Not Stottie Cakes or Flat Cakes.

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Eric
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Not Stottie Cakes or Flat Cakes.

Post by Eric » Mon Jun 29, 2009 12:39 am

As an office boy at the start of the sixties, I would go up Stoney Lane to get the men their "bate". This would often consist of something within a round, non-crusty piece of soft white bread about 8 to 12 inches in diameter and an inch thick. We called them flat cakes but on the next river north, the Tyne, they were called Stottie Cakes (cakes pronounced cyakkzz) . Cut down the middle, they contained such things as ham and pease pudding, corned beef, cheese and onion or anything to order. Now the most popular ones were ready made a day or two in advance and displayed in the shop windows but it would be necessary to wait for missing ingredient to be sought from a neighbouring shop for the less popular ones which could result in a frosty reception when delayed till after the start of the break. To this end, you soon learned to persuade the undecided to select an item in the window, this way the only delay was to dust off most of the cat hairs during the return journey. Cats often adorned the shop windows with the sandwiches, no doubt for reasons of demonstrating the hygiene of a shop without mice.

Near 50 years on I'd like to eat different bread. My 'fridge holds some of the surplus yeast from my last brew, so who's going to tell me how to make a half decent baguette? I'm not worried about it being the traditional shape, nor am I bothered if it has a shelf life of minutes or hours. What I'd like is a crusty loaf or the like that even I can bake, eat and then feel smug.

Eric.
Without patience, life becomes difficult and the sooner it's finished, the better.

lukesharpe

Re: Not Stottie Cakes or Flat Cakes.

Post by lukesharpe » Mon Jul 06, 2009 1:21 pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewers_yeast#Beer

From the sounds of it you can use brewers yeast in bread. But the only bread I know how to make is brown soda bread. Like me Mammy makes. Which is dense and probably not the best to show off the yeast.

Invalid Stout

Re: Not Stottie Cakes or Flat Cakes.

Post by Invalid Stout » Sun Jul 12, 2009 12:49 am

You certainly can use left-over yeast slurry for baking and the results are better than using those sachets of dried bread yeast.

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Eric
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Re: Not Stottie Cakes or Flat Cakes.

Post by Eric » Tue Jul 14, 2009 12:54 pm

Thanks for that and can now confirm I made bread using SO4 slurry. However, the high density burnt offerings produced were not quite to the desired quality.

A surprising amount of hand and arm muscle effort was necessary to knead the dough as I have no mixer. All in all it seems a lot less forgiving process than an all grain brew. I've generally not come close to the point of that catching fire. Also there was very little in common between my aim and the actual end product. Ah well, if I get a good result using the next lot of surplus yeast I'll record it here. Meanwhile I'm still open to any advice. Thanks again.
Without patience, life becomes difficult and the sooner it's finished, the better.

lukesharpe

Re: Not Stottie Cakes or Flat Cakes.

Post by lukesharpe » Tue Jul 14, 2009 1:14 pm

Better luck with the next one. :(

Invalid Stout

Re: Not Stottie Cakes or Flat Cakes.

Post by Invalid Stout » Tue Jul 14, 2009 8:57 pm

Ciabatta is easier than baguette. Make a very wet dough and work it with wet or oiled hands to stop it sticking. It should need much less kneading than a firm dough.

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Eric
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Re: Not Stottie Cakes or Flat Cakes.

Post by Eric » Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:38 pm

Thank you, and maybe I should try Ciabatta, thought if I could make drinkable beer I could make edible bread. Not necessarily so.
Our youngest daughter likes Ciabatta for her lunchtime sandwiches although I can't remember trying it. Doubt if she'll be the guinea pig though, got too much sense. Cheers.
Without patience, life becomes difficult and the sooner it's finished, the better.

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