Scotland The Bread

22/04/2026

FAQ: What do we mean when we say our flour is biodiverse?

It's Earth Day, so it seems appropriate to focus on a topic with global consequences: biodiversity.

Scotland The Bread exists as part of a wider network of growers who believe that a high degree of genetic diversity within the crop is key to withstanding the climate shocks that are only going to become more frequent. This diversity ensures that our crop is more resilient than modern intensive monocultures, where all plants in a field are identical and equally vulnerable to the same threats of pests, disease or changing climate.

Each year we run grain trials continuing research into wheat and rye varieties that combine adaptability and resilience to local climate and soils with desirable flavour, baking quality and nutrient density. Thank you to our volunteers who provide essential assistance with this! Read more about our most recent trials harvest here: https://us14.campaign-archive.com/?u=27a70b4f4413dea5181297d02&id=881f5bc70e

Our Balcaskie Landrace flour is milled from a blend of winter and spring wheats including the original three Scottish varieties rescued from gene banks by us in 2013 with additions of Scandinavian evolutionary mixtures chosen for their genetic diversity, nutrient density, breadmaking quality and flavour. By resowing these ‘populations’ each year we hope to harness the adaptive power of natural selection in the Fife landscape.

Our Evolutionary rye has been grown on from Hans Larsson’s evolutionary Fulltofta rye, composed of varieties and mixtures sourced from many places and then grown together over successive seasons. Careful selection and evaluation of the best grains ensure that the crop improves without sacrificing diversity. Transplanted into Fife soil, this rye is gradually adapting to the local soils and micro-climate. The crop grown in 2025 will be re-named (with Hans Larsson’s blessing) ‘Balcaskie Evolutionary Rye’.

You can try our organic wholemeal wheat and rye flour by ordering online on our website or visiting us at one of the monthly Bowhouse Market weekends - the next one is May 9th & 10th.

https://scotlandthebread.org/product-category/scottish-flour-and-grain/
https://www.bowhousefife.com/food-weekends/

📸 Image 1 by Chris Young, The Real Bread Campaign
Images 2 & 3 from our grain trials harvest and test bakes

31/03/2026

Have you seen the new Nourish Scotland Public Diners video? If you're totally new to the idea it outlines the principles behind this concept - one that seems radical to us, but has a long heritage in other countries, and also became familiar to diners in the UK during the Second World War when we had up to 2,000 of them - more than McDonalds outlets today!

Visitors to this year's Scottish Festival of Real Bread had a first-hand Public Diner experience at the pop-up lunch event, where they enjoyed a communal meal (including Real Bread, of course) and learnt all about the campaign to bring back the Public Diner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4clMp9htUg

26/03/2026

25/03/2026

Have you read the Real Bread Campaign's 'Baking a Better Tomorrow' magazine yet? Exploring the world of Real Bread from seed to bakery via health, milling and diversity and featuring a whole bunch of inspiring folk, it's really worth your time. See below to find out how to read it online.

19/03/2026

You can help us WIN a £250 donation prize!

Bread For Good Community Benefit Society will get a FREE entry each time a new supporter signs up to easyfundraising.com this week.

It only takes a moment and it's completely free, so please get involved if you haven't already - this would really boost our fundraising:

https://join.easyfundraising.org.uk/bread-for-good-community-benefit-society/8ubg5u/s2s/E7OVWoL0/PMC01/facebook/

18/03/2026

Love this BTS look at being a Scottish Bread Championship judge! Thank you Tom for taking the time both to lend your expertise and palate to the judging panel, and for writing it up so entertainingly:

https://ormidalels.com/bread-judge-and-learn/

📸 Douglas Scott

11/03/2026

A special congratulations to the Golspie High School pupils who won Silver at the Scottish Bread Championships at the end of Feb, for a People's Bread loaf they grew themselves as part of our Soil to Slice project.

The group, who take part in weekly work experience at Dunrobin Castle Gardens, oversaw every step of the breadmaking process from sowing to threshing, winnowing and milling the grain into flour to bake bread.

Read more here: https://www.northern-times.co.uk/news/golspie-high-team-win-silver-at-bread-championship-429333/

And read more about our People's Bread campaign here: https://scotlandthebread.org/advocacy/the-peoples-bread/

Our Soil to Slice project is currently on hiatus while we look for additional funding, but we hope to re-start it in the future.

📸 From the Northern Times article: winnowing to separate the grain from chaff and debris after threshing.

05/03/2026

Congratulations to all this year's Scottish Bread Championship winners and medal holders! It's a genuine achievement in a hotly contested field. Special mention of course to this year's Supreme Champion Courie Courie Bakery from Aboyne for their Sourdough Miche (pictured), and to Reserve Champion Alastair Begg from Kilbarchan for his Classic Sourdough.

Head here for the full results list: https://www.edinburghbakerstrust.org.uk/results-2026-scottish-bread-championship

A huge thank you to the judging panel - there were a record-breaking 265 entries this year (the 10th Championship), so it's a fun but intense day that is taken very seriously by all.

And of course, hats off and waved in the air for the indomitable Wendy Barrie who organises the Championship and puts in some very late nights organising the entries and compiling the results and certificates! Finally, we are so grateful to the Edinburgh Bakers Trust for funding the Championships 🧡

📸 Judges and bread: Douglas Scott
📸 Judging in process: Chris Young

02/03/2026

THANK YOU FESTIVAL VOLUNTEERS AND TEAM!

Whether you met people at the door, helped set up stalls or the Public Diner meal, ran demos, workshops, a bread choir, our children's play area or threshing event, manned the (sell out!) communal bread stall, or even wore an amazing bakery hat and rang a hand-bell to announce events, this day happened because you generously gave up your time and skills.

Thank you to the judges of the Scottish Bread Championship, to Wendy Barrie for tirelessly coordinating the Championship, and also to Catherine of Charlie Delta Events, our Miller Pamela, and to the Bowhouse team, who all went above and beyond to make this event a success. We are so grateful 🧡

📸 and our thanks as ever for the wonderful photos to Chris Young of the

02/03/2026

Head over to for more BTS pics from the Scottish Bread Championship judging on Friday!

Reposted from

It was only yesterday our judges were embracing bread of every description & they took their task very seriously🙏🙏 .crnkovich 14 in all. My humble thanks. Terrific entries & high level of skills ❤️🍞🥐🥖🌾

28/02/2026

All set up and the first folk coming through the doors for this year's Scottish Festival of Real Bread! The bread stall is looking gorgeous, we're excited for the results of yesterday's Scottish Bread Championship judging marathon (265 entries!) and our workshops and demos will be underway soon. What a treat to have a whole day devoted to the talents, enthusiasm and delicious handiwork of our bread makers, lovers and champions.

A reminder that entry to the Festival is free, but donations to support our work are gratefully welcomed.