The Scottish Bread Championship 2024 will be held on Friday 23rd February at Bowhouse in Fife during Real Bread Week.

Scotland The Bread & Scottish Food Guide continue as sponsors and they are delighted the Championship has also received sponsorship from The Edinburgh Bakers Trust.

Entry Form Deadline: Monday 12th February 2024

For all enquiries & returned entry forms please contact wendy@wendybarrie.co.uk

Judging will take place on Friday 23rd February 2024 at Bowhouse, by St Monans, Fife KY10 2DB An entry form must have been submitted and payment made.

Delivery options
Entrants are welcome to deliver their bread entries to Wendy at Bowhouse KY10 2DB between the hours of 9am – 11am (at which hour entries will absolutely close) on Friday 23rd February.
OR
Use one of three drop-off options if this is more convenient for you:
1. Halbeath Park&Ride, KY11 7EG between the hours of 9am – 10am on the Friday. Jock will be there in a light blue Vauxhall Meriva with tailgate up in a conspicuous spot.
2. Maybury Casino car park, EH12 8NE between the hours of 9am – 10am on the Friday. Alison will be there in a dark blue Volvo.
3. Lidl car park, Beith Street, Partick, Glasgow G11 6DQ between the hours of 9am – 10am on the Friday. Paul Hooper will be there in a white Honda Civic. (That`s just off the Expressway and only 100m from bus, train, and subway stations).

The Scottish Bread Championship 2024 Results
Results will be announced on Saturday 24th February at the Scottish Festival for Real Bread at Bowhouse, by St Monans, Fife. KY10 2DB

Classes for Scottish Bread Championship
Class 1 - Classic Sourdough bread – using flour, water and salt
Class 2 - Enriched Sourdough bread – with additions of seeds, fruit etc.
Can be sweet or savoury
Class 3 - Bread from Scottish-grown grain, milled in Scotland
Class 4 - Breads reflecting Scotland’s food culture e.g. made with historic grains/reflecting international influences and traditions (e.g. Italian/Ukrainian/Asian/Nordic fermented flatbread/crispbread)
Class 5 - A bread excelling in nutritional quality
Class 6 - Cottage Loaf – inspired by the benefits of baking at home for the family
Class 7 - Sourdough pastries e.g. croissants/ Danish pastries, sweet or savoury; N.B. ‘real sourdough’, as defined by the Real Bread Campaign, has no added baker’s yeast or chemical leavening agent.
Class 8 - The People’s Bread – a loaf made to Scotland The Bread’s ‘People’s Bread’ standard https://scotlandthebread.org/our-work/the-peoples-bread/ for a well-fermented loaf, made with a high proportion of locally-milled organic Scottish-grown grain, aimed at producing a nutritious, affordable and accessible bread for everybody.

Judges will also award one Supreme Champion and one Reserve Champion.
These overall awards are for loaves and not pastries.

Awards
Awards will be given for entries that reach a standard of excellence, based on Gold, Silver and Bronze. There will be no limit on the number of Gold, Silver or Bronze awards that can be in any class and awards will only be presented in a class should judges decide they merit such. The winners of merit awards will receive certificates (both hard and electronic copy) that may be displayed on their product, website, shop etc.

RULES & REGULATIONS:

Entry Form
• Only this 2024 official Entry Form will be accepted. (Use either word docx or pdf above)
• Participants are solely responsible for the accuracy and eligibility of their entries.
• Substitution of entries will not be permitted after the closing date for entry.
• Each entry must be, at the closing date for entry, the bona fide property of the entrant in whose name it is entered.
• Each entry must be from a business based in Scotland or a person residing in Scotland.
• Two loaves/pastries should be supplied per entry - one for judging and another for public display thereafter.

Judging
• The Judges’ decision is final.
• No prize shall be awarded unless an entry is deemed of sufficient merit.
• No entrants have access during judging.

Definition / criteria for Real Bread in the Scottish Bread Championship
All entries must conform to the basic definition of the Real Bread Campaign; Real Bread is made without the use of processing aids or any other artificial additives.
The only exceptions to the ‘no additives’ rule are the four `fortificants` added to all non-wholemeal flour by law in the UK.

