Ingredients for North Staffordshire Oatcake:
- 225g fine oatmeal
- 225g wholewheat or plain flour
- 1tsp salt
- 15g yeast
- 450ml warm milk
- 450ml warm water
- 1tsp sugar
Method for North Staffordshire Oatcake:
- Mix the water and milk together.
- Mix the salt to the flour and oatmeal in a large bowl.
- Dissolve the yeast with a little warm liquid and add the sugar. Allow the mixture to become frothy.
- Mix the dry ingredients with the yeast liquid to make a batter adding the remainder of the warm liquid.
- Cover the batter with a clean cloth and leave in a warm place for about an hour.
- Pour out enough batter on a well-greased griddle to make an oatcake of about 22cm. The surface will be covered in holes as it cooks.
- Flip the oatcake after 2-3 minutes when the top side has a dry appearance and the underneath is a golden brown colour and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
Notes:
TIP:
Try to use the heaviest frying pan available as this will keep the heat constant which is best for making oatcakes. Great served with fried bacon, mushrooms and cheese as a savoury snack or with butter and jam as a sweet treat.
Oatcakes can be frozen and a microwave is the ideal method of defrosting and reheating them.
History, Secrets and Health
I heard that soldiers returning from India in days gone by tried to duplicate the chapattis they had enjoyed but using local ingredients and the North Staffordshire Oatcake was born.
The exact recipe varies between oatcake shops and was for many years a closely guarded secret. There would be an oatcake shop on nearly every street corner years ago. Not just selling the oatcakes but also hot filled oatcakes. This was fast food prior to the Golden Arches and supersize me.
Being very much a regional dish – indeed, less than a county – oatcakes were always missed by ex-pats from the Potteries. There used to be a hotel in Leamington Spa that sent someone up to Stoke-on-Trent at the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning to get supplies.
Being made with oatmeal, they are actually quite high in fibre but filling with melted cheese and fried bacon may reduce the health benefits somewhat.
Favourite
My favourite is to place under the grill with thin slices of cheese on. When bubbling, add a generous amount of Branston pickle and roll up.
You can buy North Staffordshire oatcakes from some of the major supermarkets in the UK. For those poor souls in far off lands, this is how to make them,
I CUT THIS RECIPE OUT OF THE SENTINEL WHEN IT WAS PRINTED SOME YEARS AGO BUT, PIECES OF PAPER GO ASTRAY. I HAVE MADE THE OATCAKES AND IF I SAY SO MYSELF THEY ARE EXTREMELY TASTY. I EVEN GOT ORDERS FROM FAMILY MEMBERS. THANKS FOR PUTTING THE RECIPE ONLINE SO I CAN CONTINUE MAKING THEM.
Glad you found it useful – I didn’t know it was in the Sentinel, it was posted to me when we were out of the country and couldn’t find the Potteries answer to haute cuisine.
Thanks Mr Harrison…
I love them, my father lived there and he loved them. This is the third time I have used your recipe and it works well. Thanks!
Howard
Food of the gods! Glad you’re enjoying them. For years the recipe was secret but now we can enjoy them everywhere. I’m amazed they’ve not become popular outside of north Staffs. We’ve had visitors from abroad and they’ve really taken to them. I don’t think they were just being polite.
Thanks for the recipe! I live in Brazil and have always enjoyed oatcakes when I grew up in Shropshire. We have started making them here using the recipe you have provided. We have a sunday school and take large batches of Oatcakes for the children, we have about 39 children come along to the Sunday School…..even some mothers and grandparents come along and sit in the Sunday school and get an oatcake. Last sunday we saw a small child showing signs of malnutrition with a large distended stomach…It’s difficult to believe with Brazil being relatively wealthy this should be so, but the oatcakes at least go someway to helping children like these. Thankyou so much for letting us have the recipe!
Thanks ever so much!! My boyfriend is from stoke and missed his oatcakes. So im in the kitchen making them about twice a week now! Also a big thanks fom my boyfriend.
