Staffordshire oatcakes

Burn's night(Jan 25th) is coming up and thinking back on our success with home-made haggis last year, we thought, "Can't we make oatcakes at home?" (we really liked the Walker's oatcakes that we ate with our home-made haggis, neeps and tatties).
So, we decided to search recipes to make oatcakes on the internet, and found several recipes for oatcakes. Quite often with surfing the net, one gets distracted from the original quest and we decided to try something we could eat for a hearty winter breakfast - fuel for the furnace before hitting the slopes!

And that's how we came to try recipe for Staffordshire oatcakes from Food.com. They looked easier to make and besides, we had watched a program on TV just the other night (you can find the video in full here) that gives a bit of background into this rustic snack that originated on (surprise!) North Staffordshire and are usually eaten with savoury fillings in contrast to maple syrup and butter.

This delicious pancake requires some forward planning so, we prepared the batter the night before and left it in the fridge to rise overnight.

Oatmeal batter before rising overnight

The next morning, half expecting the fridge door to be ajar and us having to wade through gloopy batter overflowing from the fridge, we opened the bedroom door and... it was all good. The batter had risen nicely and stayed in the mixing bowl. The next step was simply to fire up the stove, stick a skillet on and fry them like any other pancake. Traditionally, these oatcakes are about 8 inches in diameter (so that you can wrap bacon, cheese, sausages and other wicked stuff in them).

pancake cooking in the skillet, note bubbles on the surface

Once the bottom is golden (about 2-3min), carefully turn them over (these oatcakes have less flour than regular pancakes and are more crumbly) and cook for another 2-3 min.

Golden Staffordshire Oatcakes

We tried them savoury (with fried Spam and cheese and ketchup) and sweet, with butter and maple syrup as well as with peanut butter and jam. All three were delicious, but I think it was best savoury. Try it! let me know which filling works best for you!

RECIPE:
Ingredients:

• 150g fine oatmeal (whiz up regular oatmeal if needed)
• 150g lb wholemeal flour
• 300ml Cup water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 7oz sachet dry yeast

Method:

1. Heat water and milk in saucepan to 30C
2. Mix all dry ingredients together with a whisk and then add the warm water/milk and whisk till well mixed. It will be quite runny.
3. Cover bowl with clingfilm and leave in a warm place for at least an hour (till nice and bubbly) or overnight in the fridge.
4. When ready, give batter a good stir and cook on a lightly greased griddle or skillet. The pancakes are traditionally about 6-8inched wide and quite thin.
5. Cook for about 2-3min on one side, until golden and then flip over gently and brown the other side
6. Keep on a warm plate whilst remaining are cooking.

The recipe yields 6 large or 8 medium oatcakes