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Dessert

Oatmeal Bannocks

A Scottish oatcake made from oatmeal, butter, and warm water, baked into round cakes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Oatmeal Bannocks

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

  1. In a bowl, rub the butter into the oatmeal until combined.

  2. Gradually add warm water to form a firm dough.

  3. Roll the dough into round cakes, about the size of a breakfast plate and ½ inch thick.

Bake

  1. Bake the cakes for 1 hour in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Oatmeal
Forms the main structure of the cakes once bound with water.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderises the oatmeal and gives a short, crumbly texture.
Warm water
Hydrates the oatmeal so the starch and fibre bind into a workable dough.

The step that matters

Adding the warm water. Water must be added gradually so the oatmeal absorbs it evenly; too much at once makes a sticky dough, while too little leaves the cakes crumbly and hard to roll.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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