An John, im dutch and love oatcakes with cheese and hp sauce. they can get me out of bed for them. But then again i’ve lived in England and got used to the taste of English food.
I’m old enough to be absolutely amazed at getting posts from Brazil and Holland! Oatcakes are, like many of the best dishes, ‘peasant’ food. Cheap, filling and easy to cook. I’ve never understood how come everyone in the UK at least isn’t addicted to them. Food of the gods!
Hi, Many thanks for posting this, I’m on my own in the USA for 6 months and being a Hanley boy, miss my oatcakes!
My local shops recipie was a closely guarded secret so only now I can try to re-create north stafs in northern Illinois.
Hi Alex – maybe you’ll end up with a chain of oatcake shops across the USA! But can you get Cheshire cheese and Branston?
Hi thanks for this recipe,
we live in Tenerife, so we miss our oatcakes!!!
great with chesse, bacon, sausages, tomatoes, eggs!!!
the list goes on! now got to find the ingredients!!
will make them as soon as I can
cheers J & K
The oatcake is also alive and kicking in Perth, Western Australia. I can’t live without my oatcakes so have been making them here downunder for 13 yrs since i moved here.
The aussies love them too.
MB
I love them. Used to buy them at local Sainsbury’s a few years ago, but they no longer stock them… a shame!
SG
Hi there – I’m very happy to have found this recipe as I’m an ex Stokie now living in Bulgaria!
Can you tell me is it fresh yeast that you need to use or is dried ok?
Can’t wait to be making me own oatcakes as I have a fridge full of imported cheese and branston that just isn’t the same on toast!
Nat x
Dried yeast is fine.
Hey there, I’m an ex Stokie now living in down under Melbourne AUS i miss my oatcakes we used to get really good ones from the Haymarket in Tunstall many moons ago, dad got the recipe from the shop owner when he went back for a holiday and made them out here up until he passed away, where abouts in SOT did u live? Lindsay
Not a real “potter” – Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Many thanks for the recipe,
Interested to hear about the Leamington Spa Hotel sending out for supplies. Can’t get them here now. I moved down to the Leamington Spa area twelve years ago and I usually get supplies every now and again when I visit family in Eccleshall. Managed to convert everyone who have sampled them from me and I will now try my hand at making some.
Kind regards
Rob
Thanks for this – goes without saying you can’t get oatcakes in Japan (i’m still yet to find baked beans or gravy!) but not for long!!! I’m going to try the recipe tonight.
Would be interesting to see if anyone has tried introducing oatcakes back to India?
Thanks for your recipe ,my late husband was a baker and we have an aga cooker so oatcakes were made quite often ,however since he passed away I only make then now and then ,thanks for the recipe and method ,the batch is rising as I type so must go and get busy, all the best from Derbyshire.
I still prefer the Staffordshire recipe so here’s to Happy Oatcaking,
yours B,Pennington
My Gran used to make Staffordshire oatckes for me when I was a child, growing up in Newcastle under Lyme.
What a treat to find this recipe,now I can make them for my Southern boyfriend whom up till yet,has never had the pleasure!
First tasted them 3 yrs ago when working in Stoke. Got them from a small shop near the Royal Doulton factory I think absolutely gorgeous. Surprised they haven’t become more widespread.Wish someone would start selling them in Liverpool
Waitrose still sell them, as do Booths. Booths also sell Lancashire oatcakes, but I prefer the Staffs ones.
Just made a batch from the above recipe and was pleased with the results. I only had medium oatmeal though. It didn’t seem to be a problem.
i used this recipe. and made some oatcakes. and what they were really lovely. the only problem i had was to get hold of the oatmeal. and my father managed to get some from Morrison’s. as i couldn’t get it from tesco or asda. so used the morn flake oatmeal. these oatcakes are really tasty. and i will continue to make them for my family. my 2 brothers who are living in cork Ireland. asked me to send them some over. so i will send them some oatcakes over.
