Hot Stottie

Every now and then, I get unusual baking requests.  Most come from my customers, but the latest one came from family.

My Domestically-Challenged Aunt married a cheeky lad from Newcastle -- that's Yorkshire, England, that is (aye, he's a Geordie) -- fifteen years ago.  She has learned to appreciate English cooking as he still loves his pease pudding and other treats.

But earlier this year, he asked if I could bake stottie cakes.

What are those? I wondered.

His explanation didn't help me much, but thanks to the power of online search engines, I discovered that stottie "cakes" were actually yeast buns meant to be split and filled (with things like pease pudding, of course).  The recipe I found was labeled "challenging," but quite honestly, it wasn't much different from any other yeast bread I make.  In fact, the dough was very similar to the dough I make for croissants (before adding the thick butter layer).

I whipped up a batch New Year's Day, and the very next day I shipped them out Priority Mail so that they'd arrive while still relatively fresh.  And as of today, well, let's just say my uncle is a happy, happy man.

(No, I've no idea how they taste.  I sent them all away.)