Oatcakes
I love oatcakes with cheese. And I am talking about a Scottish type oatcake (a savoury biscuit made from oatmeal) not a Staffordshire or Derbyshire oatcake – which is a type of pancake made from oatmeal. (I actually didn’t know this until I was searching round the internet when writing up this recipe).
A Lancashire oatcake is different again but a type of pancake. Anyone who has the traditional recipes for these type of oatcakes is welcome to write in with their recipe and how they serve their oatcakes.
Scottish oatcakes are a simple delicious food, and easy to make with few ingredients. Serve with cheese or spread with some butter
I have always enjoyed oatcakes (the Scottish sort) with cheese. When made with oatmeal they are of course, wheat free and ideal for someone on a wheat free diet. Many of commercially produced oatcakes are a mix of oatmeal and wheat flour, but I wanted to do an exclusively oat based oatmeal.
Enjoy your oatcakes wherever you might have bread so don’t just have it with cheese. It is good with soup, with salad or with any sandwich fillings – try hummus, peanut butter or even jam.
Oatcakes are very easy to make taking just minutes. And the result is delicious! I love it when I find out an item you might regularly buy is so easy to make. And of course you know exactly what is in it. I am not sure I would commit to never buying oatcakes again but it is good to know I can easily put some together. After all it is probably quicker than going to the shops.
Oatcakes are made from oatmeal which is ground oats. Oats are well known now as a healthy food that can have many benefits including lowering cholesterol. It is most commonly used in porridge, muesli and flapjacks.
Cooking Hints
Line your baking tray with baking parchment or buy on these Silicone Baking Sheets which can be used again and again.
Oatcake Recipe
Ingredients
- 250g / 8oz oatmeal
- 25g / 1oz butter, melted
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- pinch of salt
- 150ml hot water
Cooking Directions
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
- Put the oatmeal in a large bowl
- Add the bicarbonate of soda and the salt
- Add the butter and hot water
- Stir well with a wooden spoon
- Finally use your hands to bring the soft paste together
- Sprinkle the work surface with oatmeal
- Roll out the dough – the thickness is up to you depending on whether you like thin or thick oat cakes
- Use a cutter to mark out the rounds
- Place on a baking tray
- Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes
- Remove from oven and allow to cool a little
- Place on a wire rack to cool completely
- Keep in an air tight container to keep for a few days.
OMG thank you for this recipe! I have been looking for something comparable to the Nairn’s GF oatcakes that I had out in Ireland and Scotland over the last couple of years that I can’t get stateside for less than $10 a box. Most of the recipes are just plain cookie recipes but these are actual oatcakes! Thank you so much!
I’m gathering ingredients and will attempt this recipe this afternoon…wish me luck! I had to google to find out what bicarbonate of soda is…I never heard of it before. I will have to substitute baking soda because I don’t think bicarbonate of soda is readily available here in the forest 2 hours west of Seattle….and the conversion to Fahrenheit from Celsius was another google search… Well, let the adventure begin! I’m excited to try this!
fantastic recipe, these turned out perfect. Thanks for shjaring.
Simon
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I made these yesterday and they turned out brilliantly. The whole family loved them. We’re on a zero waste journey, trying to avoid plastic and packaging if possible. We’ve really missed oatcakes so it’s great to know I can rustle up a batch pretty quickly. Would you mind if I reblogged this on my own blog, Spot of Earth, with appropriate links to your recipe of course?
Glad you liked them. Well done for trying to reduce your waste too! Very happy for you to shar ethe recipes! 🙂
Penny, what a lovely recipe. I absolutely love oatcakes, and used my food processor to achieve the same refined look as yours. I also tried using olive oil in place of butter successfully. Thank you (all the way from Canada).
Thanks for this recipe, which is exactly what I’ve been looking for. I found it adapts really well to a food processor.
1. Put the (rolled) oats in the processor and run briefly to reduce flake size.
2. Add the bicarbsoda and butter cut into small pieces and process to blend evenly.
3. Add water, process a ball of dough formed.
4. Roll out etc.
Thank you for your healthy oatcake recipe.
Nice to be able to eat intelligent oatcakes (ie. without lard, sucrose, flour and too much salt).
Great!
Really glad you like them – I think they are a real treat!
Dear Penny, made some Oatcakes yesterday from your recipe, though I think I used the wrong oatmeal as mine looked a bit more ‘rustic’ than yours. They were delicious though, and went down very well with a bit of soft goat cheese. I must tell you how much I appreciate your website and look at it almost every day. Newly retired, I am really revelling in having time to think about meals, and make delicious meals for just two, – myself and my husband after many years of catering for a 3 generation household. I was inspired by your piece on marrowfat peas to make my own mushy peas last week, and a yellow split pea soup, adding a few chorizo scraps to it for flavour. We love pulses so I will be coming back for more ideas. Just wish we had lovely markets and farmer’s markets here in West London, as you do in Exeter. Oh, before I go, I regularly make the Glamorgan Sausage, husband loves them, so do I. I added a small dash of balsamic vinegar for a tang, and for ‘browning’, best veggie sausage ever, thank you! Lesley
PS, I am from Staffordshire originally, and have a recipe for Staffordshire oatcakes. I will share it when I’ve managed to make them successfully, first attempt was a disaster!
I also make own bread now, but use 250g Spelt, 150g Kamut, 100g strong white flours, plus 450ml water. Not the 400 ml recipe states ( Roman Bread on back of Dove’s Farm Spelt Flour bag).