Bread: Overview: Smaller Breads

The innumerable smaller breads in America include rolls, muffins, buns, and biscuits—some from other cultures, some created locally. Vienna rolls, once popular, were based on a French variant of the Austrian kaisersemmel, itself adopted in America as the kaiser roll; the bagel began as the Polish-Jewish beigel. A chef at a Boston hotel created the Parker House roll. Hero rolls are used for sandwiches of the same name. Muffins, though sweet today, began as small round breads like the English muffin, made to be split in the middle and baked in muffin rings; these were later replaced by a pan with round cups, resulting in the characteristic swollen top on a cylindrical base. Buns, though often sweetened, are small breads.