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 St Ottie was born in Gateshead (GoatsHeed) in the 5th Century on the 1st April. It is believed that he became a monk at the monestary of Lindesfarne (Holy Island). As a young boy, young Ottie was constantly daydreaming and was idle in his work - and he was sent to the monestary by his mother Nora,as a punishment for constantly burning the toast of a morning. However, away from his mother's dominant presence, the young lad floursihed under the watchful eyes of the old monks, and soon became a dab hand at making the bread. The monks were a drunken lot - having invented a particularly strong drink known as mead and one of Ottie's jobs was to keep the monks sober. He worked on a special recipe and technique of a delicious bread that could be baked very quickly to keep up with the monks supping and keep them relatively sober. The bread was so delicious that word of the bread spread quickly across the North East, and the people from across the shores of the North East (Geordie Shore) would queue for hours just to buy this delectable product that was never to be found South of Durham. Unfortunately, one of the other monks, Brother Gregg, became jealous of Ottie's fame and stealing the recipe, fled Lindesfarne and set up a chain of ye olde market stalls across Britain. Ottie was a broken man after his precious recipe was stolen, and died of a broken heart- but his fellow monks knew the significance of his bread - and what it would mean to the people of the North East (particularly with ham and pease pudding) and made young Ottie a Saint. St Ottie. His recipe - the now famous oven bottomed bread (with some thanks to Greggs efforts) was named after the young man - StOttie and to this day is known as the humble yet delicious Stottie.
Happy April 1st everyone - St Ottie Day
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