Palianytsia is a type of Ukrainian hearth-baked bread, made mostly of wheat flour in a home oven. The yeast hearth bread has a semi-circular cut across the top third of the loaf.
The word comes from Ukrainian: пали́ти, romanized: palyty, meaning
"to burn" or "to smoke". This is because, when baking the bread, the
raised crust can sometimes be burned. Another version is based on the
assumption that pOlianytsia is a traditional bread produced by the Polans
(Poliany) an early medieval tribe of Eastern Slavs.
Ahatanhel Krymsky, a noted Ukrainophile and scholar, believed that the
word palianytsia comes from the Greek: πελανος, romanized:
pelanos, which referred to round cakes offered to the gods.