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Kifli, kiflice, kifle or kipferl is a traditional yeast bread roll that is rolled and formed into a crescent before baking. It is a common type of bread roll throughout much of central Europe and nearby countries, where it is called by different names. It is thought to be the inspiration for the French
croissant A croissant is a buttery, flaky, Austrian viennoiserie pastry inspired by the shape of the Austrian kipferl but using the French yeast-leavened laminated dough. Croissants are named for their historical crescent shape, the dough is layered wi ...
, which has a very similar shape but is made with a different type of dough.


Names

The breadstuff or pastry is called: *''kifli'' in Hungarian *''kipfl'' in Austrian Italy *''Kipferl'' in
Austrian German Austrian German (german: Österreichisches Deutsch), Austrian Standard German (ASG), Standard Austrian German (), or Austrian High German (), is the variety of Standard German written and spoken in Austria. It has the highest sociolinguistic p ...
**''küpfel'' or a Meidlinger roll in Vienna *''kifla'' or ''кифла'' (pl. ''kifle'' or ''kiflice'') in Croatian, Bosnian, and Serbian *''кифла'' or kifla in Bulgarian *''кифла'' in Macedonian *''kifle'' in Albanian *''giffel'' in
Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...
and Swedish *''gipfel'' in
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
*''rogal'' or ''rogalik'' (little horn) in
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin scree ...
*''rohlík'' in
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' Places * Czech ...
*''rožok'' in Slovak *рогалик/''rogalik'' in
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries * Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and p ...
*рогалик/''rohalyk'' in Ukrainian *''rogljiček'' or kifelc in Slovene *''cornuleț'' in Romanian *''horn'' (horn) in Norwegian *''Hörnchen'' (little horn) in German In
Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old Hig ...
, ''Kipfa'' meant "carriage stanchion" and referred to the stanchions or "horns" of a cart. In the 13th century, that usage referred to a bread shape of pagan origin. The Czech, Slovak, Polish, Slovenian, Ukrainian and Russian names origin from the Slavic word ''rogal'' or ''rohel'' ("horned") as diminutives. That originates from "rog/roh" ("horn/protrusion").Jiří Rejzek: ''Český etymologický slovník'', LEDA, Voznice, 2001, „rohlík“, „roh“ Some other languages use a simple translation ("horn", "cornulet"). The similarity of the words "rohalyk" or "rohlík" with the English word „roll“ is coincidental, the words are not related by origin. The Slavic root "rog" can be hypothetically related with the German verb "ragen" ("to protrude").


Background

Kifli are a traditional yeasted bread rolled into a crescent shape. The Austrian is a small wheat roll with pointed ends. The 17th-century Austrian monk Abraham a Sancta Clara described the roll as crescent shaped, writing "the moon in the first quarter shines like a kipfl", and noted there were kifli in various forms: "vil lange, kurze, krumpe und gerade kipfel" ("many long, short, crooked and straight kipfel"). Breads or pastries in the shape of a crescent moon are believed to have been served in ancient times as offerings to the goddess of the moon,
Selene In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Selene (; grc-gre, Σελήνη , meaning "Moon"'' A Greek–English Lexicon's.v. σελήνη) is the goddess and the personification of the Moon. Also known as Mene, she is traditionally the daughter o ...
. The shape is also reminiscent of horns; both are associated with ancient symbolism and considered the oldest surviving pastry shape. A moon shaped pastry creates itself naturally by hand-rolling a ball of dough into a cylinder form. A list of foods eaten in a 10th-century convent include ''panis lunatis'', described as a small crescent-shaped roll often eaten during fasts. The kifli has been documented in Austria to at least 1227 when they were recorded in
Babenberg The House of Babenberg was a noble dynasty of Austrian Dukes and Margraves. Originally from Bamberg in the Duchy of Franconia (present-day Bavaria), the Babenbergs ruled the imperial Margraviate of Austria from its creation in 976 AD until its ...
-ruled Vienna as chipfen: In Austria the kifli (nowadays called Kipferl) is formally recognized by the government as a
traditional food Traditional foods are foods and dishes that are passed on through generations or which have been consumed for many generations. Traditional foods and dishes are traditional in nature, and may have a historic precedent in a national dish, regio ...
. According to the Austrian Ministry of Sustainability and Tourism, kifli were probably a traditional monastery pastry baked for Easter. They are described as crescent-shaped rolls made of yeast wheat dough in a variety of shapes and as being popular for coffee breaks and breakfasts, particularly in Vienna. The kifli likely inspired the similarly shaped French
croissant A croissant is a buttery, flaky, Austrian viennoiserie pastry inspired by the shape of the Austrian kipferl but using the French yeast-leavened laminated dough. Croissants are named for their historical crescent shape, the dough is layered wi ...
, which is made from a laminated pastry dough.


Origin myths

A common culinary myth claims that when Christian forces freed
Buda Buda (; german: Ofen, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Budim, Будим, Czech and sk, Budín, tr, Budin) was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Hungary and since 1873 has been the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest, on the ...
from Ottoman occupation in 1686 the bakers of the town celebrated the victory the next day by selling freshly baked bread rolls made into a crescent shape. Another story claims the Kipferl was invented in Vienna after or during the siege of the city by Ottoman Turks.