Hi from Thailand,just heard a breakfast bar in Pattaya is making them and they look lovely on the pics provided to the site.The stokie guy is a chef at the restaraunt
as they say
stokies here stokies there
My Grandy and Grandma lived just outside Stoke in Draycott le Moors… Oatcakes are a way of life in those parts. I worked for a while in Cardiff and my Pals from Stoke used to bring them down for my family. I can say hand on heart they are the nicest breakfast known to man!! Thanks for the recipe, I’m out in Germany now and I am just about to make some.
Thanks for the recipe. I saw a letter in the Guardian on Saturday about oatcakes and looked up for a recipe. It is wonderful. I have slightly changed it by adding oatbran for a colestrol problem. The result is slight heavier but will do the trick for me. Thanks again. I was tired of eating muffins. Mary
Thanks for this! I was recently back in Staffordshire and couldn’t wait to eat oatcakes. Needless to say, I can’t get them in Tokyo, but I’ll be trying your recipe this weekend.
Hi just thought id say thanks, this recipe will be going to bendorm in Nov. I’m from Wigan but live in St Annes on sea and I am fortunate enough to have a brill mate in Burslem who puts up with and puts us up an always gets oatcakes for me at 8-30am Sun Thanks to Paul and Mandy
I saw them on Rick Stein programme they look wonderful so now I will be making them in Brisbane OZ thankyou …
I’m a Leek boy living in Brisbane. Looking forward to making some Oatcakes
Thanks.
I am so pleased to finally have this recipe….. I remember how amazed and in awe I was of the oatcake when I 1st visited Stafford as a child…. I will be making these as soon as I ytrack down some oatmeal here in deepest darkest Africa!
Having just visited Chatsworth Farm shop and bought some delicious, albeit expensive oatcakes, “I bet we could make these” lead to googling ‘recipes for oatcakes’. And so I have discovered your website and it is wonderful! I am the Healthy Eating advisor for Lincs Healthy schools and I have a list of useful websites which I give out to schools who are interested in introducing food into their school, whether it is via the curriculum or an after school cook club. Your website is definately going to be addedto the list!
I was very pleased to find this recipe. I am a Birmingham girl and have been buying these oatcakes from my local Tesco. Problem is, Tesco’s ordering system is very unreliable and I have been unable to buy them for some weeks. I shall try making my own instead!
Thank you for posting this recipe, I am originally for Stoke on Trent and have been living in Vancouver Canada for the past 9 years.
Just tried the recipe and it was a little slice of heaven.
Thanks Again
When you put the liquid onto the cooking area use the base of the ladle to push the liquid out as far as it will go before setting. This is important to get a thin product. just pouring it on and then letting it cook will produce a cake that could be too thick to roll easily, just tried some of Tesco Staffordshire Oatcakes, far too thick and also very small.
I use an ultra hot chilli beef mix to roll in mine also a beefy bolognaise mix(when I have run out of Bacon that is).
North Cheshire : Sainsburys sell them in this area and we love them ! None of our recipe books mention them, so a quick Google and here you are ! Top of the list and rightly so. Our thanks for your recipe.
Dubai calling, my whole family (apart from me funnily enough) were born in the Stoke area. My Mum and Dad actually met whilst both working on The Sentinel. A career move for Dad relocated us to Manchester (Sale) but we regularly visited relatives in Stoke and stocked up. I tried making my own from an internet recipe but I wasn’t 100% happy so I sent away (internet) for a mixture which worked well (despite the fact that it was mis-mailed to Vncouver, Canada) – Stoke-Vancouver-Dubai ! ! I will try your recipe next weekend and thanks.
