How to Make a Scot Black

My Scottish customers love their traditional loaves of bread. A Scottish loaf is made from strong white flour and baked in a pan to make it rise nice and tall. And then the baker makes it black on top - the Scots like it that way.

Burn Baby, Burn
But how does the baker manage to burn just the top of the loaf without incinerating the whole thing? Well, the answer is - he doesn't. He burns the whole thing.

Separating the Blonds From the Blacks
All the loaves are baked together in a huge oven. The blond-top loaves are then set aside to cool before they can be sliced. The loaves destined to be "well-fired" go on to receive a special and very cruel treatment.

These Scots are Well-Fired
While the blond-tops are cooling, the baker cranks up the temperature of his oven until it is searing hot. The loaves destined to be "well-fired" are then popped back into the very hot oven where they quickly char all over. When they are pulled from the oven, the loaves are completely black from top to bottom. But the blackness is only skin deep. The baker then takes a sharp knife and cuts the sides off the loaf leaving a beautiful white loaf of bread with a black top. Now you know.