Cooking Through ENGLAND: Stottie Cake!

(Note: This article was written some time ago, which is why it may seem a bit out of order.)

As part of our unit study on ENGLAND, we have been cooking a ton of British food! Oh, goodness - it is so fun!

I know that England has a reputation for dull food, but I don't mind a bit - I love British food! In fact, I haven't tried anything yet that I haven't absolutely loved.

And so, to share our adventures with you, I thought I would provide brief write-ups - and pictures! - of some of our culinary adventures.

One of our first cooking adventures was Stottie Cake. Like many British foods, this has a confusing name - it's not a "cake" as Americans think "cake" - rather, it's a moist, heavy, unsweetened bread. The name comes from "stott", which means "to bounce" - which it is assumed that the bread would do if dropped! (It has a very heavy texture.) We absolutely loved it!

Stottie Cake is from the north of England, and it's often served stuffed with either Pease Porridge or bacon and eggs. We decided instead to be uncivilized rebels and serve it with butter and jam instead, and it was awesome.

(See more history on Stottie Cake here. I'm too lazy and tired to summarize it right now, so you'll have to go read it for yourself.)

We used this recipe, and it turned out very well. Note the following: (1) There is one error in this recipe - it never mentions what to do with the milk. Add it with the yeast/water. (2) You can let it rest a bit after shaping, before baking. (3) A half-recipe makes one large flattie. A full recipe will make two large flatties. If you want smaller flatties, it will, of course, make more!

Before baking, pricked with a fork and with the traditional hole in the middle:

After baking (it smelled delicious!):

Smothered with butter and jam. YUM.

For a slightly different recipe and a delightful video, see the following:

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Enjoy, everyone!!!