Pronounced ‘stottee kyek’.
This week (24th February - 1st March 2025) is National Stottie Cake Week. Launched only last year, the celebration is the brainchild of the Big River Bakery in Shieldfield. But what of the stottie’s history? And, for the uninitiated, what the heck is a ‘stottie cake’?
The famous North-East ‘stottie’ is a flat round loaf of bread, being a result of a single rising, rather than two (as in, for example, a ‘fadge’). It was originally the result of the left-over dough after homemade bread-making, being thrown, or ‘stotted’, onto the bottom of the oven. The baking process would thus result from an initial burst of heat, followed by a period of gradual cooling. The baking time being about two 15-minute periods with the second being at a slightly lower temperature than the first - and with the loaf being rotated and/or turned at ‘half-time’.
It has an uneven round flat shape, with a diameter of 8-10in and a depth of an inch or so. It usually features a small hole or indentation near the centre. It is mostly white in colour, with patches of brown. Because of their helpful dimensions, stotties are ideal for making large flat sandwiches!
The etymology of the word ‘stottie’ may alternatively have referred to the general resilience of the robust loaf - and was historically a mainstay of mining ‘baits’. A third theory suggests that the word stottie, which can (sort of) mean ‘bouncy’, refers to the texture of the yeast-based product. So take your pick.
Strangely, the bread seems to have come into use as late as the 1930s, or thereabouts - possibly as a result of the severely austere times through which the working classes were then struggling. Additionally, the increased use of bread tins during the early twentieth century often left an otherwise useless surplus of dough. A stottie, though, would never be baked in a tin, thus giving it its distinctive look.
But let’s get one thing straight: it is not, and never has been, a cake!
