Stottie

Stottie cake (or stottie bread) is a northern bread. It’s generally not seen any further south than Middlesbrough. It’s a circular bread with about 1″ depth so it’s ideal for huge sharing buns or whatever you call them where you live.

It’s very simple and even a beginner can do this one.

Mix 225 grams of strong white flour with 3/4 teaspoon of salt. When they’re mixed together add 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of easy bake yeast and mix in well.

The reason why you mix the salt in first is that salt is supposed to kill the yeast and this prevents it from doing so.

Mix in 150 mls of warm water (50 mls of hot mixed with 100 mls cold) and when it is mixed enough to turn out on a board (it will look raggy and more than hopeless) turn it out onto a board and knead for 10 minutes. It’s important to knead for this long and anybody who has made bread before will see the difference between what a 10 minute knead looks like and a 6 minute knead.

Prove for one hour in a bowl covered with a tea towel. You may need the tiniest bit of oil wiped in the bowl so the dough doesn’t stick.

Lift the dough gently out of the bowl after it has proved and place on to a lightly floured board and roll into a circle – DON’T KNOCK BACK OR DO A SECOND KNEAD. The circle should be about 1/4 inch thick (a little more won’t make much difference and if you double the quantity of ingredients then you should roll it out thicker). Make an indentation in the centre with the end of a rolling pin and prick in several places. Dust lightly with flour.

Bake on a lightly oiled tray in an oven preheated to 200C for 15 minutes then turn the oven off and leave the bread in the oven for 30 minutes. I know, totally against everything you learn about baking bread but do it and you end up with a light and chewy bread that you’ll want to make over and over again.