Kifli

The breadstuff or pastry is called kifli in Hungarian and Kipferl in Austrian German.[1][2] It is called kifla (pl. kiflice) in Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian,[3] кифла or kifla in Bulgarian, кифла in Macedonian, kifle in Albanian, giffel in Danish[4] and Swedish, rohlík in Czech,[5] rožok in Slovak,[6] рогалик/rogalik in Russian, рогалик/rohalyk in Ukrainian, rogljiček in Slovene, rogal in Polish, cornuleț in Romanian, Hörnchen (little horn) in German,[1] gipfel in Switzerland,[7] and kipfl in Austrian Italy.[1] In Vienna it is sometimes called a Meidlinger roll or küpfel.[1]

Breads or pastries in the shape of a crescent moon are believed to have been served in ancient times as offerings to the goddess of the moon, Selene.[8] The shape is also reminiscent of horns; both are associated with ancient symbolism and considered the oldest surviving pastry shape.[7][8] A moon shaped pastry creates itself naturally by hand-rolling a ball of dough into a cylinder form.

A list of foods eaten in a 10th-century convent include panis lunatis, described as a small crescent-shaped roll often eaten during fasts.[9]

The kipfel has been documented in Austria to at least 1227 when they were recorded in Babenberg-ruled Vienna as chipfen:[1][8][7]^:4

dô brâchten im die pecken

chipfen und weiʒe flecken,

weiʒer dann ein hermelein.

— Jans der Enikel

In Austria kipfel is formally recognized by the government as a traditional food.[8] According to the Austrian Ministry of Sustainability and Tourism, kipfel were probably a traditional monastery pastry baked for Easter.[8] They are described as crescent-shaped rolls made of yeast wheat dough in a variety of shapes and as being popular for coffee breaks and breakfasts, particularly in Vienna.[8]

The kipfel likely inspired the similarly-shaped French croissant, which is made from a laminated pastry dough.[8][7]

Kifli are a traditional Hungarian yeasted bread rolled into a crescent shape.[10] Kifli are often baked to enhance the flavour. The Austrian kipfel is a small wheat roll with pointed ends.[1] The 17th-century Austrian monk Abraham a Sancta Clara described the roll as crescent shaped, writing "the moon in the first quarter shines like a kipfl", and noted there were kipfel in various forms: "vil lange, kurze, krumpe und gerade kipfel" ("many long, short, crooked and straight kipfel").[1]

Traditionally, kifli are made by cutting sheets of soft yeast dough into triangular wedges, rolling them into crescent shapes and baking them. Unlike the French croissant (crescent), Kifli is made from a plain, bread-like dough and is more akin to a roll than to pastry. Kifli is also thinner and longer than the croissant. Kifli are made in various sizes; some of them weigh as much as small bread loaf.

In commercial preparation, the dough is mixed, cut into small pieces, and fed into a machine that flattens and rolls it. The following manual process is similar to the traditional process.

Stale kipfel are used to make a sweet bread pudding called Kipfelkoch.[8]

• Kifli of various cuisines
• 
  Rohlík
• 
  Rogal
• 
  Rožok
• 
  Bratislavsky rožok
• 
  Pozsonyi kifli
• 
  Hörnchen

• Commercial rohlik production in Czechia
• 
  Loaves of dough before splitting
• 
  Small chunks of dough
• 
  Dough before insertion into rohlík machine
• 
  Inserting dough, machine rolls rohlík automatically
• 
  Rolled rohlík before baking
• 
  Creative variations
• 
  Proofing before baking
• 
  Watering a rohlík
• 
  Sprinkling with poppy
• 
  Salt and caraway seed variation
• 
  Rohlík in front of steam furnace

• List of breads
• Cornetto, an Italian crescent pastry
• Rogal świętomarciński, a crescent cake baked in Poznań, Poland, for St. Martin's Day
• Rugelach, a filled crescent pastry popular in Jewish communities in Poland