A Stottie cake or stotty is a type of bread

Bread

Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...

 produced in North East England

North East England

North East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside . The only cities in the region are Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland...

. It is a flat and round loaf (usually about 30 cm in diameter and 4 cm deep), with an indent in the middle produced by the baker. Elsewhere in the world, bread considered similar to the stottie is known as Oven Bottom Bread. One chief difference is the heavy and dough-like texture of the bread. Though leavened

Leavening agent

A leavening agent is any one of a number of substances used in doughs and batters that cause a foaming action which lightens and softens the finished product...

, its taste and mouth-feel is heavy and very reminiscent of dough.

Stotties tend to be eaten split and filled. Common fillings include ham

Ham

Ham is a cut of meat from the thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especiallypigs. Nearly all hams sold today are fully cooked or cured.-Etymology:...

 and pease pudding

Pease pudding

Pease pudding, sometimes known as pease pottage or pease porridge, is a boiled vegetable product, which mainly consists of split yellow or Carlin peas, water, salt, and spices, often cooked with a bacon or ham joint...

, but also bacon

Bacon

Bacon is a cured meat prepared from a pig. It is first cured using large quantities of salt, either in a brine or in a dry packing; the result is fresh bacon . Fresh bacon may then be further dried for weeks or months in cold air, boiled, or smoked. Fresh and dried bacon must be cooked before eating...

, egg

Egg (food)

Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...

 and sausage

Sausage

A sausage is a food usually made from ground meat , mixed with salt, herbs, and other spices, although vegetarian sausages are available. The word sausage is derived from Old French saussiche, from the Latin word salsus, meaning salted.Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made...

. The heavy texture of the bread gives it its name. To 'stott' is Geordie

Geordie

Geordie is a regional nickname for a person from the Tyneside region of the north east of England, or the name of the English-language dialect spoken by its inhabitants...

 meaning 'to bounce' because if dropped it would (in theory) bounce.

Though originating in the North East, stotties can be found in most parts of Britain,but not the south, and have been offered for sale in branches of Greggs

Greggs

Greggs plc is the largest specialist retail bakery chain in the United Kingdom. It was established in the 1930s as a single shop but has approximately 1,500 outlets....

, Morrisons

Morrisons

Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc is the fourth largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, headquartered in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The company is usually referred to and is branded as Morrisons formerly Morrison's, and it is part of the FTSE 100 Index of companies...

 and Waitrose

Waitrose

Waitrose Limited is an upmarket chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom and is the food division of the British retailer and worker co-operative the John Lewis Partnership. Its head office is in Bracknell, Berkshire, England...

. Stotties sold by supermarkets tend to resemble stottie only in shape: The bread is lighter and more crumbly, resembling a bread roll more faithfully than a baker's stottie.

Until recently in some parts of the North of England, particularly in Bishop Auckland

Bishop Auckland

Bishop Auckland is a market town and civil parish in County Durham in north east England. It is located about northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham at the confluence of the River Wear with its tributary the River Gaunless...

and the surrounding areas, some local fish and chip shops sold an item called a stottie dip. The shop assistant would take a stottie cake (or half/quarter of one) and dip the cake into a thin meaty soup or gravy made with minced beef or oxtail and present this to the customer in a furl of chip paper. The dense consistency of the stottie would absorb the dip without disintegrating and provided a very cheap form of warm fast food.

External links

• Brief description and recipe, PracticallyEdible.com