Blaa

blaa (originally blaad, also spelled blah and bla) a special bread of Waterford in Ireland. It is a type of ordinary batch bread dough made into small round pieces, bigger and lighter than a bap, very soft, about 3.5 cm (1.5") high and 10 cm (4") in diameter, the top dusted with flour and therefore white.

Waterford bakers believe that the blaa was introduced by Huguenots who came to Waterford from France in the late 17th or early 18th century and set up an industrial area called New Geneva. It is thought locally that the blaa derived from the croissant they brought with them (although this cannot have been a croissant like those now sold in France). An eccentric poem on the subject includes the following:

But the real delicacy are Blaas, fresh from the oven,

Smothered in butter, you’d ate half a dozen …

You can fill them with ham or a slice of red lead,

In the summer you could try some dillisk instead.