The competition to find the best baker in the land heated up as 371 of Scotland’s best products arrived in Dunfermline.
Thanks to the votes of customers, an impressive number are in contention as the Scottish Baker of the Year competition moved to the professional judging stage.
Customers from across Scotland voted for their best bakery products during March and the top products in each of the six categories were baked and delivered to Carnegie Conference Centre for judging by a panel of independent experts led by artisan Robert Ross and including retired master bakers with extensive experience of the bakery sector.
The panel professionally judged 371 items shortlisted in the six categories: breads, scones, individual cakes, savouries, morning rolls and new category biscuits, to decide on which should be put through as the best in the land.
Each category has been divided into three regions, covering Northern, Central and Southern Scotland.
Within each category, the judges will award regional gold, silver and bronze awards and all the shortlisted bakers who will be revealed by organisers later this week will be invited to a prestigious ceremony next month.
All of the regional winners will also be judged on a national level, meaning that they could be recognised as having the best bakery product in Scotland.
The final results will remain a closely guarded secret until May 18 when the results will be announced and the Scottish Baker of the Year 2013 will be crowned, a title held by Harry Gow in Inverness.
Head judge Robert Ross said: “The sheer number of 15,000 votes this year has given us a good indication of how strongly the people of Scotland feel about their high street bakers and we cannot wait to taste the quality of the products we have to judge.”