Bread

China

Peanut butter bun is a Hong Kong-style pastry. It consists of dough that's filled with peanut butter and sugar, then shaped into a roll and baked. The dough is usually made with a combination of flour, sugar, water, yeast, milk, and cream. Before baking, the bun is often brushed with sugar water in order to develop a nice glaze. These buns can be found in many Hong Kongese bakeries, but they're also often sold in Chinatown bakeries overseas.

Hua sheng jiang bao

Huni roshi is a traditional flatbread hailing from the Maldives. The flatbread is usually made with a combination of flour, grated coconut, lukewarm water, oil, and salt. Once the soft (but not too sticky) dough has been formed, it's shaped into balls, rolled out into a circular shape, and cooked in a pan over medium heat on both sides. The resulting huni roshi should be a bit thicker and crispier than roshi, a typical Maldivian flatbread. Huni roshi is served with sweet or savory dishes, and it's also used as a wrap with any imaginable filling.

Huni roshi

Croatia

Iločka čvarkara sa slaninom is a tasty Croatian snack originating from the city of Ilok. It consists of flour, sugar, yeast, oil, milk, and bacon &ndash; the fattier, the better. When the dough has risen, it should be cut into squares, topped with bacon strips, then baked in an oven until golden brown.

Iločka čvarkara sa slaninom

Injera (or tayta) is a spongy Ethiopian and Eritrean flatbread and an integral part of life for the locals. The bread is made from teff, the tiniest grain in the world, also considered a super grain due to its high nutritious properties. Injera is so popular that the people greet each other by asking "Did you eat injera today?", and if the answer is positive, that assures the other person that all is well. This flatbread is served for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and sharing it when times are rough has kept many Ethiopians and Eritreans alive. Its flavor is tart and quite similar to sourdough bread. The dough is left for three days to ferment and is then shaped into a large, pancake-like disk. It is usually fried in a skillet over a fire, where the spongy texture of the bread develops as the dough hits the hot skillet and air bubbles form on the inside. Once cooled, it is combined with the main course, usually a hearty stew. Injera is eaten without utensils &ndash; instead, it is broken into pieces and used to scoop up some more stew from the shared communal platter. Due to the air pockets in the bread, it can absorb a lot of sauce from the stews. Although shared eating might seem strange to some, injera succeeds in bringing people together.

Injera

Irish brown bread is a variety of soda bread hailing from Ireland. It's made with all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, salt, baking soda, rolled oats, buttermilk (for flavor and moisture), and molasses (for caramelization and color). Once prepared, the dough is shaped into a ball which is pressed, then decorated with a cross incision on top. This rustic bread is baked until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. The cross on top of the bread has its purpose &ndash; the heat will penetrate it, and the center will then bake well. In the country, this bread is a staple in pubs and restaurants, and it's often paired with Irish butter and fruit jam. Irish brown bread is also often served with various soups and stews.

Irish Brown Bread

Yemen

Jachnun is a traditional Yemenite Jewish pastry or flatbread (or something in-between) of Adeni Jewish origin. The Yemenite Jewish immigrants have also popularized the dish in Israel. It's traditionally served for breakfast on Shabbat morning. The dough is made with a cobination of flour, white sugar, water, and margarine. In the past, whole wheat flour, clarified butter (samneh), and date syrup were used instead of the ingredients for the modern Israeli version. The dough is rolled thinly, coated with margarine, then rolled. The rolls are placed in a pot lined with stale bread, which is used to soak up excess oil, then baked overnight at low temperature, usually with a few oven-baked eggs on top. The dish is traditionally served with grated tomatoes, skhug sauce, and those same hard-boiled eggs from the oven. Jachnun is baked overnight so that there would be warm food on Shabbat, when lighting fires is prohibited. Sometimes, the dish is accompanied by tahini or hummus.

Jachnun

Jid&aacute;&scaron;e or Judas bun is a traditional Easter bread that's shaped into a rolled rope or a noose as a reference to Judas who hanged himself after he had betrayed Jesus. They're made with a combination of flour, butter, egg yolks, cream, sugar, honey, yeast, salt, lemon zest, and sometimes nutmeg. After they've been baked, the buns are usually brushed with a glaze consisting of honey, butter, and lemon juice, and the buns are then typically eaten cold. According to local beliefs, if you eat one jid&aacute;&scaron;e during the sunrise on Maundy Thursday, you'll be protected from bee stings, snake bites, and human betrayal for the whole following year.