At the Scottish Festival for Real Bread on Saturday 24th February, awarded breads will be displayed along with any commercial labels/marketing insignia provided by entrants. It will not be possible to return items and displays will be disposed of by the organisers in an appropriate and waste-conscious manner.

Guidance
Don`t forget to check the labels of ingredients and any mixes you use, to make sure that no additives or processing aids get into your dough that way.
In particular, flours and mixes may contain ascorbic acid or added enzymes, and instant yeast usually contains additives.
Always read the label and, if necessary, check with the supplier or manufacturer. Chemically-raised products, such as soda bread, are not eligible.

Additional attributes of Real Bread
These are criteria that enrich the meaning of Real Bread as being ‘better for you, your community and the environment’. You will assist the judges by mentioning any of these that apply to your product on the Scottish Bread Championship Entry Form. Real Bread is better when it is:
o fermented slowly (for at least four hours), preferably deploying the beneficial bacteria in a sourdough starter
o made using flour from a small specialist milling business
o made from locally grown organic grain
o made in one continuous process (NB: part-baking or freezing of the dough are not allowed)
o made, following best practice, with salt at less than 1% of the total product weight at the mixing bowl stage (please state the salt percentage in the ingredients list)
o made from certified organic ingredients
o made in a small, independent bakery or at home

In addition to flour, water, salt and yeast/sourdough (that are the only necessary components of real bread) natural food ingredients may be included as long as their presence does not contradict the criteria for the category you are entering them in.

Any natural food ingredients, such as seeds, nuts, cheese, milk, malt extract, herbs, oils, fats and dried fruits, should be minimally processed and must themselves contain no artificial additives.

The full list of ingredients (not the recipe) must be submitted on each entry form, in descending order of weight.

We shall be using hashtag #scottishbreadchampionship on social media.

SPECIAL NOTES FOR ALL SBC 2024 ENTRANTS

We look forward to seeing your entries for this year’s Scottish Bread Championship. There are a few important procedural changes we would like to highlight before filling in your entry forms:

• The Festival will be held on the following day after Judging. This enables entrants to more readily stay on in Fife should they wish to join in the event. It also gives the opportunity for entrants to bring along extra bread to sell if they so wish – more details to follow.

• The same loaf can be entered in several different categories. ALL categories entered for that specific loaf must be noted on one application form e.g. an oat & rye boule may be entered in Classes 3 & 5. Simply place all the class numbers entered in the box provided on the form and continue to describe your loaf comprehensively. This also applies to loaves that are identical apart from their size (e.g. family/small).

This means Judges do not duplicate tasting identical loaves but rest assured that extra time will be allotted for evaluating that loaf for the different category awards entered. The cost is £5 per entry as before (so in the case of the example given, the oat & rye boule would pay the usual 2 entry fees for being entered in 2 classes) but it saves you filling out additional forms and baking extra loaves. Should you win awards for the loaf, the awarded logo can be used in the awarded categories on loaves of any size as long as they are the same recipe.

• In anticipation of more entries, we have enlisted additional experienced judges for 2024.

• The deadlines for application forms and deliveries will be rigidly adhered to in order for the day to run smoothly.

Wishing you very good luck & best wishes
Wendy Barrie & Andrew Whitley
Scottish Food Guide & Scotland The Bread respectively

Background Information

The Scottish Bread Championship was founded by Wendy Barrie of Scottish Food Guide and Andrew Whitley of Scotland The Bread in 2017. Both dedicated to Real Bread, baking skills and natural ingredients, they felt there was a gap needing filled in the food calendar, a need to celebrate those dedicated to making bread naturally, with wholesome ingredients and natural starters.

The Scottish Real Bread Festival will be a celebration of all things bread and bread-related with presentations and displays, stalls and talks, workshops and debates, with a full programme issued in due course on Scotland The Bread and Scottish Food Guide websites.

The Edinburgh Bakers Trust is a registered charity (SC047164) whose purpose is the advancement of baking education, arts, heritage, culture and science. Their core activity is to award small grants to bakers and other related organisations so please bear this in mind when planning any future baking activities as you may qualify for a grant.