Bublik (also ''booblik'' or ''bublyk''; , plural: ; ) is a traditional

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

bread roll A bread roll is a small, oblong individual loaf of bread served as a meal accompaniment (eaten plain or with butter). Rolls can be served and eaten whole or are also commonly cut and filled – the result of doing so is considered a '' sandwic ...

. It is a ring of yeast-leavened wheat dough, that has been

boiled Boiling or ebullition is the rapid phase transition from liquid to gas or vapour; the reverse of boiling is condensation. Boiling occurs when a liquid is heated to its boiling point, so that the vapour pressure of the liquid is equal to the p ...

in water for a short time before

baking Baking is a method of preparing food that uses dry heat, typically in an oven, but it can also be done in hot ashes, or on hot Baking stone, stones. Bread is the most commonly baked item, but many other types of food can also be baked. Heat is ...

Savella Stechishin Savella Stechishin, , née Wawryniuk (August 19, 1903 – April 22, 2002), was a Ukrainian Canadians, Ukrainian-Canadian home economist and writer, recipient of the Order of Canada. She has been described as "an ethnocultural social maternal fem ...

(1989). ''Traditional Ukrainian Cookery''. Trident Press, Canada.

Etymology

''Bublik'' stems from

Old East Slavic Old East Slavic (traditionally also Old Russian) was a language (or a group of dialects) used by the East Slavs from the 7th or 8th century to the 13th or 14th century, until it diverged into the Russian language, Russian and Ruthenian language ...

бубьлъ (''bubl''), ultimately from

Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium BC through the 6th ...

''*bǫbьlь'', from which

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

and Slovak ' also originated. All these words mean "bubble".

Max Vasmer Max Julius Friedrich Vasmer (; ; 28 February 1886 – 30 November 1962) was a Russian and German linguist. He studied problems of etymology in Indo-European, Finno-Ugric and Turkic languages and worked on the history of Slavic, Baltic, ...

. ''Russisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Winter''. Heidelberg, 1953–1958 (in German)
Бублик
(in Russian) Russian or is a contraction of the word ' (), "scalded"/"parboiled". Belarusian ', Ukrainian ' and Polish ' share the same etymology.

. ''Russisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Winter''. Heidelberg, 1953–1958 (in German)
Баранка
(in Russian) The Russian spelling suggests that the word was adopted into Russian from Belarusian.

Common names and types

A class of such ring-shaped rolls is common for Eastern European cuisines. Ukrainian bublik is similar to an

Ashkenazi Jewish Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

bagel A bagel (; ; also spelled beigel) is a bread roll originating in the Jewish communities of Poland. Bagels are traditionally made from yeasted wheat dough that is shaped by hand into a torus or ring, briefly boiled in water, and then baked. ...

, but is somewhat bigger and has a larger hole. Bubliks usually have a drier, denser and "chewier" texture than bagels.

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

(; pl. ) is a dough ring somewhat smaller than a bublik, but also thinner and drier.

Sushka Sushki (sg. sushka; rus, су́шки, p=ˈsuʂkʲɪ, plural; rus, су́шка, p=ˈsuʂkɐ, singular) are traditional Eastern European small, crunchy, mildly sweet bread rings eaten for dessert, usually with tea or coffee. () The word ''sush ...

(; pl. ) is an even smaller and drier type, generally about in size, and has the consistency of a hard

cracker Cracker, crackers or The Crackers may refer to: Animals * ''Hamadryas'' (butterfly), or crackers, a genus of brush-footed butterflies * '' Sparodon'', a monotypic genus whose species is sometimes known as "Cracker" Arts and entertainment Films ...

. In Russian and Ukrainian, ''bublik'' is often used as a generic designation for any ring-shaped product of this type. In Russian, is also used as a similar generic term, whereas "" () is a formal designation of the product class. A cognate term, ''obarinok'' (обарінок) or ''obvarinok'' (обварінок), is sometimes used as a synonym for bublik or baranka in Ukrainian. Bublik or baranka is known as ' () in

Belarusian Belarusian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Belarus * Belarusians, people from Belarus, or of Belarusian descent * A citizen of Belarus, see Demographics of Belarus * Belarusian language * Belarusian culture * Belarusian cuisine * Byelor ...

and or in

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe ** Lithuanian language ** Lithuanians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania and the immediate geographical region ** L ...

' is done with the same technology as bublik or baranka, but its most common form,

obwarzanek krakowski An ' (, plural: ' ; also spelled ') is a braided ring-shaped bread that is boiled and sprinkled with salt and sesame or poppy seeds before being baked. It has a white, sweetish, moist and chewy crumb underneath a crunchy golden-brown crust. Tra ...

