Gluten-Free Scottish Oatcakes

Since moving back home I feel this blog has taken on a theme; that of cooking meals my dad likes! I don’t have a problem with that; I’ve lost weight since moving, so clearly the meals I was making for myself in York –or should I say the endless stream of Pringles and blue cheese- weren’t doing me any favours. Living in the middle of nowhere means that a 2 mile round-trip walk, usually in the rain, separates me from indulging too much. Something anti-indulgence to me now is soup- it's the one thing in our house that never goes amiss and I make a lot of it. I’ve mentioned in a previous post that my Dad simply doesn’t eat lunch if there’s no soup. But I haven’t mentioned that he goes crazy for oatcakes- must be a Scottish thing! When I moved back, we had a hot July of oatcakes with goat’s cheese, made from a great little Midlothian recipe in The Scottish Cookery Book by Elizabeth Craig. I used coarse oatmeal bought randomly from the Baxter’s Soup Factory Shop somewhere on the Borders but when it ran out, any subsequent oatcakes I made had the texture of dust. Glutafin, who make the gluten-free flour we use, changed their white four mix recipe around the same time and now I have problems with lots of my baking. As a result, I’m turning to substitutions to help stabilise things and for this recipe, gram flour, with its nutty flavour worked as well as I’d hoped. Obviously if you’re on the oats-count-as-gluten side of the fence these aren’t for you, but non-allergy sufferers are free to use plain flour instead.

Makes a decent plateful (about 20)

Ingredients: (the measurements are in imperial but you know the drill)

4oz coarse or fine pinhead oatmeal (I use coarse)

1oz gram flour

1oz gluten-free flour

½ tsp salt

½ tsp sugar

1 ½ oz butter, cubed

Cold water.

Method:

1)      Preheat the oven to between 180-190˚.

2)      In a bowl combine the oats, flours, salt and sugar.

3)      Rub in the cubed butter until you have a roughish mixture resembling breadcrumbs.

 

4)      At this point add enough cold water to bind into a firm dough; the oats soak up moisture but go very easy- a tablespoon is probably the most you’ll need.

5)      Shape the dough into a ball (it’s ok if it’s a bit sticky) and roll out on a liberally floured surface to the thickness you prefer (I like mine around 4mm, or just thinner than a cream cracker).

6)      Cut into rounds or squares (I use a 2 inch diameter round cutter) and place on a baking tray. They shouldn’t spread so it can be a snug fit.

7)      Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and cool on a wire rack.