Qaghaq (local sesame rings), French rolls, and other fancy bread. Most of these bakeries still bake daily bread in the same method that their ancestors have done since many generations.

As a matter of fact the trade of bread baking is most often inherited from father to son. Baking traditional bread is no easy trade. It means long hours of work and stress, and has abnormal working hours. The baker's average working day starts when the rest of the community is resting, namely at around 10.30p.m. The traditional dough entails a ritual-like preparation. The craftsmanship of the local baker, makes him dose the common ingredients, such as flour, oil, salt, yeast and water with fore granted ability. The dough is portioned, weighed and then left to set. It is by now early in the morning and the oven is by now blazing hot and ready for the first bake.

The diligent baker with a long wooden palette in hands then pushes the raw loaves one by one into the flaming hearth. By the time the early customers appear, the bakery is dense with such a floury appetizing aroma. The "day" usually ends at around noon of the next day, and then the baker usually goes to take his well-deserved rest.