A bulkie roll or bulkie is a
New England
New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
regional variety of sandwich roll. Sandwiches made with bulkie rolls are common in area
delicatessen
A delicatessen or deli is a grocery that sells a selection of fine, exotic, or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessens originated in Germany (contemporary spelling: ) during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the mid-19th centur ...
s, restaurants, and institutional food services. Bulkie rolls are larger and firmer than
hamburger buns. The crust is usually ''slightly'' crisp or crunchy, but bulkie rolls are not hard rolls. The bread within the roll is similar to ordinary white bread, with a texture that is neither very chewy nor very fluffy, without any yellow color or egg taste, and not noticeably sweet. They are either plain or topped with
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.
They are similar to and sometimes equated with
kaiser rolls, but kaiser rolls are noticeably sweeter.
History
Lee Shai Weissbach writes of a Jewish grocery store in
Manchester, New Hampshire
Manchester is the List of municipalities in New Hampshire, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. Located on the banks of the Merrimack River, it had a population of 115,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Manches ...
, before World War II, whose owner was "affectionately remembered for 'the barrel of pickles and the hefty corned-beef sandwiches on bulkie rolls that he dispensed.'"
Etymology
"Bulke" or "Bilke" (/; transliterated /) is the
Yiddish language
Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...
word for a small roll made with fine wheat flour kneaded with eggs. It may be derived from a Polish word for roll (""): before 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 ...
, very many Jews lived in Poland; and about 15% of Yiddish words are from Slavic languages, including Polish.
See also
*
Bulkele, Bilkel, Bulkel
*
List of bread rolls
*
Sandwich bread
References
External links
{{American bread
Yeast breads
New England cuisine
American breads
Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine
Jewish breads