It is made from white flour, yeast, malt, water and salt, with the top side usually divided in a symmetric pattern of five segments, separated by curved superficial cuts radiating from the centre outward or folded in a series of overlapping lobes resembling a crown.

There is also the theory that the name stems at least in part from a baker family called Kayzer in Opatów in Galicia which had been occupied by the Austrian monarchy in the First Partition of Poland.

They are traditionally found in Austria, but have also become popular in other countries of the former Austrian Habsburg Empire, such as the Galicia region in Poland and later the whole country (where it is known as kajzerka), Croatia, Slovenia, and Serbia (kajzerica), Hungary (császárzsemle), the Czech Republic (císařská žemle, císařská houska,[5] kaiserka) and Slovakia (kaiserka), as well as in Germany, the United States, and Canada.

A handmade Kaiser roll is known as a Wiener Kaisersemmel (Handsemmel) according to the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus standards collection.

A variation called a kümmelweck (alternatively spelled "kimmelweck" or "kummelweck")[7] is topped with kosher salt and caraway, and in the United States is an essential component of a Buffalo-area specialty, the beef on weck sandwich.