Let’s have a brief and very topical (If you’ve been following the news recently in Scotland) thread on some history of that Scottish culinary staple, the morning roll.
Back to basics. What even is a roll? Well a roll is a literally descriptive term for how bakers first began to make small, individual bits of bread for sale: they rolled or doubled a piece of dough over, shaped it and baked it. The books of the Incorporation of Baxters (Bakers) of St. Andrews refers to rolls in 1631: “That na baxter shall sell any banknokis, baikis, nor rollis in his buith, except these he gettis in service” (That no baker shall sell any bannocks, biscuits or rolls in his shop etc.)
The idea of a “morning” roll is equally old, and not that particularly Scottish in its heritage. These were simply the first items baked in the oven in the morning, they baked quicker than bread so were ready to go out for sale sooner. The baker’s boy (or his children) would take baskets out for customers, delivering to bigger houses with whom there was a contract and selling them on the street. But what was distinctively Scottish vs. English were the baking practices. Scottish bakers made much more use (almost exclusively so) of higher-quality, imported European wheats for flour (as the local stuff was not suitable for bread) and were not in the habit of employing journeymen bakers to work overnight for them.
Instead of making the dough in a “night shift”, they began preparing it the previous evening and used a long, overnight fermentation of a “sponge”, using barm (a liquid by-product of brewing) to provide the yeast. First thing in the morning, the baker would come in, light the oven and make the bread dough from the fermented sponge while the ovens were heated up. A long fermentation, a wet dough and higher-strength flours made for a different end product from the sorts of bread and rolls made in England. The rolls went in the hot oven first, baking quickly at the top, therefore the morning rolls therefore had to withstand a very hot baking temperature. The bakers had a number of tricks to stop this spoiling the rolls.
- Firstly, fat (usually lard, but also butter in some places, I’m looking at you Aberdeenshire ) kept the roll feeling soft and moist, and prolonged its shelf life.
- Secondly, that distinctive thick, floury coating protected the surface of the roll, slowing crust forming on the skin, allowing it to rise properly.
- Thirdly, the bakers indented each roll with their thumb. This “baked out” in the oven, inverting as the roll baked and rose, so was not obvious on the end product, but it prevented a hollow forming in the top of the roll under the crust.
The first rolls in the top of the very hot oven would burn on top as the oven cooled down to baking temp. This is the origin of “well fired” rolls – originally a by-product, sold cheaper, for many they became sought after, and bakers have long made them as such deliberately.
Scottish baking practice meant that bakers frequently felt the wrath of the Sabbatarians who held such sway in 19th century Presbyterian Scotland; they would come in to work on a Sunday evening to prepare the dough sponges for Monday’s morning rolls and bread, contrary to the Fourth Commandment (Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy). In 1845, journeymen bakers in Dundee went on strike because they were being obliged – amongst other complaints – to work on the Sabbath. The practice described in an 1846 letter to the Northern Warder and General Advertiser for the Counties of Fife, Perth and Forfar as “a systematic violation of the the Fourth Commandment by master bakers“. The author acknowledged this took a minimum amount of time, and did not prevent bakers from attending to church, but that it it would be worth forgoing hot and fresh bread on a Monday morning to avoid being “put to death” like the Israelite found gathering sticks in the wilderness on the Sabbath.
The Sabbath time absolutely required in the bakehouse may be short; but it is long enough to stamp evil impressions that will never be effaced, and effectually to prevent good impressions being made.
Letter by Sabbaticus to the Northern Warder and General Advertiser for the Counties of Fife, Perth and Forfar, January 1st 1846
Sabbatarians, one described as an Edinburgh baker in the Free Church, tried to develop new baking techniques that would allow the dough sponge for Monday to be set on a Saturday evening:
It is due to him to mention, that I have been using his bread for a considerable time, and I consider his Monday Morning rolls in no respect inferior to those he produces on other days
Letter by Sabbaticus, January 1st 1846.
This valiant effort was seemingly to no widespread avail, as the issue was still prevalent in following decades, the Sabbath Alliance campaigning against the issue in 1862, and again an Edinburgh baker was trying to spread the method for Monday Morning rolls that were Sabbath-work free in Fife, Dundee and Aberdeen.
The modern, square rolls, made in a batch to pull-apart are exactly that – modern. They are the result of mechanisation and industrialisation of baking in the late 19th and early 20th century. Hand-formed Scottish morning rolls were traditionally of oval or triangular shapes!
Note in the above picture the word “bap”. You may well think it’s a more English term for a roll, but it’s been used just as long and commonly in Scotland. Allan Ramsay refers to them in 1724 in Tea-Time Miscellany “there will be lapper’d milk kebbocks, And sowens, and farls, and baps.” Don’t take my word for it: F. Marian McNeill says it is so in The Scots Kitchen and her word goes on such matters. Bap or Bappit is an old Scottish insult, someone who is Bap-faced has a round, silly-looking dace, and someone who is Bap-footed is clumsy.
There’s as many words for rolls as there are varieties. A “Fadge” used barley flour. A “Luffie” in Angus was rounded, like a type of curling stone of that name. “Hardies” and “Safties” are another Angus term, for hard and soft rolls. “Rowie” as a word is just a derivation of the word roll, but is a totally different product, using lots of butter to keep the rolls moist for longer, perfect for fishermen to take to sea with them.
The earliest advert I could find specifically calling it a morning rolls was for an Inverness Baker – Alexander Shaw – in 1829. I like the spelling of “muffons” too.
Rolls were legally exempted from sale by weight as early as 1836. If you want to go into the legal history of how and why Scottish bread ended up the way it did, look no further than the plain bread thread. It was the industrialisation of bread production that meant the morning roll became such an important item for small bakers and sought after by their customers. The bakers couldn’t compete on bread, so bought it in from the big bakers, but they continued to make their own morning rolls, as customers knew that the warm, crispy rolls, fresh from the oven, were not something that could be replicated by the bought-in versions.
Even before WW1, many bakers had abandoned making their own bread, and the price controls and subsidy system of wartime rationing (in both World Wars) really killed off the practice for many more. But baking morning rolls, tealoafs, pies, pastries and cakes became a profitable alternative and a speciality for independent bakers. The square morning roll, baked in batches to be pulled apart, giving a soft, split side, was just an efficient baking development. These modern rolls still use a fat (although rarely lard now); still (usually) have a thick, flour coating; still use a specific fermenting process; and are still baked in an extra hot oven, so they are still fundamentally a traditional morning bap.
I admit as an East Coaster I don’t get the cult around Mortons Rolls. Never had one. But morning rolls remain one of the few traditional Scottish bakery items that retain a degree of regional identity.
So whatever you call your roll/bap/rowie/saftie, keep on buying them and keep on enjoying them and keep on resisting the awful impostor attempts at morning rolls that big supermarkets try and sell you. And keep on enjoying them best with Lorne Sausage in them!
