Stottie Cake Recipe

A stottie cake is a disc of bread which is bakes slowly in the oven. This gives it a distinctive chewy texture making it perfect for a lunchtime sandwich.

I first discovered stottie cakes when I came to North East England as a student. Hungry and between lectures I was searching for a sandwich. I found a sandwich shop with a wide range of stotties, from hand and pease pudding to chicken salad. Unsure of what it was but having no other choice I tried one. I found that the stotty cake is a disc of bread, rather like an extra-large bap. They have a distinctive taste, crusty and soft with a chewy texture.

What is a stotty cake ?

Like many dishes from North East England, stottie cakes were born from poverty. Food had to be filling to serve shipyard workers and miners. Money was short so nothing went to waste. Making bread at home was commonplace.  At the end of the day leftover dough was shaped into round discs. These were put at the bottom of the coal-fired oven, the coolest part, known as the sole. The stotties would cook as the oven cooled down.

Cooking the bread at a low temperature in this way gives the yeast longer to work and give the stottie its distinctive chewiness. In the twenties, it was common to see stotties, in the plural, lining windowsills in order to cool. In those days it was commonplace to bake bread at home.

Read more: Traditional recipes from North East England

Why is a stottie called a stottie?

The name stottie comes from the Geordie word “stott” which means bounce. The Geordie dialect finds its origins in the tongue of the Anglo-Saxon settlers who were mainly found in the North East.

Legend has it that cooks would check the texture of the stottie was correct by stotting or bouncing it off the kitchen floor. If it bounced the texture was correct. I must admit I did not check my stotties to see if they bounced, I suspect the family would not have wanted to eat them if I had.

Fortunately, due to health and safety rules, the bouncing no longer takes place.

How to make a stottie cake

Bread is not something I am good at making, but the stottie cake is actually quite easy to make. Unlike most loaves of bread, there is only one rise needed, which limits the amount of kneading involved. It is definitely worth the effort, there is something homely about eating homemade stotties.

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Equipment required

You will need:

• Large bowl
• Small bowl
• Sieve
• Board to roll out the bread
• Rolling pin
• Measuring jug
• Kitchen scales

Ingredients

• Strong white bread flour – bread flour is high in gluten which allows the dough to rise and expand better.
• Yeast – this will help the bread to rise.
• Sugar – this will make the yeast more active which will make the bread rise more.
• Salt and pepper – this seasons the stottie cake and makes it tastier.
• Water – to help make the dough.

Steps to make

First, activate the yeast. Put the yeast, sugar and pepper in a bowl and add 3 tablespoons of tepid water.

Leave in a warm place. It should become frothy after 15 minutes.

Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl and make a hollow in the middle.

Pour the yeast mixture and the rest of the water into the hollow.

Mix to make a dough.

Knead the dough until it gets glossy. This will take about ten to twelve minutes. Don’t be scared to work the dough, it will increase the gluten and make the bread better.

Put the dough in a bowl and leave to rise until it doubles in size. This will take about an hour.

When the dough has risen preheat the oven to 180C. Roll the dough out on a floured board and shape into two to three rounds about 2cm thick and 25 cm across.

Bake for twenty minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Stottie Cake Recipe

What do you put in a stottie?

The stottie is perfect served warm with butter and jam or cold in a sandwich. The stottie is normally cut into four wedges to make sandwiches. Traditionally the stottie is served with ham and pease pudding, the pease pudding made from spilt peas cooked alongside the gammon.

Home made pease pudding is more tasty but shop bought will work just as well, bringing out the taste of the ham and the stottie cake. Real butter is a must to create a taste sensation. Other fillings will work just as well, cheese is ideal and often you will find stotties filled with cheese savoury. This is a mix of grated cheese, grated carrots, onion and mayonnaise which makes a simple and delicious filling.

Can you freeze a stottie cake?

Yes they can be frozen. It is better to eat them freshly baked as they are not as nice when they are defrosted.

Home made pease pudding is more tasty but shop bought will work just as well, bringing out the taste of the ham and the stottie cake. Real butter is a must to create a taste sensation. Other fillings will work just as well, cheese is ideal and often you will find stotties filled with cheese savoury. This is a mix of grated cheese, grated carrots, onion and mayonnaise which makes a simple and delicious filling.

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