Hairy Bikers Stottie Recipe

If you’ve never heard of a stottie, you’re missing out on one of the North East of England’s greatest contributions to bread-kind. And if you have heard of one but never made your own, that changes today. The Hairy Bikers, being proud Geordies themselves, know exactly how a proper stottie should look, feel, and taste. Their recipe is the real deal.

A Hairy Bikers stottie is a thick, flat, soft-crumbed bread roll traditionally from the North East of England, made with strong white flour, yeast, water, salt, and a little lard or butter, and it bakes in under 30 minutes. Dense but soft, chewy but tender. It’s the kind of bread that makes a ham sandwich feel like a proper event.

What Exactly Is a Stottie?

A stottie cake, sometimes called a stottie, is a large, flat, round bread traditional to Tyneside and the wider North East of England, known for its thick, doughy texture and soft pale crust.

Unlike most British breads, the stottie doesn’t aim for a crackling golden crust or an open airy crumb. It aims for something altogether more satisfying, a dense, chewy, slightly doughy interior that holds up under serious sandwich fillings without falling apart halfway through. Think pea pudding and ham. Think bacon and brown sauce. Think anything, really, because a stottie makes everything better. IMO, it’s the most underrated bread in the entire country, and that’s saying something.

The Ingredients You Need

To make a Hairy Bikers stottie, you need: strong white bread flour, instant yeast, warm water, fine salt, and lard or unsalted butter.

Simple. Honest. Exactly as it should be.

• 500g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
• 7g instant yeast (one standard sachet)
• 300ml warm water (around 38°C / 100°F)
• 1½ tsp fine salt
• 25g lard or unsalted butter, softened
• Extra flour for dusting the baking tray

A word on the lard, I know, I know. But lard is traditional here, and it genuinely gives the stottie that authentic,c slightly dense, tender crumb that butter alone doesn’t quite replicate. If you’d rather use butter, it still works beautifully. Just don’t use oil, the texture won’t be right.

How to Make Hairy Bikers Stottie Recipe

The Hairy Bikers stottie takes around 1 hour and 45 minutes total, including rising time, but requires only about 15 minutes of actual hands-on work.

Step 1: Mix and Knead the Dough

Combine the flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl, keeping the salt and yeast on opposite sides initially so the salt doesn’t kill the yeast before mixing. Add the softened lard or butter, then pour in the warm water gradually, mixing until a rough dough forms.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8–10 minutes until smooth and elastic. It should feel soft but not sticky. Place it in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and leave to rise for 1 hour until doubled in size.

Step 2: Shape the Stottie

This is where a stottie becomes a stottie unmistakably. Knock the dough back and divide it into two equal pieces for two standard stotties, or keep it as one large round if you want the full traditional size.

Shape each piece into a flat round disc about 2–3cm thick and 20–25cm across, roughly the size of a dinner plate. Don’t be tempted to make it thinner; the thickness is what gives a stottie its characteristic dense, chewy bite.

Place the rounds onto a well-floured baking tray, and flour it generously. Tradition demands the stottie gets a light dusting of flour on top, too. Use your finger to poke a hole in the centre of each round. This is the classic stottie finishing touch and helps it bake evenly. Leave to prove for a further 30–40 minutes.

Step 3: Bake Low and Slow

Preheat your oven to 220°C (200°C fan). Bake the stotties for 20–25 minutes until they’re pale golden on top, not deeply coloured, not crusty. A stottie should look like it’s taken the scenic route to get there rather than sprinted there.

The real test? Tap the bottom; it should sound hollow. Then leave to cool for at least 10 minutes before splitting, because the interior needs that time to finish setting properly.

Tips for an Authentic Result

• Flour the tray generously — the flour base is part of the stottie’s traditional finish.
• Don’t overbake — pale and soft is correct; dark and crusty means you’ve gone too far.r
• Keep the thickness — a thin stottie isn’t a stottie; it’s just a flat roll having an identity crisis.is
• Poke the centre — it’s traditional, it’s functional, and it genuinely helps even baking.
• FYI — stotties are best eaten fresh on the day, but freeze brilliantly for up to 1 month

What to Fill Your Stottie With

Ever wondered what the perfect stottie filling looks like? The Geordies have been answering that question for generations.

• Pease pudding and ham — the undisputed classic North East combination
• Bacon and brown sauce — simple, perfect, non-negotiable
• Roast beef and horseradish — for when you want to feel slightly fancy
• Egg and bacon — a breakfast stottie is honestly one of life’s great pleasures
• Cheese and pickle — the everyman filling that never disappoints

The Bottom Line

The Hairy Bikers stottie recipe gives you an authentic, thick, soft-crumbed North East bread roll using just five simple ingredients, ready in under two hours from start to finish.

It’s not a complicated bread. It doesn’t pretend to be. It is genuinely delicious, deeply satisfying, and the perfect vehicle for whatever filling you love most. Make a batch, fill them generously, and understand why the people of Tyneside have been loyal to this bread for generations. Once you try a proper homemade stottie, supermarket rolls start to feel like a personal insult.