STOTTIES

[eddy current]

Any North-East members got a good reliable recipe for stotties?
Have tried quite a few but none were like my old granny used to make!!

Question for Oddley, Have you found the the Holy Grail recipe for savaloys as I have a great yearning for a savaloy dip.

[Oddley]

I have done a few that aren't too bad, but they still aren't right. As soon as I have one that I think is good enough I will post the recipe.

I keep getting sidetracked with other sausages, and general food recipes.

[jenny_haddow]

Eddy

How aboot this yin?

http://recipes.lspace.org/index.cgi?id=197

Jen

[eddy current]

Thanks for that Jen but most of the recipes I've tried include fat of some kind i.e. butter, lard or margerine.
Discussed this with my brother other night and he seems to remember gran saying "you've got to rise it twice". Haven't tried that yet so will give it a go.
Basically a stotty is an oven bottom bread.
The term stotty is alleged to come from old time bakers who used to test the dough by "stotting" (bouncing) it off the dough table.

[Oddley]

eddy have a look at this bread recipe I have posted, it may give you some idea's. I think you grandmother would have probably used lard as the fat. After the first rise roll the dough flat to half the height you want it.

Bog Standard White Loaf

Ingredients:

1lb Strong white bread flour
1 tsp 5 gm castor sugar
1 tsp 7 gm salt
1/2-pint water
1/2 oz fat (about) butter olive oil margarine etc
* Yeast

*Yeast comes in different flavours, if using Quick yeast in 7 gm foil packets. Sprinkle 1 packet on, following the correct ingredients order.
*With dried yeast Use the 1/2 pint Luke warm water whisk in the sugar then whisk in 1 tsp yeast. Leave 15-20 minutes in a warm place until frothy.
* fresh bakers yeast use 1/2 oz dissolved in the 1/2 pint of Luke warm water with sugar already Whisked in. Leave 15-20 minutes in a warm place until frothy.


Method:

As it is important to keep the yeast mixture away from Salt and Sugar because high concentrations of these substances will kill the yeast cells and prevent an effective rise of the dough or increase rising times considerably. Please add the ingredients in the correct order.

Note: this quantity of water usually works fine with UK flour. The dough should feel very slightly wet. This is where the art comes in.

By hand:

1. Sieve the flour and salt onto a large board or kitchen counter.

2. Form into a well put the yeast mixture into the centre of the well and add fat. Bring in the sides of the well slowly with a fork and mix until all the water has been well mixed with the flour. Now bring together the dough with your hands.

3. Knead for 5-10 minutes vigorously or until the dough is elastic. You will feel the dough change texture from firm to soft and pliable.

4. Leave to rest covered with a cloth or Clingfilm for 45 minutes in a warm place 70-75F to rise double in size.

5. Knock the dough back and knead for a couple of minutes. To get rid of all residual carbon dioxide from the dough. Otherwise you will have large holes in the bread.

6. Knead loaf into the shape you desire and put into a buttered bread tin or onto a buttered baking tray. Leave for 45 minutes in a warm place 70-75F to rise double in size.

7. Slit the risen dough lengthwise about 1/4 inch deep and sprinkle thinly with flour (if using bread tin).

8. Put into the centre of an oven at 200C 400F gas mark 6 for 35 minutes. Remove from oven if using a bread tin knock out and return to the oven for 5 minutes upside-down to brown the sides and bottom. When finished put on a cooling rack for about an hour to cool and dry.

Processor:

Put ingredients into the processor in the order of Salt, Flour, Fat, yeast mixture. Process until mixture forms a ball. Then follow steps 3-8.

Food Mixer (Kenwood Chef etc.)

With dough hook attached put ingredients into the Food Mixer in the order of Salt, (Sugar if using quick yeast), Flour, Fat, and yeast mixture. Mix for 10 minutes then follow steps 4-8.

[jenny_haddow]

It's thought that stotties were originally made from the left over bread dough after the loaf tins had been filled, which indicates a standard bread recipe such as Oddley has posted. Probably they were cooked on the oven bottom at the same time as the large loaves so as to use all the oven space.

Cheers

Jen

[sausagemaker]

Hi Eddy

please see link below

http://www.geordie.co.uk/articles/stottie_recipe.htm

Although I dispute the statement in it about Greg's introducing it in the 60's as I can remember eating them well before that.
Regards
Sausagemaker

[eddy current]

Greggs may well have possibly claim to introduced the stotty commercially but our village baker was producing them in the late 40/50s.
My granny's stottie were flat with flour on both sides.
Came close last week, my wife gave me 8/10, so must be getting there.
BTW what Greggs produces now is what we would call a fadge.

[wallie]

Although I dispute the statement in it about Greg's introducing it in the 60's as I can remember eating them well before that.
Regards
Sausagemaker

I agree with Sausagemaker there, I am 80 years old and come from the home of Stotties, Newcastle upon Tyne (same place as Gregg's).
I remember my mother makins stotties in the early thirty's, (before Greggs came into existance)
No fat of any kind went into her stotties simply because we could not afford it.
Times were tough then and it was simply flour, yeast, salt and water.
We had a coal file with a triplex stove above it, she would let the dough rise in the fireplace then mould the stotties and straight into the oven, no second rise.
Mostly I remeber the smell, there is nothing better than the smell of home baked bread.

Happy Baking
wallie