The Roll That Sailed With Aberdeen's Fishermen

If you ask anyone from Aberdeen what separates their city's food from the rest of Scotland, there's a fair chance they'll say the rowie before they say anything else. Known as a buttery once you travel south of the Granite City, this flat, flakey, salt-forward roll has no real equivalent anywhere else in Scottish baking. It looks like a croissant that sat down, thought about it, and decided to stay. And that, as it turns out, was entirely the point.

The first written record of what we now call a buttery dates to 1899, though Aberdeen Journal articles from early in the 19th century were already complaining about bakers using too much lard in place of butter in their "butter rolls", which tells you the roll was well established long before anyone thought to write it down properly. The story most people know is that a local baker created them specifically for the fishermen sailing out of Aberdeen harbour. Men heading to sea for two weeks or more needed something that wouldn't turn stale in a matter of days. The high fat content solved that problem and gave the crew a serious calorie hit against the cold of the North Sea. In 1917, when wartime restrictions were placed on the sale of bread, butteries were made exempt because the Aberdeen City Food Control Committee argued they were an essential part of the food of the working classes. The exemption was eventually withdrawn, but the fight to keep them on sale says a great deal about how seriously this city took its rolls.

Every Aberdeen bakery has its own version, and locals are fiercely loyal to their favourites. Aitkens were known for a light, crispy rowie. Chalmers produce something softer and more pillowy, and introduced an all-butter version back in 2009 for those who prefer to leave the lard out. JG Ross sit somewhere in between. The debate over which is best has been going on for generations and shows no sign of being settled. The World Buttery Championship, run by Slow Food Aberdeen City and Shire, was revived in November 2024 at North East Scotland College, with categories for both professional bakers and home bakers, which gives you some idea of how seriously this roll is still taken.

What You Need to Know Before You Start

Making rowies at home takes patience more than skill. The process of laminating the dough, spreading the fat mixture across it in stages and folding it between rests, is what creates those flakey layers. Rush it and the butter melts into the dough rather than staying in distinct layers, and you lose the texture that makes a rowie a rowie rather than just a fat bread roll.

A tip worth taking seriously: if your kitchen is warm, put the dough in the fridge for 20 minutes between each fold rather than resting it on the worktop. This keeps the fat solid, makes the dough much easier to roll, and stops the butter leaking out before it reaches the oven. It adds time, but the result is noticeably better. Your fat mixture should be at room temperature before you start spreading it. Use your hands rather than a knife or spatula. It sounds messier but it works better, you get a more even coverage without tearing the dough.

Use salted butter rather than unsalted. The slight saltiness in a good rowie isn't just from the salt in the dough, it comes from the butter itself too. Strong bread flour will give you a better rise and a more satisfying chew than plain flour. Once the shaped rowies are on the tray and proving for their final rest, make sure your trays have sides rather than being flat sheets. Fat will pool significantly during baking, and flat trays will let it run off into the oven. One more thing: when it comes to spreading butter or jam onto your finished rowie, it goes on the flat bottom. Not the top. This is not a preference. It is just how it is done.

Serving Them and Keeping Them

Fresh from the oven is hard to beat. Give them ten minutes to cool so you don't burn yourself on the molten fat, then eat them while they're still warm. Strawberry jam on the bottom is the classic move. A fried egg works brilliantly. Golden syrup is an Aberdonian favourite that often surprises people. Plain with a mug of tea is perfectly fine too.

They keep well at room temperature for two or three days in an airtight container, and many people will tell you the flavour actually improves by the next morning. Toast them to bring them back to life; the outside crisps up beautifully and the inside goes soft and chewy. They also freeze well for up to three months. Once baked and cooled, bag them up, freeze them, and toast from frozen when you want one. They come back almost perfectly.

Ingredients

• 500g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
• 7g fast-action dried yeast (1 sachet)
• 1 tbsp soft light brown sugar
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 320ml warm water (not boiling)
• 200g salted butter, at room temperature
• 100g lard, at room temperature

Method

1. Pour the warm water into a jug. Stir in the yeast and sugar and leave for 5 to 10 minutes. It should start to look slightly creamy or foamy, which means the yeast is active. If nothing happens after 10 minutes, the water was likely too hot or the yeast is past its best. Start again with fresh yeast.
2. Sift the flour into a large bowl and stir in the salt. Make a well in the centre, pour in the yeast liquid, and use a fork or your hands to bring everything together into a soft, slightly sticky dough. You may not need every last drop of the water, so add it gradually.
3. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead for 8 to 10 minutes until it is smooth and elastic and springs back when you poke it. Shape into a ball, place in a lightly greased bowl, cover with cling film or a damp tea towel, and leave in a draught-free spot for 1 to 2 hours until the dough has doubled in size.
   
4. While the dough is proving, beat the butter and lard together in a bowl with a wooden spoon until fully combined and smooth. Divide the mixture into three equal portions and set aside at room temperature. Line two baking trays that have sides (not flat baking sheets) with greaseproof paper and set them aside.
   
5. Once the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knock it back with a few quick kneads. Roll it out into a large rectangle approximately 20cm x 50cm, about 1cm thick, with the short edge facing you.
6. Using your fingers, spread one portion of the fat mixture across the bottom two thirds of the dough rectangle, leaving the top third clear. Fold the top third down over the middle, then fold the bottom third up on top, like folding a letter. You now have three layers of dough with fat between them. Press the edges gently to seal.
   
7. If your kitchen is warm, wrap the dough loosely in cling film and refrigerate for 20 minutes. If the kitchen is cool, rest it on the worktop for 30 minutes. After resting, unwrap, place the dough with the fold to your left like a book, and roll out again to the same rectangle size. Spread the second portion of fat across the bottom two thirds and repeat the fold. Rest again for 20 to 30 minutes (in the fridge if needed).
   
8. Repeat the rolling, spreading, and folding one final time using the last portion of fat. After this third fold, rest the dough for a final 20 to 30 minutes. This lamination process is what creates the flakey layers in the finished rowies, so take your time with it.
9. Roll the dough out to about 1 to 2cm thick and cut into 12 to 14 pieces of roughly equal size. To shape each rowie, fold the corners of each piece inward toward the centre, then flip it over so the folds are underneath. Press down lightly with your palm to flatten into a rough disc. They should look a bit uneven. That is correct.
   
10. Place the shaped rowies on the prepared baking trays, spaced a few centimetres apart to allow for spreading. Cover loosely with cling film and leave to prove in a draught-free spot for 45 minutes. They should puff up noticeably and feel light and a little fragile before they go in the oven.
11. Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan) / Gas Mark 6. Remove the cling film and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the rowies are a deep, even golden brown. Check from the 15-minute mark. There will be a significant amount of fat that has melted and pooled on the trays. This is completely normal.
12. Remove from the oven and carefully transfer the rowies to a wire rack, with paper towels or a plate underneath to catch any dripping fat. Leave to cool for at least 10 minutes before eating. Serve with strawberry jam or golden syrup spread on the flat bottom, or simply eat them plain while they're still warm.