Eating In

It’s surprisingly cheap and easy to make the crispy, savoury oatcakes that go well with cheese. Most recipes seem to want to include wheat flour. This is unnecessary. Furthermore, these kinds of oatcakes are very important to folk who are wheat intolerant. These oatcakes are really just little discs of dried out porage.

1lb/450g fine oatmeal
2 tsp salt
2oz fat (butter, marg or lard)
3/4 pint boiling water, approximately

Put the oatmeal in a mixing bowl, the salt and fat into a measuring jug adding the boiling water. Stir until the fat is melted and add to the oatmeal. A little more or less water may be needed to mix the oatmeal into a pliable cake. This is then left for several hours, or overnight, until it is dry enough to roll out very thin and flat. You might need to dust your work surface and rolling pin with a little more fine oatmeal. Cut the cakes out with a biscuit cutter and place on ungreased baking trays. Leave the oatcakes to dry out for an hour or two then put the trays in the bottom of the slowest oven and leave for at least three hours.