The Kaiser roll, also called a Vienna roll or a hard roll (original name: Semmel or Kaisersemmel; if made by hand also: Handsemmel), is a kind of bread roll, invented in Vienna, and thought to have been named to honor Emperor Franz Joseph. It is a typically crusty round roll made from wheat flour, barm, malt, water and salt, with the top side usually divided in a rotationally symmetric pattern of five segments, separated by curved superficial cuts radiating from the centre outwards or folded in a series of overlapping lobes. Kaiser rolls are often produced by machine, as well as by hand.
This Kaisersemmel is made from vegetable tanned Italian leather. Vegetable tanning is an artisan tradition that local tanneries have handed down from generation to generation for over 200 years, using both antique recipes and state-of-the-art technology. It is a process based on the use of natural tannins extracted from chestnut trees that slowly happens using wooden drums, in full respect of man and the environment. Nearly forty days are needed to transform raw hides into unique vegetable-tanned leathers.