Blaa

Blaa

Alternative names	bla, blah
Course	Usually breakfast or lunch
Place of origin	Ireland
Region or state	Waterford
Main ingredients	white flour
Ingredients generally used	yeast, sugar, water, salt

A blaa /blɑː/, or Waterford Blaa, is a doughy, white bread bun (roll) speciality, particularly associated with Waterford, Ireland.^[1] It is currently made in Waterford and South County Kilkenny.^[2][3][4]

Blaas are sold in two varieties: "soft" and "crusty".^[5][6] Soft blaas are slightly sweet, malt flavour, light but firm in texture and melt in the mouth. Crusty blaas are crunchy at first bite, then chewy with a subtle malt taste and a pleasing bitter aftertaste from the well cooked, dark crust.^[3]

Eaten mainly at breakfast with butter,^[6] they are also eaten at other times of the day with a wide variety of fillings (including a type of luncheon meat often referred to as "red lead"^[6]). The breakfast blaa (egg, bacon rasher and sausage) is more common than the breakfast roll in Waterford.^{[citation needed]}

A combined 12,000 blaas are sold each day^[7] by the four remaining bakeries producing blaas:^[8] Walsh's Bakehouse,^[9] Kilmacow Bakery, Barron's Bakery & Coffee House^[10] and Hickey's Bakery.^[11] Of the four remaining bakeries, only two remain in Waterford City.^[6] Blaas quickly lose their freshness and are best consumed within a few hours of purchase.^[6]

Some sources report that the blaa was introduced to Waterford at the end of the 17th century by the Huguenots.^[3][6][12] This theory is disputed because although white flour existed in the 17th century,^[6][13] it was not widely used until mass production of the industrial revolution.

Blaas are sometimes confused with a similar bun known as a bap; however, blaas are square in shape, softer, and doughier, and are most notably identified by the white flour shaken over them before the baking process.^[14]

On 19 November 2013, the Waterford blaa was awarded Protected Geographical Indication status by the European Commission.^[15]