The recipe as shown here is the one I have used at home for a couple of years here in Australia, and the oatcakes certainly are delicious. However, I went to North Staffordshire for the first time in my life in September 2009, and patronized a great little oatcake shop in Leek a couple of times. For some reason, the oatcakes I bought there were flatter than the ones I make, indicating that their batter is much thinner than mine, and if I made my oatcakes with a diameter of 22cm, that would be a day’s food. Has anyone any explanation of why my mix seems to be so much thicker than the actual Staffs batter? Oatcakes are sensational with just about anything. We tend to have them wrapped around a banana or warm with honey drizzled over. They are especially good with vegemite, but only we Aussies would know about that!
just made my first batch, delicious, so simple
Thanks for posting your recipe. My husband used to go apple picking up in Stoke when he was a teenager (he’s now retired) and was telling me stories of devouring what he only knew as “oatcakes” – now I can surprise him with your recipe! We live in Portugal now but are about to return for Christmas in the UK so Oatmeal is on the shopping list! Happy baking!
thank you for this recipe, we are from stoke but we live in Bulgaria.
ive found a supermarket here that sells Blakemans sausages….i just needed the oatcakes to go with them.
thanks again.
Excellant thanks so much! We live in Brisbane but are back in Staffs for Christmas with the family. My sister always stocks up her freezer with oatcakes for when we visit and we gorge on them but now we can make our own anytime. You’ve made an ex-pat very happy!
Have just made oatcakes for the first time using porridge oats blitzed in the food processor and easy blend dried yeast. The results were fantastic and they were so simple to make. I’ll never buy them again!
Hi, rather than officers returning from India, I think you’ll find the history of the North Staffordshire oatcake goes a lot further than that. They are supposedly a product of necessity, developed during the Jacobite rising of 1745. A bunch of Jacobites had become trapped around the Newcastle under Lyme area and as supplies (of their main staple, oatmeal), started to run low, they needed to eke them out. So rather than porridge, they added more water to make a batter and the oatcake was born
I am a South African and was introduced to these in 1999 by my wife’s cousin in Cheadle whilst visiting the UK. The shop owner refused to give me the recipe as we lived “too close” and would be competition. I have tried a few recipes from the net but this one is tops.
We will eat them again tonight!
Hi!
I was born in Tunstall and grew up in SOT, until I left for London in the early seventies, after a great education at Stanfields Technical High School on High Lane.
I have been fortunate to have lived and worked in Europe, the U.S. Central America and the Caribbean, and have lived in Canada since the mid eighties. I live on a medicinal herb farm in Ontario with my wife and daughter.
Why all the history? Well during all that time I never forgot my roots and education in SOT. When I was a teenager, a friend of mine lived in an Oatcake store in Cobridge, and I got to see and participate in all the process (Pikelets anyone?). My brothers and sister and I grew up on Oatcakes and fish and chips (it was what we could afford). I often mentioned Oatcakes to my Canadian wife and daughter, and filled them in on their history as a food. Before I left SOT, some friends and I ran a vegetarian cafe at Keele University (adjacent the uni bar!) and 80% of the food items served were Oatcake based. We even had Friday night Oatcake eating contests (Oatcakes and melted cheese). I think the record was either 17 or 23 Oatcakes!
Thanks for the great recipe… my Canadian family and friends LOVE Staffordshire Oatcakes, and would never have heard of them or tasted them, but for my SOT youth and your perfect recipe. Now if only I could get “proper” Cheshire cheese!
Staffordshire oatcakes are not a modern invention by soldiers, although I see the resemblance to chipatis, they are in fact hundreds of years old, a staple that could not be eaten in summer months because they soured and overfermented. Aren’t we lucky to have fridges. Great recipe, works slightly better than another I had. My daughter loves them with peanut butter, I’m a houmous and rocket girl myself.
Oatcakes and I met while on a recent visit with friends in Staffordshire. Being a fan of quesedillas (torillas and cheese) I took to oatcakes like a duck to, er, oatcakes! Thanks for printing this recipe so that I can continue my love affair with Staffs cooking!
Ive been living in mallorca for 17 years and theres 2 things i miss about home Oatcakes and mince burgers from terrys…..love to all back home .thanx for the recipe john. ps if anyone can pop in to terrys at the potteries center and ask him for his mince burger recipe that would be nice. over and out