, has a braided ring shape. File:Bublik in Kiev with Sesame.JPG, Ukrainian bublik topped with sesame File:Barankas.jpg, Russian baranki File:Сушки с маком.JPG, Sushki topped with poppy seeds

History

The first known written mention of the ''

'' is found in the ''Community Regulations'' of the city of

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

in 1610. The bagel spread through Poland across all areas with significant Jewish population, reaching

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, where it got its current form. The word ''bublik'' was adopted from Ukrainian to Russian in which it is first documented in the 18th century. It is mentioned as "wheat bublik" (бублик пшеничнои) in the ''Lexicon or Alphabetic Collection of Speeches from Russian to Dutch'' by Jacob Bruce published in 1717 in Saint Petersburg. Obwarzanki Kaziuki

The ''baranka'' is first mentioned in Russian sources in a 17th-century text. An entry for the year 1665 in the account ledger of

Valday Iversky Monastery Valday Iversky Monastery () is a Russian Orthodox monastery founded by Patriarch Nikon in 1653. The monastery is located on an island in Lake Valdayskoye in Valdaysky District of Novgorod Oblast, Russia, close to the town of Valday, Novgorod Oblast ...

reads: "Baranki and eggs purchased for the brothers in Bogoroditsino village for ten altyn." In the 19th century, the town of Valday was famous for its baranki.
Баранки
''. In: В. В. Похлёбкин, ''Кулинарный словарь от А до Я''. Москва, Центрполиграф, 2000, (

William Pokhlyobkin William August Vasilyevich Pokhlyobkin (August 20, 1923 – April 15 (burial date), 2000; , Viliyam Vasilievich Pokhlyobkin) was a Soviet and Russian historian specializing in Scandinavian studies, heraldry, the diplomacy and international ...

, ''Culinary Dictionary''. Moscow, Centrpoligraf publishing house, 2000; Russian) Valday baranki were mentioned by

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is consid ...

Alexander Radishchev Alexander Nikolayevich Radishchev (; – ) was a Russian author and social critic who was arrested and exiled under Catherine the Great. He brought the tradition of radicalism in Russian literature to prominence with his 1790 work '' Journey fr ...

and others.

traces the origin of Russian baranka to what is now

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

, in particular to the town of

Smarhon’ Smarhon, or Smorgon, is a town in Grodno Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Smarhon District. It was the site of Smarhon air base, now mostly abandoned. Smarhon is located from the capital, Minsk. As of 2025, it has a ...

(the former

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

). Until they were murdered in the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, most of the population of Smarhon' was Jewish. Baranki were supposedly used to feed bears in the local school of bear training (the so-called "Bear Academy"). Written accounts of Smarhon' baranki appeared in the 19th century.

Adam Kirkor Adam Honory Kirkor (21 January 1818 – 23 November 1886) was a Polish publisher, journalist and archeologist. Biography Kirkor was born in on 21 January 1818, finishing school in Mogilev. From 1834 to 1866, he worked in Vilnius, later in Sai ...

wrote in the encyclopedia ''

Picturesque Russia ''Picturesque Russia'' (; also ''Picturesque Russia: Our fatherland in its land, historical, tribal, economic and everyday meaning'') is a Russian 19-volume edition prepared by the M. O. Wolff's Partnership in the 1870s and published in 1881– ...

'': "In Smorgon', Oshmyany district, Vilna province, almost all the petty bourgeois population is busy baking small bubliki, or

kringle Kringle (, ) is a Northern European pastry, a variety of pretzel. Pretzels were introduced by Roman Catholic monks in the 13th century in Denmark, and from there they spread throughout Scandinavia and evolved into several kinds of sweet, salty o ...

s, which are widely known as ''Smorgon' obvaranki''. Each traveller would definitely buy several bundles of these bubliki; besides, they are transported to

Vilna Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

and other cities."

Władysław Syrokomla Ludwik Władysław Franciszek Kondratowicz (29 September 1823 – 15 September 1862), better known as Władysław Syrokomla (), was a Polish romantic poet, writer and translator working in Vilnius and Vilna Governorate, then Russian Empire, whos ...

mentioned Smarhon' as "the capital of obwarzanki famous in all Lithuania". Smarhon' obwarzanki were a traditional treat at Saint Casimir's Fair in Vilnius.

Preparation

Bubliks are made from

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom (biology), kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are est ...

-leavened

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

dough that commonly contains

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...

, and

egg white Egg white is the clear liquid (also called the albumen or the glair/glaire) contained within an egg. In chickens, it is formed from the layers of secretions of the anterior section of the hen's oviduct during the passage of the egg. It forms a ...

s and is rather sweet. Poppy seeds are a popular addition to the dough, as well as several other fillings. For savory bubliks, sugar is omitted and instead grated cheese and a few drops of onion juice can be added. Bubliks are featured by professional bakers in their shops and at country fairs and regional markets. They are usually strung on a string by the dozen. In Belarus, Russia and Ukraine bubliks and barankas are usually treated not like

bread Bread is a baked food product made from water, flour, and often yeast. It is a staple food across the world, particularly in Europe and the Middle East. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cu ...

