Oatcakes & griddle cakes

Oats and barley were historically the principal crops in the North where wheat was hard to grow because of the colder, wetter summers and longer winters. The mountains and glens in the Scottish Highlands can be covered by a blanket of snow while the wheat growing in the South is getting out the picnic blanket in early spring. While the mid and south of Britain harvest in July, the north of Scotland often harvests at the end of September. In some areas with a more changeable climate, different crops would even be sown together on the same land to ensure a harvest. If they all grew, the bakes would be made with a multi-cereal mix, but if the weather was wet, only the hardier grains would survive. Peas and beans would also be added to bakes when grain was expensive.

The rougher climate is the reason that flatcakes or flatbreads made from the more resistant oats and barley are more prevalent in the cuisine of the northern English counties, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, just as they are in Scandinavia. Oats and barley don’t contain a lot of gluten-forming protein, which makes them unsuitable for making a large loaf of bread. This is a great example of how regionality and climate influences the development of a cuisine.

‘A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.’

Samuel Johnson on oats, in A Dictionary of the English Language, 1755

The earliest oatcakes, griddle cakes and flatbreads were made on a griddle or bakestone: a heavy cast-iron disc that hung or lay over an open hearth fire, a small purpose-built fire or later a stove, where they were often a standard built-in feature. Today you can use a heavy-based cast-iron pan instead to mimic the effect, but you are also welcome to use the oven. People made these typical bakes at home without an oven and before the advent of leavening agents that would make people obsessed with risen loaves.

There are many different kinds of oatcakes, depending on the region. Bannocks were baked all over Scotland. This ancestor of the modern scone was cooked as small, flat oat patties or one large one divided into four as ‘farls’. In Scotland, wheat bannocks are today referred to as griddle scones and sold next to the oven-baked scones that we have come to associate with the West Country.

Scottish oatcakes are unsweetened, biscuit-like oat crispbreads that are thin, round or farl-shaped. In a Scottish bakery on the Isle of Skye, I had the choice between fine oatcakes and oatcakes made with oat groats rather than oat flour or rolled oats. There is also the choice between oatcakes with roasted oats, which are honey coloured, and oatcakes made without first roasting the oats, which are very pale, as if they haven’t been baked long enough.

In Wales, Cumbria and Scotland, there was once an ancient form of oatcake that has been largely forgotten. The Clapcake is rolled out as thinly as possible or pressed flat with the hands. After baking, the thin, crisp cakes were often dried over the stove or in racks in front of the fireplace to help preserve them. These oatcakes were very much like the crispbreads from Scandinavia, which isn’t surprising as Scandinavia and the northern counties share a similar climate where oats thrive while wheat fails.

In Staffordshire, oatcakes are large round pancakes that consist of oats, water or milk, and yeast – formerly sourdough. They used to be the main meal of the workers in the potteries that are so typical of the region. The dough has the consistency of a thick pancake batter and is poured or spooned onto a hot griddle or into a cast-iron pan. In the nearby county of Derbyshire, the oatcakes were made up to three times thicker than the Staffordshire oatcakes, and were mainly eaten by local miners.

Lancashire and Yorkshire oatcakes are not round but oval. The dough is thicker and contains no wheat flour, just oats. They were dried, much like the Welsh oatcakes, but hanging over a stick, which gave them a shape similar to a taco. These oatcakes are impossible to find today.

Oats release energy slowly and keep you feeling full for longer. It’s quite extraordinary that in a region where people need more substantial meals, the crops that grow best are the ones that provide the right nourishment. Nevertheless, Scotland was heavily affected by famine in the 17th and 18th centuries. Many Scottish families were forcibly evicted, but sometimes they also decided freely to emigrate to places with a better, more mild climate, such as Australia and Canada. Others stayed closer to home on the Lowlands or the South of England, where they introduced the scone.