The Book of Enitharmon

I uploaded the photos for this to Flickr last week - a dangerous thing to do when acanthium is about! So it's time to write the entry.

Staffordshire oatcakes aren't oatcakes like the Scottish oatcake, but a flatbread, and thus cousin to the chapati, the paratha, the Mexican tortilla and the Derbyshire pikelet. Almost like a pancake bound with oatmeal instead of eggs, and fluffed up with yeast. They are quicker to make than bread, you can roll up what you like in them and eat them as a wrap, put them on a plate with bacon and eggs, or just butter them. Yummy!

You need

500 ml warm milk
500 ml warm water
250 g plain flour
250 g medium oatmeal
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 lump fresh baker's yeast

(Ask for fresh baker's yeast at the bread counter of your local supermarket - Morrisons around here give it away, and so do Tesco)

Mix the milk and water. Cream the yeast and sugar together in a cup and mix to a thin paste with some of the liquid. Mix the flour, oatmeal and salt in a large bowl (every kitchen should have a big Gresleyware mixing bowl), making sure the mixture is free of lumps. Add the liquid a little at a time, mixing it all to a thin batter. Add the yeast mixture. Cover with a teacloth and leave in a warm place for half an hour until the batter is frothy.

Now the fun bit. Heat a lightly-greased frying pan (I love my American cast-iron skillet which is just perfect for this) and pour in a ladleful of batter. Spread it around the pan so it makes a thin pancake. Wait until the top is set and covered with bubbles, then flip it over with a fish slice. Repeat until you have a plate piled high with oatcakes.



Very moreish!