, but like a type of pastry, eaten as a complement to

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

. Therefore, bublik dough is generally sweeter and denser than that of bagel dough, and they are usually glazed with egg yolk. By far the most popular variety of bublik has a liberal amount of

poppy seed Poppy seed is an oilseed obtained from the poppy plant (''Papaver somniferum''). The tiny, kidney-shaped seeds have been harvested from dried seed pods by various civilizations for thousands of years. It is still widely used in many countries, ...

s added to it.

Consumption

Bubliks are usually eaten as is, but it is not uncommon to dip them into tea, a practice that came from eating sushki and baranki, which were very similar in taste, but rather dry and hard and not easily palatable unless moistened. Another common way of eating bubliks is to break them into several fragments and to eat them with

jam Fruit preserves are preparations of fruits whose main preserving agent is sugar and sometimes acid, often stored in glass jars and used as a condiment or spread. There are many varieties of fruit preserves globally, distinguished by the meth ...

(

varenye Varenye is a popular Fruit preserves, whole-fruit preserve, widespread in Eastern Europe (Russian cuisine, Russia, Ukrainian cuisine, Ukraine, Belarusian cuisine, Belarus), as well as the Baltic region. It is made by cooking berries, other fruits, ...

sour cream Sour cream (sometimes known as soured cream in British English) is a dairy product obtained by fermenting regular cream with certain kinds of lactic acid bacteria. The bacterial culture, which is introduced either deliberately or naturall ...

( smetana), or other similar dips. While they often accompany tea, bubliks, again unlike modern bagels, are rarely considered a

breakfast Breakfast is the first meal of the day usually eaten in the morning. The word in English refers to breaking the fasting period of the previous night. Various "typical" or "traditional" breakfast menus exist, with food choices varying by regi ...

food.

Cultural references

A short poem called ''Protoptala stezhku cherez yar'' ("I beat a path through the ravine") in ''

Kobzar A ''kobzar'' ( ; ) was an itinerant Ukrainian bard who sang to his own accompaniment, played on a multistringed kobza or bandura. Tradition The professional kobzar tradition was established during the Hetmanate Era around the sixteenth cen ...

'' book by Ukrainian poet

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko (; ; 9 March 1814 – 10 March 1861) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public and political figure, folklorist, and ethnographer. He was a fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts and a member of the Brotherhood o ...

refers to a young woman who sells bubliki at the market to the

Cossacks The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic languages, East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borde ...

(1840). ''

''. Multiple editions. ''

Bublichki Sushki (sg. sushka; rus, су́шки, p=ˈsuʂkʲɪ, plural; rus, су́шка, p=ˈsuʂkɐ, singular) are traditional Eastern European small, crunchy, mildly sweet bread rings eaten for dessert, usually with tea or coffee. () The word ''sush ...

'', a

diminutive A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...

of bubliki, is a title of a famous Yiddish-Ukrainian-Russian song written in

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

in the 1920s.

Leonid Utyosov Leonid Osipovich Utesov, also spelled Utyosov or Utiosov, born Lazar (Leyzer) Iosifovich Vaysbeyn or Weissbein (, Odessa – 9 March 1982, Moscow), was a famous Soviet estrada singer, and comic actor, who became the first pop singer to be award ...

popularised the song in the USSR.

The Barry Sisters Minnie Bagelman (April 6, 1923 – October 31, 1976) and Clara Bagelman (October 17, 1920 – November 22, 2014),NOTE: Claire Barry was not born in 1923, the year that had previously been cited as her year of birth, but in 1920, as all notices ...

together with the Ziggy Elman Orchestra made it popular in the US in 1939. Today it belongs to the repertoire of

klezmer Klezmer ( or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for listening; these wou ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and pop musicians. A common Russian and Ukrainian phrase is "a hole from a bublik" (, ), which means "absolutely nothing" or "worthless". Examples: * ''I worked so hard, and what did I get for it? A hole from a bublik'', * ''He is not worth a hole from a bublik''. This expression in literature is found in

Mystery-Bouffe ''Mystery-Bouffe'' (; Misteriya-Buff) is a socialism, socialist dramatic Play (theatre), play written by Vladimir Mayakovsky in 1918/1921. Mayakovsky stated in a preface to the 1921 edition that "in the future, all persons performing, presenting, ...

, a

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

dramatic play written by

Vladimir Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky ( – 14 April 1930) was a Russian poet, playwright, artist, and actor. During his early, Russian Revolution, pre-Revolution period leading into 1917, Mayakovsky became renowned as a prominent figure of the Ru ...

in 1918–1921: : ''Someone got a bublik and another one got the hole of the bublik.'' : ''So that is to be a

democratic republic A democratic republic is a form of government operating on principles adopted from a republic and a democracy. As a cross between two similar systems, democratic republics may function on principles shared by both republics and democracies. Whil ...

.''

References

External links

Ukrainian Tea Cookies (Bublyky)

Bublik recipes
{{Street food Sweet breads Yeast breads Poppy seeds Snack foods Street food Belarusian cuisine Lithuanian cuisine Russian cuisine Ukrainian cuisine