Traditional Scottish Baps or Buns (2024)

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Scottish Baps, called buns when homemade, are fresh, soft pockets of bread perfect for a sandwich.

Recently, I started making buns and baps because the numbers in our grocery budget were getting too high.

Create delicious homemade baps with this guide to Scottish baps!

How To Make Scottish Baps The Traditional Way

As you all know, I love to be busyin the kitchen and looking for ways to help lower our grocery budget.

I like to make all the treats we eat in the house instead of buying commercially made products.

My kids enjoy my Milk Toffee, Cinnamon Buns, Cherry Pie Minis, Granola Bars, or even Jam-filled Oatmeal Squares.

I could share recipes with how much homemade baking and cooking I do.

It suits our family and our budget.

Buying Bread vs. Making Homemade Bread, Buns, and Baps

We have discussed living within our means lately, and the biggest thing that was eating into our budget was bread and buns for sandwiches.

I know you may think I’m joking, but yes, bread products can quickly drive the budget higher each week.

The only way to chop that expense was to buy bread at reduced prices and then freeze it.

In freezing bread, I found they didn’t keep long enough, so I decided to make my own in the end.

Lowering expenses for our family meant watching flyer sales and buying bread as I shopped each week so it stayed fresh.

My family can quickly go through four loaves of bread and buns in one week, so you can see why the costs are high.

I would buy a dozen buns for sandwiches, typically gone within a couple of days.

Homemade Baps Are Cheaper To Make

With a bit of fine-tuning, I found the easiest and cheapest way was to make homemade baps and buns at a fraction of the cost compared to the grocery store.

Costs breakdown to buy the products to make the flour baps/buns, but it will depend on each store in the province.

The following bread ingredients below will make loads of Scottish Baps/Buns.

• Flour from Costco $6.99 10kg bag
• Salt $1.49 1kg box
• Yeast 2lbs $4.99
• Milk $4.39 4L jug

Compare that to buying loaves of bread from the grocery store; you will always win with homemade food.

Flour Baps Are The Easiest Buns To Make

What are flour baps, and how long do they keep?

We call buns flour baps; as mentioned, and honestly, they are easy to make.

You won’t ever purchase buns at a bakery again once you make these Scottish Baps.

These tiny round buns or baps are fluffy inside and keep up to 5 days without going hard.

The freshness factor is significant because my family loves to have toasted buns with my homemade jam or carrot marmalade on the weekend.

We also like to stuff them with luncheon meats and cheese or butter and eat them with homemade chili, stew, or soups.

Snap a hotdog in half and stuff it into a bap, or make mini burgers on your fresh baps.

Related: Check out the complete Canadian Budget Binder Recipe Index

You can have these hot, fluffy flour baps ready to eat within hours.

We also enjoy buns hot out of the oven if you are anything like us.

Baps Around The World

Recently, I’ve had a couple of people challenge Nicola on Pinterest, stating there is no such thing as Baps.

Since Nicola is from the UK, there’s no doubt that this was untrue.

Recently, I went into a COBS bread shop in our city, and to my delight, what did I see? Baps!

COBS bakery originated in Australia and currently has over 140 stores across Canada.

So, for anyone in doubt about Baps, they are genuine and are just another name for a white bun.

How To Make Scottish Buns Or Baps

Making bread is not as complicated as you think, and I’m betting you will come back and leave a comment to tell me so.

Bread making can be an art, but this requires reading and following a recipe for the home baker.

A printable version of this recipe is below, or you can save it or share it on your Pinterest page to make it later.

• Prep time:10 mins
• Proof/rise time:1hr first rise,20 mins second risebefore putting into the oven
• Bake time: 15 mins
• Oven temp: 190oC/374oF
• Yield:12 buns

Please note that the prep and cook times in this recipe below do not include the proofing time, as I cannot add this. (See above for times)

Ingredients To Make Scottish Baps

If you are a bread lover like my family, these easy flour baps or buns, as we call them, are simple to make.

Plus, they will save you money, and don’t forget to mention the freshness factor.

• 5½ cups All-Purpose flour
• ½ cup butter
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 1 cup lukewarm milk
• 4 teaspoons yeast
• An extra cup of flour for kneading the dough

Step By Step Process To Make Scottish Baps

1. Place flour, butter, and salt into a bowl and mix until it resembles breadcrumbs.
2. Stir the lukewarm milk, water, sugar, and yeast in a jug until dissolved. Cover and place in a warm area until frothy.
3. Once frothy, mix again, add to the flour mix, and stir until it starts forming a dough. I use my mixer for this, but you can use a handheld too. Mix until the beater starts clogging with dough, then turn out.
4. Knead dough until smooth, around 5 minutes, then place it back in the bowl and let it rise for 1 hour. I use my oven and switch on the light for this.
5. Once doubled in size, punch down and knead again for 5 minutes.
6. Then divide into 12 pieces and roll the dough into balls.
7. You should get all 12 balls onto the baking tray.
8. Dust the bottom of the baking tray with flour.
9. Once the baking tray is dusted with flour, place the dough evenly onto a tray and then dust again with flour.
10. I use an old spice jar filled with flour for this. You can use parchment paper, too.
11. Let rise again for another 20 minutes.
12. Now, place it in the oven for 15 minutes or until the top of the Baps/Buns has turned light brown.
13. Take off the baking tray and place it on a cooling tray.

A printable version of this recipe is below,or you can save it or share it on your Pinterest page to make it later.

Scottish Baps or Buns can be frozen once cooled and are great for any meal.

Discussion: Do you make homemade buns or baps?

Please leave me your comments below.

-Nicky

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