Did you know?

Posted on August 8, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Bacon, brown sauce, Cheese, fillings, Food, Jam, Life, oat flour, Oatcake, Oats, sausage, Tomatoes, Water, YeastLeave a comment

Credit Moorlands eater photo of a Staffordshire Oatcake.

Today is Staffordshire Oatcake day. According to Google:

“Oatcake Day is celebrated annually on August 8th to honor Staffordshire and its famous oatcake. The day began in 2010. Some people celebrate by visiting Staffordshire Oatcakes in Hanley to learn how the Potteries staple is made. Others share their oatcake creations on social media using the hashtag #StaffordshireDay.”

Basically the Staffordshire Oatcake is a thin pancake style flat tasty disk made of oatmeal flour, yeast, water and possibly other ingredients. It is cooked on a hot griddle in a thin layer so it ends up looking a bit like a lace doily but with fewer holes. You can buy a dozen or half a dozen to take home, or if you get them from an oatcake shop you can have them with various toppings. Mostly cheese and bacon, or bacon and mushroom. My favourite is sausage, cheese and tinned tomatoes. Sometimes with a bit of brown sauce. You can also eat them hot with butter and jam, but that’s probably not acceptable behaviour! And rolled or folded? That’s your choice!

Definitely a Staffordshire specialty. Not to be confused with Scottish oatcakes which are smaller and thicker.

Local artist, poet and author, Arthur Berry wrote “Ode to the Oatcake”…

Cheese oatcakes

Posted on July 29, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Breakfast, Cheese, Food, Life, Lunch, Meal, Oatcakes, Oats, Poem, Poetry, Tasty, Tea2 Comments

Lunch today

Cheese on oatcakes

Yummy tubes

Of oaty goodness.

Made of batter

Made with oats

On a griddle

Served sizzling hot

Melted cheese

And hp sauce

Make a snack

Or a meal.

Delicious with jam too

Staffordshire oatcakes

For me or you!

Staffordshire Oatcakes

Posted on August 20, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Flour, Food, historic, Internet, Oatcakes, Oats, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Yeast3 Comments

I just found this on the Internet when I was trying to describe Staffordshire Oatcakes.

A local artist, Arthur Berry, wrote an ode to the Oatcake. Likening it to pancakes, tortillas, chipatis, all sorts of thin flat round things that you can wrap food in. In this case the main constituents are oats, flour and yeast.

Enjoy hot from the grill or microwave with cheers, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes. What ever you fancy. Also jam. Maybe even tofu?

Hubby making apple bread?

Posted on September 25, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Apple bread, Baking, Cooking, Flour, Food, Hubby, Loaf, Oats, Random, Rye flourLeave a comment

An explosion in the kitchen? No hubby making apple bread. There was flour over the draining board, the crockery drainer, in the sink, on the floor. He got me to scrape the dough off his hands it was so sticky. He had added oats and rye flour to a bag of breadmaking flour which had added yeast. It wasn’t rising very well but he added cooking apples to the loaves.

Now they are in the oven, cooking, I wonder how they will turn out? In half an hour I will know.

Just out the oven

Posted on August 23, 2020August 23, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Baking, Bran, Bread, Bread and cheese, Cooking, Eating, Home made bread, Loaf, Oats, Oil, Water, YeastLeave a comment

It’s looking OK. Bread made from a kit, added a few rolled oats and a bit of bran.

I used oats on the outside once it had proved and been knocked back. When I took it out of the bowl to put into a Pyrex flan dish it had trebled in size. It only shrank slightly when I put it in the dish. The kit I had used contained yeast and had mixed seed in it. It was cooked on gas mark eight (high heat) for twenty five minutes. Now it needs to cool. The loaf needs turning ouf of the flan dish but it’s too hot at the moment. I don’t have any oven gloves so will use a tea towel. Will have a bit later on with bread and cheese if it’s OK?

Making bread

Posted on August 23, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Baking, Bran, Bread, Cooking, Flour, Oats, Poem, RisingLeave a comment

Bread rising

Expanding,

Uplifted with yeast

Oats and wheat

Water and oil

Flour and salt

Warm and gassy

Bubbles rising in dough.

From a packet

But added bran,

Round in a bowl,

Dumpy little round

Expanding

Growing

Ready to bake.

Bread making, USK S-O-T challenge.

Posted on April 28, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Baking, Black and white, Bread, Cooking, Drawing, Food, Ink pen, Kitchen, Oats, Rye flour, Sketch, Sketching, Staffordshire, Urban sketchers Stoke on trentLeave a comment

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Making not made! I found some rye flour and half a pack of yeast in the cupboard. Hubby and I both worked on it. Really tough to knead. We added porridge oats because it was too squidgy and I’d run out of flour. It’s taking time to rise but hopefully it will be OK… X

Update, cooked OK its a bit doughy in the middle. Not bad. Had some hot with butter.

I did the drawing as today’s challenge was something you’ve made for the urban sketchers new challenge. It’s black ink pen in my A5 cartridge paper sketchbook.

Yesterday was Oatcake day.

Posted on August 10, 2019August 10, 2019 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Arthur Berry, Artist, Author, Breakfast, Food, Lunch, Oatcakes, Oats, Poem, Poetry, Tasty, TeaLeave a comment

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And I forgot! I don’t know if it’s the same day every year. Anyway I’ve written a little poem in its honour. The best Oatcake poem I ever read was by the artist Arthur Berry. Look it up if you can.

Oatcakes are a pancakes cousin,

designed for savoury

not sweet.

Try with cheese and tomato,

can be eaten cold,

but I prefer heat.

Chilli sauce would add a tickle,

beetroot would be neat.

Oatcakes are a breakfast tipple,

with a good strong cup of tea.

Lunch you find with salad topping

grated cheese and pickle too.

Tea for two an Oatcake feasting,

Maybe sweet with cream or jam.

Versatile the little Oatcake,

Made with simple love you see,

Stoke-on-Trents tortilla, tasty.

Makes a meal for you and me

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Oats