Foods of England - Stotty Cake

Stotty Cake

Breads
North East

or Stottie Cake, Stotty Bread

Large, round, white wheatflour rolls, often filled with ham, cheese etc.

Stotty Cake
Image: https://ahalfbakedidea.co.uk
Defined in the Oxford English Dictionary only since 1971, it remains unclear precisely what a bread cake needs to be in order to become a stottie, as this correspondent to the 'Newcastle Journal' (Monday 06 September 1993) explains;

THE overwhelming consensus so far is that stottie cakes ain't what they used to be.
Mr SL Patterson of Crawcrook, for example. remembers a far more distinctive bread cake than the modem-day fare.
He writes; "I have to agree with Vic Hope of Whitby (this page, September 2) concerning the modern day so-called stottie cakes. Stotties were indeed much tougher and chewier than they are today.
"What is called a stottie today we knew as a fadge. The difference between a fadge and a stottie was in the making of the dough. The fadge dough was made with yeast and that of the stottie was mode without it.
"Because of the texture of the stottie, it was often known locally as Tough Geordie. If any of your readers could give me the recipe I would be most grateful." Can anyone oblige?

...which is not far away from the earliest reference we can find, in the 'Daily Mirror' for Friday 09 December 1949;

Stotty Cake ... there isn't a recipe. To make it you simply roll a piece of dough out to about the thickness of one inch, prick it all over with a fork and put it in the bottom of a hot oven. Turn it to brown both sides. I think it takes about twenty minutes. It's jolly good too.

Muhammad Ali eating a Stottie cake in Tyneside, 1977
Image: Daily Mirror

The earliest receipt we can find is as recent as 1990, but it is "straight from the baker's mouth, so to speak!" ...

Original Receipt from 'Newcastle Evening Chronicle' - Tuesday 05 June 1990
Stottie Cake Recipe
This recipe will give you three at 285 grams

Plain Flour 500g (1lb 4oz)
Salt (10g)oz
Fat or Lard 25g (1oz)
Sugar 5g (oz)
Yeast 30g (oz)
Water (warm) 290g (10oz)
Milk Powder 10g (1/2 oz)
Total Weight 865g (2lb 1oz)

Method
Sieve all the dry ingredients and then rub the fat or lard through. Disperse the yeast in warm water (approx 35degrees C) and add to the rest of the ingredients.
Mix the dough thoroughly by machine using a dough hook on speed 2 for 10 minutes or mix by hand for 15 minutes. the dough should be smooth and silky.
Allow the dough to stand for appropriately 30 minutes covered with a cloth in a warm place.
Weigh the dough pieces and mould into a round hall, allow to stand for 10 minutes and then pin the dough out to approximately 9in diameter and leave on a floured tea-cloth, covered with another tea-cloth for 20 minutes.
Place a well greased tray in the oven to get very hot.
Place the Stottie on to the tray and press a hole in the middle with finger. After 3-4 minutes turn the Stottie over and bake for a further 10 minutes You will probably need a separate tray for each Stottie, but the tray should be kept hot at all times in an oven of approximately 480-500 degrees F.
The best way to turn the Stottie is with a palette knife, and don't have the oven door open too long while turning, as you may lose all of your heat!
So. there you have it, straight from the baker's mouth, so to speak!

2018

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