Cobs, buns, baps or barm cakes: what do people call bread rolls? | YouGov (2024)

FAQs

What do people call a bread roll? ›

This could be a barm cake, bread-cake, bap, batch, bun, buttery, muffin, cob, oven bottom, roll or stotty. To add to the confusion, some names mean more than one thing. In the area north of Manchester, bread rolls are called 'teacakes'. But in Scotland, a teacake is a type of biscuit topped with marshmallow.

For example, baps is a term used in the North of England and Scotland and refers to bread rolls/buns.

Cobs, buns, baps or barm cakes: what do people call bread rolls? YouGov.

“Our customers ask for a roll—most often it's a crusty roll: a small round roll, crusty and darker in appearance. More fired,” Daniel tells me. “A bap to us is slightly larger, soft and flatter, generally used for a burger and it doesn't have a crust so the flavour is different.

Bread roll is a term used widely in England, southern Wales and Scotland, whereas bap was the favourite of North Wales, the West Midlands and Staffordshire. Cob dominates in the East Midlands around Nottinghamshire and Derby, and the niche term batch heard only in Coventry and Liverpool.

These names include roll, and for a minority of the population (usually concentrated in specific regions) bap, barm cake, batch, breadcake, bun, cob, teacake and muffin.

While 'bun' means 'bread roll' in the northern British Isles, the Scots use the term to mean a very rich fruitcake, Blaxter said. Alternatively, 'bun' can also refer to a diminutive version of a cupcake, minus the frosting.

A bap is, at its simplest, a bread roll. At its more complicated, it is a tender pillow of dough, often made with milk, lard, and butter. A more humble, Scottish version of the brioche. The bap is the ideal bread for a simple meat sandwich.

Bread roll – A short, oblong, or round bun served usually before or with meals, often with butter.

A baguette (/bæˈɡɛt/; French: [baɡɛt]) is a long, thin type of bread of French origin that is commonly made from basic lean dough (the dough, not the shape, is defined by French law).

What are baps called in America? ›

You asked “Do you call them baps, bread rolls or buns. ' In the U.S. we call them rolls as in dinner rolls, sweet rolls, breakfast rolls. Buns are for hotdogs, hamburgers, and bratwurst.

'Cob' is the most popular slang for a bread roll in the Midlands. One theory suggests that the word reflects the size and shape of a bread roll, which is similar to a cobblestone.

According to Wikipedia, the word could have originated as a variant of 'cop', meaning head. Cob could also have come from the English word 'cot' for cottage, the Welsh cob for top of tuft or the German Kuebel, a large container.

Bun – term for a bread roll, bread batch, or bread barm cake, primarily used in Northern England and in much of Canada. Butterflake roll – a New England originated roll made of several layers of dough oriented vertically and separated by thin butter layers.

"Roll" crops up everywhere, but it's most common in the south, with "bun", which also shows up throughout the country, being the favoured word in the North East. "Barm" is very localised to the Manchester area, and "batch" is incredibly specific: this is used just by residents of Liverpool and Coventry.

GlobeHunters has unveiled a map to put an end to The Great British Bread debate, revealing the regional names for a bread roll. The map reveals teacakes are the term of choice in the West Country, while those in Newcastle favour stotty. Across the border, Glaswegians favour rowies, while those in the Highlands say cob.

It can refer to the stomach as an actual digestive organ ("his breadbasket rumbled with hunger"), but these days it's more commonly applied to the general stomach area ("rested her hands on her breadbasket").

In co*ckney rhyming slang “bread and honey” is shortened to bread, meaning money. The person who earns a wage to support their family is often referred to as the “breadwinner.” “Dough” came on to the American slang scene in about 1840, and predated “bread” by a little more than a century.

Cob. Definition: If you're from another part of the country with a particularly strong dialect you'll know that the UK can't decide on what to call a bread roll. To Birmingham, a simple bread roll is a cob but in other parts of the country it's a bap, barm cake, bun, batch… the list goes on.