Preparation

Traditionally, kifli are made by cutting sheets of soft yeast dough into triangular wedges, rolling them into crescent shapes and baking them. Unlike the French croissant (crescent), Kifli is made from a plain, bread-like dough and is more akin to a roll than to pastry. Kifli is also thinner and longer than the croissant. Kifli are made in various sizes; some of them weigh as much as small bread loaf. In commercial preparation, the dough is mixed, cut into small pieces, and fed into a machine that flattens and rolls it. The following manual process is similar to the traditional process.


Varieties


Regular

When they come out of the oven, the rolls can be left plain or brushed with water to make them shiny. They can be given an egg wash and sprinkled with either
poppy seeds Poppy seed is an oilseed obtained from the opium poppy (''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 ...
or caraway seeds mixed with coarse salt. The latter variety is often made into a straight shape rather than a crescent. Kifli is eaten like bread or rolls; it is usually made into a sandwich, sometimes plain or with butter like a fresh baguette. Often, especially for breakfast, the topping is jam or honey. They may also be used for dunking.


Fine

This is the same as the regular style but the dough may contain butter or other shortening and milk. It is sweeter than the regular variety and is well-suited to be eaten with jam or honey, and is commonly eaten for breakfast with coffee, hot chocolate or milk. It might also be an accompaniment for drinks like
Doogh Ayran, doogh, dhallë, daw, xynogala or tan is a cold savory yogurt-based beverage popular across Western Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeastern Europe, North Asia and Eastern Europe. The principal ingredients are yogurt, water and salt. ...
and
Kumis ''Kumis'' (also spelled ''kumiss'' or ''koumiss'' or ''kumys'', see other transliterations and cognate words below under terminology and etymology – otk, airag kk, қымыз, ''qymyz'') mn, айраг, ''ääryg'') is a fermented dairy ...
.


Sweets

There are a couple of
sweet roll A sweet roll or sweet bun refers to any of a number of sweet, baked, yeast- leavened breakfast or dessert foods. They may contain spices, nuts, candied fruits, etc., and are often glazed or topped with icing. Compared to regular bread dough, ...
s named "kifli" to describe their shape; they are eaten at the end of a meal or with an afternoon drink; these are not kifli, which when used on its own, always means the regular or fine varieties. In German, these are differentiated with a different spelling: ''Kipferl'' compared to ''Kipfel'' for the yeast bread. *'' Vanillekipferl'' is a small, very short soft
cookie A cookie is a baked or cooked snack or dessert that is typically small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, nu ...
made from a dough of ground nuts instead of flour. It is originally made with
walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...
s but almonds are more often used outside of Hungary. Once baked they are rolled in
vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla ('' V. planifolia''). Pollination is required to make the plants produce the fruit from which t ...
-flavored confectioners' sugar then allowed to cool. *''Bratislavský rožok/bratislavské rožky'', ''diós kifli'', ''mákos kifli'', also known as Pozsonyi kifli and in German as Preßburger Kipfel, are crescent-shaped, sweet, leavened pastries filled with a sweet walnut or poppy paste. Under the name ''Bratislavský rožok / Pozsonyi kiflia'', they are registered as
Traditional Speciality Guaranteed A traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG, plural: ''traditional specialities guaranteed'') is a traditional food product protected under European Union and/or UK law. This label differs from the geographical indications, protected designation of ...
products in the EU and the UK. They are a variety of beigli, very similar in flavor but different in shape and size.


Other uses

Stale kipfel are used to make a sweet bread pudding called Kipfelkoch.


Gallery

File:Výroba rohlíku (25).JPG, Rohlík File:Rogal.jpg, Rogal File:2018-06-23 Rožok.jpg, Rožok File:Bratislavsky rozok.JPG, Bratislavsky rožok File:Pozsonyi kifli.jpg, Pozsonyi kifli File:Hoernchen.jpg, Hörnchen File:Výroba rohlíku (2).jpg, Loaves of dough before splitting File:Výroba rohlíku (4).JPG, Small chunks of dough File:Výroba rohlíku (5).JPG, Dough before insertion into rohlík machine File:Výroba rohlíku (6).JPG, Inserting dough, machine rolls rohlík automatically File:Výroba rohlíku (7).JPG, Rolled rohlík before baking File:Výroba rohlíku (10).JPG, Creative variations File:Výroba rohlíku (13).JPG, Proofing before baking File:Výroba rohlíku (20).JPG, Watering a rohlík File:Výroba rohlíku (21).JPG, Sprinkling with poppy File:Výroba rohlíku (22).JPG, Salt and caraway seed variation File:Výroba rohlíku (16).JPG, Rohlík in front of steam furnace


See also

*
List of breads This is a list of notable baked or steamed bread varieties. This list does not include List of cakes, cakes, List of pastries, pastries, or List of fried dough foods, fried dough foods, which are listed in separate Wikipedia articles. It also does ...
* Cornetto, an Italian crescent pastry * Rogal świętomarciński, a crescent cake baked in
Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...
, Poland, for St. Martin's Day *
Rugelach Rugelach ( ; , or yi, רוגעלעך, translit=rugelekh and he, רוגלך ''rōgalaḵ'') is a filled baked confection originating in the Jewish communities of Poland. It is popular in Israel, commonly found in most cafes and bakeries. It ...
, a filled crescent pastry popular in Jewish communities in Poland


References

{{pastries Pastries with poppy seeds Austrian pastries Bosnia and Herzegovina cuisine Bulgarian pastries Croatian pastries Czech pastries Hungarian pastries Macedonian cuisine Serbian cuisine Slovak cuisine German breads Hungarian breads Breads of the Czech Republic Serbian breads Austrian breads Easter bread