Holey Breads: Difference between revisions
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From the 16th century comes the oldest known mention of the Turkish bread products called ''simitler'', which bear an uncanny resemblance to the Cracovian ''obwarzanki''. Both kinds of bread are made two strands of dough that are braided into a wreath, sprinkled with sesame seeds, baked and finally sold in the streets from special carts. There are some differences too: the ''simitler'' aren't parboiled, but just steeped in a mixture of water and molasses; the sesame seed sprinkle is much more generous in the Turkish version; and the carts are different colours (blue in Cracow, red in Istanbul). However, as recently as the early 20th century, the Turkish ''simit'' had the form a thin single-strand ring; the ''obwarzanek'' in Cracow, on the other hand, was shaped into the wreath form no later than the 1920s. I can't tell with who copied from whom absolute certainty, but my local patriotism requires me to assume that this distinctive shape was born at the foot of the Wawel Hill. | From the 16th century comes the oldest known mention of the Turkish bread products called ''simitler'', which bear an uncanny resemblance to the Cracovian ''obwarzanki''. Both kinds of bread are made two strands of dough that are braided into a wreath, sprinkled with sesame seeds, baked and finally sold in the streets from special carts. There are some differences too: the ''simitler'' aren't parboiled, but just steeped in a mixture of water and molasses; the sesame seed sprinkle is much more generous in the Turkish version; and the carts are different colours (blue in Cracow, red in Istanbul). However, as recently as the early 20th century, the Turkish ''simit'' had the form a thin single-strand ring; the ''obwarzanek'' in Cracow, on the other hand, was shaped into the wreath form no later than the 1920s. I can't tell with who copied from whom absolute certainty, but my local patriotism requires me to assume that this distinctive shape was born at the foot of the Wawel Hill. | ||
[[File:Obwarzanki nad Wisłą 1929.jpg|thumb|upright|left| | [[File:Obwarzanki nad Wisłą 1929.jpg|thumb|upright|left|A boy peddling ''obwarzanki'' to Cracovian beachgoers on the bank of the Vistula, ca. 1929]] | ||
Especially that ''obwarzanki'' of this particular shape are practically unique to Cracow. Polish ''obwarzanki'' outside Cracow are much smaller, unbraided, single-strand rings with smooth crust. Among these, Smorgonian ''obwarzanki'' (from what is now Smarhon, Belarus) were particularly famous, as they were sold at the yearly Saint Casimir's fair in Wilno (now Vilnius, Lithuania). It was probably this kind of ''obwarzanek'' from Poland's borderlands that Marshal Józef Piłsudski had in mind when making a simile between the nation and the ring-shaped bread. | |||
{{ Cytat | {{ Cytat | ||
| Line 147: | Line 146: | ||
| rozdział = W Belwederze | | rozdział = W Belwederze | ||
| miejsce = Kraków | | miejsce = Kraków | ||
| data = 3 | | data = 3 December 1931 | ||
| wolumin = 279 | | wolumin = 279 | ||
| strony = 3 | | strony = 3 | ||
}}, own translation }} | }}, own translation }} | ||
You can find similar breads even further east, where the word ''"obwarzanek"'' has evolved into ''"baranka"''. Apart from ''baranki'', the East Slavs (Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians) also bake the slightly larger ''bubliki'' and the slightly smaller ''sushki''. The ''bubliki'' have made a particularly interesting career not only in the culinary realm, but also in song and literature. Mostly as a symbol of poverty; bakers may have been relatively well off, but the peddlars who distributed the ''bubliki'' earned next to nothing. The only thing worth less than a ''bublik'' was the ''bublik'' hole. | |||
{{clear}} | {{clear}} | ||
[[File:Bublik baranka sushka.png|thumb|upright| | [[File:Bublik baranka sushka.png|thumb|upright|From left: a ''bublik'', a ''baranka'' and a ''suszka'']] | ||
{{ Cytat | {{ Cytat | ||
| <poem>As promised, we divide equally: | | <poem>As we've promised, we divide equally: | ||
A bublik hole to one, to another, a bublik. | A bublik hole to one, to another, a bublik. | ||
And that's what we call a | And that's what we call a democratic republic!</poem> | ||
| źródło = {{ Cyt | | źródło = {{ Cyt | ||
| nazwisko = Majakowski | | nazwisko = Majakowski | ||