Scottish Real Bread Festival and Championship 2023

In celebration of Real Bread Week, the first ever Scottish Real Bread Festival will take place on Saturday 25 February, preceded by judging for the Scottish Bread Championship on Thursday 23 February. 

Both will be held at Bowhouse in the East Neuk of Fife.

Scottish Bread Championship

The Scottish Bread Championship was founded in 2017 by Wendy Barrie of Scottish Food Guide and Andrew Whitley, co-founder of Bread Matters, the Real Bread Campaign and Scotland the Bread.

Get Real and say no to sourfaux!

The Championship is the only major competition in the UK that applies the Real Bread Campaign’s no additives criterion across all categories. Any product entered in a sourdough class (or with the word sourdough in its name or description) must be genuine sourdough: Real Bread leavened only using a live sourdough starter culture - no baker's yeast or chemical leavening.

Entry classes

All professional and amateur Real Bread makers are invited to enter in the following classes:

• Class 1: Classic sourdough bread, made only using flour, water and salt.
• Class 2: Enriched sourdough bread, made added natural ingredients - seeds, fruit etc. Can be sweet or savoury.
• Class 3: Bread made from grain grown and milled in Scotland.
• Class 4: Bread reflecting Scotland’s diverse food culture. For example, made from grains with Scottish heritage or historic connection; or reflecting international influences on the country’s evolving bread making traditions. 
• Class 5: A bread excelling in nutritional quality.
• Class 6: Cottage loaf, inspired by the benefits of baking at home for family.
• Class 7: Sourdough pastries and vienoisserie, such as croissants and Danish pastries, sweet or savoury.
• Class 8: The People’s Bread, made to Scotland The Bread’s People’s Bread standard. Aimed at producing a nutritious Real Bread, which is affordable and accessible to everybody, it is to be made with a high proportion of locally-milled, organic Scottish-grown grain, and well-fermented.

The competition is run by Scotland The Bread and Scottish Food Guide, with sponsorship from The Edinburgh Bakers Trust. You can find the entry form and rules on the Edinburgh Bakers Trust website.

All forms and payment must be submitted by 15 February. Entrants will receive details of where and how to deliver their Real Bread for the judging day on 23 February.

Scottish Real Bread Festival

The first ever Scottish Real Bread Festival on 25 February “will be a celebration of all things bread and bread-related with presentations and displays, stalls and talks, workshops and debates.”

You’ll have the chance to learn about the work of Scotland The Bread, Scottish Food Guide, The Edinburgh Bakers Trust, the Real Bread Campaign and much more.

• The premiere of a short film celebrating the new wave of agroecological Scottish grain, flour and Real Bread.
• The Scottish Bread Championship awards ceremony.
• A keynote speech from Real Bread Campaign coordinator Chris Young.
• Straw weaving workshop.
• Panel discussion.
• A Taste of Diversity: A chance to try different grains (heritage, landraces, ancient, mixed populations...)
• Real Bread focused market stalls.
• The Big Thrash, especially for children. From sheaf to sourdough by hand - thresh, winnow, mill.
• Bannocks & Ballads: stories and songs from Marie Louise Cochrane, The Storytelling Cook.

Keep an eye on the Real Bread Campaign’s website, Breadcrumbs enewsletter and social media channels for updates.

Entry is free, but all donations in support of Scotland The Bread’s work are welcomed.

See also

• Wild Hearth Bakery’s Highland hat trick
• Scottish Bread Championship winners announced
• Tartan triumph
• Scottish Bread Champion announced
• A breid apart