Jidáše

United States

Johnnycake is a cornmeal flatbread, similar to a pancake, consisting of fried cornmeal, salt, and hot water or milk. It is a staple food in the Rhode Island area, where they are consumed at all times of the day - for breakfast, when they are drizzled with butter and syrup or broken up and combined with milk and sugar, or for other meals, when they act as a substitute for rice or potatoes, and sometimes even get served as a dessert. The name is likely based on jonakin, a word that is derived from another word, jannock, which is the term used by the slaves to describe a cake made of Native American corn. Another theory says it derives from journeycake, an English term referring to durable cornmeal cakes made with no butter or eggs which were carried in saddlebags and on ships during long journeys. It is believed that johnnycakes were invented by the corn-growing Native American tribes that were once the dominant group around Rhode Island. In addition to being popular in the United States, the modern version of the dish is still consumed in Colombia, Bermuda, and Saint Croix.

Johnnycake

Juoda duona is a traditional bread consisting of ground rye flour, starter, and water. The dough must be kneaded for a long time before baking, and it is always left to ferment overnight. Once it is baked, juoda duona is consumed for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Traditionally, bread baking in Lithuania is always done by the eldest woman in the house, and if visitors come over, it is a custom that they stay until the baking process is done.

Juoda duona

Ka'ak is Lebanese street bread that is usually consumed as a snack, characterized by its circular appearance with a hollow part near its outer edge. The bread is traditionally sprinkled with sesame seeds on top. It is typically sold from tiny chariots, where numerous stacked ka'aks dangle from the rails. The bread can be filled with zaatar or picon cheese, but some stores that specialize in ka'ak fill it with many different ingredients. Its texture is chewy, while the flavors are intense and aromatic due to the usage of sesame, sumac, and thyme. It is recommended to pair ka'ak with yogurt or more cheese.

Ka'ak

Kaisersemmel is a traditional bread roll originating from Austria. Also known as kaiser roll, it's usually made with a combination of flour, yeast, salt, sugar, and sometimes butter. The dough is shaped into rounds, and the top is divided into five segments so that the overlapping incisions form a crown. Once baked, the rolls should be crusty on the outside and fluffy on the inside. It is believed that they were named after Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. Nowadays, kaiser rolls are often topped with sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds, or linseed. They're traditionally eaten for breakfast with jam and butter, but the rolls can also be split open in order to make sandwiches, often with leberk&auml;se in Germany and Austria.

Kaisersemmel

Czech Republic

Karlovarsk&yacute; suchar is a rusk, a toasted bread cut in thin slices from a whole load, produced in the Karlovy Vary region in the Czech Republic. There are two varieties of the bread - special and diet versions. The bread is well baked and dried, clean, crisp and uniformly porous. It is golden brown in color, with a delicate scent of bakery goods. The taste is that of baked bread. Both versions of the bread must contain Karlovy Vary spring water. The special variety is made from wheat flour, spring water, sugar, yeast, salt, egg yolk, and flour improver. The diet version is made from the same ingredients, but sugar, egg yolks and salt are removed from the mix. When the bread is toasted, it is left to cool and sold in packs of 200 grams, ready to be enjoyed with fruit jams, butter, and tea.

Karlovarsky suchar

This Greek yeasted bread is characterized by its slightly dark color, which is achieved with the addition of ground or chopped walnuts. Due to its ingredients, karydopsomo is rich, heavy, and incredibly nutritious. It is best paired with cheese and red wine.

Karydopsomo

Austria

K&auml;sd&ouml;nnala is a traditional cheese tart or pie typically made with a yeast dough base topped with a mixture of cheese, onions, and eggs. The filling often includes locally produced cheeses, making the dish rich and flavorful. It is baked until golden brown and is enjoyed as a savory treat, often served with a side salad or as part of a larger meal.

Käsdönnala

India

Kashmiri naan is a traditional flatbread and a variety of naan originating from Kashmir, a state that borders India and Pakistan. The dough is made with a combination of flour, yeast, salt, sugar, dahi, and ghee. Once rolled, the dough is filled with dried fruits, nuts, and spices such as raisins, almonds, cashews, cumin, and fenugreek. The naan is then baked in a hot tava pan until fully cooked, a bit puffy, and golden brown. This type of sweet naan is usually served for breakfast or as an afternoon snack, when it&rsquo;s typically paired with tea (Kashmiri chai) or coffee. It&rsquo;s often served with spicy curries, gravy, raita, or chutneys.

