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. Traditionally sold from street carts, it is a popular snack in the Polish city of Kraków, where it has the status of a regional food with protected geographical indication. It is closely related to, but distinct from, bagels, bubliks and pretzels.
The term ' is Polish. The Polish noun ', or ', derives from the verb ', "to parboil", which refers to the distinctive technique of boiling the dough before baking. The adjective ' denotes anything coming from or related to the city of Kraków.
An ' is a ring-shaped baked product with a hole in the middle. It takes the form of an oval or, seldom, a circle. Its surface is formed by strands of dough, round or oval in cross-section, twisted into a spiral. The colour ranges from light golden to light brown, with a distinct sheen. A typical ' is in diameter, thick, and weighs .
The visible strands of the spiral on the crust are firmish to the touch and the surface varies from smooth to slightly rough. The crumb inside is pale, soft and slightly moist. The taste is sweetish, which is typical of bakery products that are first parboiled and then baked. ' are traditionally decorated by sprinkling them with various ingredients, including coarse salt, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, nigella seeds, mixed herbs or mixed spices (paprika, caraway, pepper), grated cheese, onion flakes, etc.
The earliest known references to ' being baked in Kraków, Poland's former royal capital, appear in the accounts of the court of Queen Jadwiga and her consort King Vladislaus II Jagieà Âà Âo. An entry dated to 2 March 1394 mentions the product using both its Polish name and its equivalent in Polish Medieval Latin, ', or "rings": "for the queen, for rings of ' ['], 1 '".
In 1496, King John Albert granted the bakers' guild of the city of Kraków a monopoly on baking white bread, including '. This privilege was subsequently confirmed by all Polish kings up to John III Sobieski. Initially, ' could be made only during Lent by bakers specially designated for that purpose by the guild. The guild issued a decree in 1611 regulating the sale of ' inside the city walls and the choice of bakers who were allowed to sell them.
A radical change took place in the 19th century. On 22 January 1802, a decree was signed which stipulated that any baker had the right to bake ' when it was his turn to do so. The bakers authorised to bake ' were selected by the drawing of lots. The custom of drawing lots probably ended in 1849, there being no evidence that it continued after that date. This could mean that, over time, the rules were relaxed and any baker could make ' on any day of the year, as is still the case today. <mapframe text="' (protected geographical indication) may be produced only in the city of Kraków and the adjacent Kraków and Wieliczka counties." width=200 height=200 zoom=8 latitude=50.1 longitude=19.9 align=left>[ {"type": "ExternalData", "service": "geoshape", "ids": "Q31487", "properties": { "fill": "#DAA520" } }, //Kraków city {"type": "ExternalData", "service": "geoshape", "ids": "Q1164890", "properties": { "fill": "#DAA520" } }, //Kraków county {"type": "ExternalData", "service": "geoshape", "ids": "Q609424", "properties": { "fill": "#DAA520" } } //Wieliczka county ]</mapframe>
' were sold from stalls which opened before 6 a.m. so that the inhabitants of Kraków could buy them freshly baked early in the morning. The guild monitored the quality and freshness of the products, eight of its members being responsible for carrying out checks on stalls. Any transgressions were severely punished. Eventually, people started selling ' in other ways. As late as the 1950s, they were sold straight from wicker baskets.
In modern times, ' have been sold not only in shops and bakeries, but also from street carts. There are between 170 and 180 such carts offering ' in Kraków today. An average of almost 150,000 are sold on the Kraków market in a single day.
The ' often features in campaigns to promote Kraków. As a well-known symbol of Kraków and Lesser Poland, it is often used in advertising aimed at locals and tourists alike. It has also won an award at the ' (Our Culinary Heritage) competition, and received a prize at the 2003 Polagra Farm international fair in Poznaà Â. It always features at the ' bread festival, an event that is held regularly in Kraków.