In Hansel and Gretel, what is the witch's house built of?

In “Hansel and Gretel,” the witch’s house is built of bread and cakes. The hungry children discover it after becoming lost in the forest, and they begin eating the walls before the witch appears.

The Grimm version gives the cottage a more elaborate edible design: its walls are made of bread, its roof is cake, and its windows are made of sugar. That detail is why the story is often described as an early “gingerbread house” tale, although gingerbread itself is not the precise material named in the Grimm text.

The house is a trap rather than a gift. The witch deliberately builds it to lure hungry children inside, then locks Hansel away and plans to fatten him before eating him. Gretel eventually outwits her by pushing her into the oven.

Modern picture books, films, and Christmas traditions often replace the bread-and-cake cottage with a house covered in gingerbread, sweets, and candy. Those versions expand the confectionery imagery, but the stored answer matches the core Grimm description.