Kashmiri naan

Sweden

Kavring is a classic Swedish bread that started by traveling through the Nordic countries. It originated as a crisp rye bread in Norway, and then, in the late 1800s, it evolved into a slightly sweet, tender, and fragrant loaf in southern Sweden. The bread is typically made with a combination of plain flour, rye flour, salt, dark treacle syrup, baking powder, fennel, and caraway seeds. Traditionally, it is consumed at Midsommar, Easter, or Christmas with gravlax, pickled herring, Christmas ham, pickles, or hard-boiled eggs. On regular days, it is often consumed for breakfast with butter, cheese, or fruit jams, but it is also used for a variety of delicious sandwiches.

Kavring

Thin rounds of yufka stacked five or six high with a spiced tomato and minced-meat sauce brushed between every layer, a spoon of garlic yoghurt on top and hot butter poured over the lot: yağlama is the dish Kayseri eats when mantı would take too long. The name comes from yağlamak, to oil or butter, and describes the method: each sheet is moistened with the sauce rather than filled, so the result is somewhere between a layered flatbread and a savoury cake, cut in wedges and eaten with a fork. It belongs to central Anatolia, to Kayseri above all and to Nevşehir and Niğde, and it is home food first, made for guests and for Ramadan tables, that has moved onto the menus of the city's mantı houses. Outside the region it is barely known, which is one reason to order it where it is made.

The sauce is minced lamb or beef cooked in butter with finely chopped onion, salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes, then tomato paste and grated tomato, loosened with a little water and simmered until it is thick enough to spread but still wet; some cooks add a spoon of pepper paste for colour. The yufka are small, the size of a dinner plate, cooked on a sac until barely coloured and still pliable. On a flat tray one sheet goes down, a thin layer of sauce is spread edge to edge, the next sheet goes on, and so on for five to eight layers, with the top sheet also sauced. A cross is cut through the stack so the wedges separate, thick yoghurt beaten with crushed garlic is spooned over the centre, and butter heated until foaming, often with a pinch of pul biber, is poured on at the last moment so it hisses. Parsley or dried mint may finish it.

Judge the layers by cutting a wedge and looking at the side: the sheets should be distinct but softened, each one stained with sauce, none dry and none dissolved into paste. The meat should taste of butter and onion with the warmth of red pepper, and the tomato should be cooked through, not raw or sour. The yoghurt should be cold and garlicky against the hot stack, and the butter should have been poured in front of you or just before serving, still liquid. Mark down dry upper layers from too little sauce, a soggy base from too much, yufka that has been reheated until leathery, a sauce that is mostly tomato paste, and a version assembled hours ahead and sat in a warming oven, which turns the whole thing into one dense slab. It is rich; a quarter of a stack is a portion, and ayran is the drink.

Kayseri yağlaması

Keema naan is a traditional flatbread and a version of naan. The soft and elastic dough is made with a combination of flour, yeast, salt, sugar, and yogurt. Once rolled, it&rsquo;s stuffed with keema, a curry-like stew containing lamb, mutton, or chicken meat, potatoes, green peas, ginger, chili, onions, garlic, and garam masala spices. Once stuffed and shaped, keema naan is baked in a hot tandoor, on a griddle, or on a tava pan until fully cooked and golden. If desired, the flatbread can be sprinkled with black sesame seeds for a nice visual appearance. Keema naan is usually brushed with warm butter or ghee before serving. It&rsquo;s recommended to serve keema naan with a smashed onion, cucumber raita, and fresh yogurt on the side. This type of naan is usually prepared to make use of leftover keema stew.

Keema naan

Australia

Keke pua'a are Samoan versions of bao steamed buns, filled with a combination of pork, garlic, soy sauce, and onions, although they can be filled with basically any combination of meat and other ingredients. The tender dough is made with flour, sugar, salt, eggs, butter, milk, water, and yeast. It is then filled and steamed or baked. When translated, the name keke pua'a means pork cake, referring to the most common filling in Samoa.

Keke pua'a

Huffkins are traditional English bread rolls originating from Kent. These rolls are flat, circular to oval, with a dimple in the center. They're made with flour, water, yeast, and a bit of lard, although modern recipes sometimes call for the addition of milk powder. Once baked, the rolls develop a pale crust, white crumb, thin crust, and a light and open texture. After baking, the huffkins are traditionally wrapped in a cloth in order to prevent the crust from hardening. It's recommended to fill the hole on top with cherries or jam.