Title: Yorkshire Oatcakes
Categories: Quickbreads, Pancakes, British
Yield: 6 Servings
1 lb Fine oatmeal
1/2 oz Fresh yeast
1 ts Salt (scant)
Water at blood heat
Put the oatmeal and salt in a bowl. Cream the yeast with a
teacupful of water, and leave it to rise to a creamy froth. Mix
into the oatmeal and add more water until the batter is like a
thick cream. A ladleful is thrown onto the heated griddle or
bakestone, in a narrow strip. It immediately puffs up with steam,
which makes it smooth underneath and rough on top. "When baked it
is damp and flexible, and is hung on the wooden clothes rail
before the fire" (if you have one!) "to dry, or on lines across
the kitchen ceiling. It must be crisped quickly immediately
before it is to be eaten." The flavour is slightly bitter and
very appetising. "It can be used for soups, fish, fowl, cheese,
butter, or any kind of meat in place of any other kind of bread or
biscuit."
(Lacking lines in the kitchen, you might try hanging the cakes
over a broomstick handle in front of a radiator or open fire, or
just toasting them under the broiler. When we had an Aga, in the
kitchen of the last house we rented, we used the "towel-drying
rail" in front of the ovens for this kind of thing, as well as for
drying pasta: it worked very well.)
From: Grigson's English Food
Posted by: Jeff Pruett
Date: 12-15-97
