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Traditional stotties

Bread rolls and sliced loaves stacked on a wooden cutting board in a dark blue kitchen.

By Tom · Updated

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  • About 2 hours 30 min
  • Takes a bit of care

Learn how to make traditional North East England stotties (or stottie cakes), the iconic working-class bread that helped feed generations of miners, shipbuilders and factory workers. How to make traditional stotties (north east england's famous bread).

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The recipe

Traditional stotties

Learn how to make traditional North East England stotties (or stottie cakes), the iconic working-class bread that helped feed generations of miners.

  • 15 min prep
  • 35 min cooking
  • 1 hour 40 min hands-off
  • Takes a bit of care

Times and difficulty are our estimates from the method, not stopwatch figures.

Quantities
Measurements

Ingredients

Tick things off as you go — they stay ticked if you close the page.

A dotted underline means the amount has been rounded to something you can measure.

Method

  1. Step 1

    Pour the milk (250 ml) and water (260 ml) into a saucepan and gently warm until lukewarm. The liquid should feel neither warm nor cold when you dip your finger into it.

  2. Step 2

    Stir in the sugar (if using) and the yeast (14 g). Leave for 5-10 minutes until the mixture becomes foamy on the surface.

  3. Step 3

    Place the flour (900 g) and salt into a large mixing bowl and stir together. Make a well in the centre.

  4. Step 4

    Pour in the activated yeast (14 g) mixture and olive oil (30 ml). Mix until a dough begins to form, then use your hands to bring everything together. Continue mixing until there are no dry patches of flour (900 g) remaining. The dough should feel firm and fairly tight rather than wet and sticky.

  5. Step 5

    Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead for around 10 minutes until smooth, elastic and pliable. Place the dough back into the bowl, cover with a damp cloth and leave somewhere warm for approximately 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

  6. Step 6

    Turn the risen dough onto the work surface and press out all of the trapped air. For four large stotties, divide the dough into four equal pieces. For a mixture of large and smaller stotties, divide as desired. Shape each piece into a smooth ball.

  7. Step 7

    Using a rolling pin, roll each ball into a round disc approximately 2cm thick. Transfer to lightly floured baking trays, leaving space between each one. Cover with a damp cloth and leave to rise again for 20-30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 170°C fan (190°C conventional).

  8. Step 8

    Lightly dust the tops with flour (900 g). Using your finger, press a deep dimple into the centre of each stottie. This helps prevent them from puffing up excessively during baking. For larger stotties, you can also prick around the edges with a fork. Bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly golden and cooked through.

  9. Step 9

    Transfer the baked stotties to a wire rack and leave to cool completely. They may appear quite puffed when first removed from the oven but will settle slightly as they cool, creating their traditional flatter shape.

  10. Step 10

    Slice a stottie horizontally and fill it generously with: Ham and pease pudding, bacon and sausage, cheese and pickle, roast beef, corned beef.

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Questions people ask

How long does traditional stotties take?

About 2 hours 30 min from start to finish: 15 min of prep, 35 min of cooking, and 1 hour 40 min hands-off while it waits. That figure is worked out from the method rather than timed with a stopwatch, so give yourself a little more the first time.

How much does this make?

The original recipe did not state a yield, so nothing has been invented for it. The scale control on the recipe card multiplies the quantities instead, which is the honest version of the same thing.

Can I see the ingredients in ounces and pints?

Yes. The metric and imperial switch on the recipe card converts every quantity, rounded to amounts you can actually weigh or measure rather than to four decimal places. Your choice is remembered for every recipe on the site.

Is it vegetarian?

Yes, as written. If you are cooking for a strict vegetarian, the one to check is the cheese: several hard cheeses are made with animal rennet.