oatcakes-msg – 10/6/18

Period oatcakes.

NOTE: See also the files: bread-msg, flour-msg, brd-mk-flat-msg, grains-msg, Scotland-msg, fd-Scotland-msg, utensils-msg, ovens-msg.

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Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
From: shafer at ferhino.dfrc.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer)
Subject: Re: bread (was Re: meadmaking help.....)
Organization: NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995 04:10:41 GMT

Elizabeth David, in her book "English Bread and Yeast Cookery", has a
chapter titled "Manchets and Mayn and Payndemayn", which includes the
recipe posted about two messages back from this, plus one from Gervase
Markham, "The English Hus-wife", 1615, and a modern version.  (Mostly
scaled down, since the posted recipe wanted half a bushel of flour and
David notes that a bushel was 56 to 60 lb, which makes somewhat more
bread than many of us are interested in).  Scattered throughout the
book are information about how bread was cut in c. 1508 (from "the
Boke of Kervynge) and a number of period and near-period recipes
(Kendal Oatcakes from 1698, for example).

If you want to know everything to know about English bread and yeast
cookery, buy this book.  It's really excellent--it tells you
everything from which stone to use in your mill onward.  It's in print
in a US version and is ISBN 0-9643600-0-4 (the original, British
edition has a different ISBN).  Even if you never bake a single thing
from it, you'll enjoy reading it and you'll learn a lot from it.

This book finally explained to me why English supermarket white bread
is so dreadful (even worse than Wonder Bread)--it contains, quite
legally, a great deal more water than does its US counterpart.
--
Mary Shafer                                                
SR-71 Chief Engineer   NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA
shafer at ferhino.dfrc.nasa.gov  
http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/People/Shafer/mary.html

Date: Fri, 19 Sep 1997 21:55:10 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - oat recipe

L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt wrote:
> While these are not documented recipes, Cheese and other food was potted in
> late period, and oatcakes are so simple to make that I am unaware of an
> historical example of their recipe, although I have read accounts of their
> existence.  Somewhere on a disc in Word Perfect I have a paper about
> Scottish food. It's such an old version that my 'puter can't interpret it
> now. Sigh.

Aoife, check out Giulielma Penn's Receipt Book. I believe she died in
1694. There's a recipe in there for Oatcakes (two, actually) that may
predate her marriage to William Penn bt a generation or two, which would
make it nominally acceptable as period, more or less. This version is
more like a North English havercake, though. Flat and thin but made from
a batter of pats and spring water. Maybe some salt. Kinda like a cross
between dog biscuits and matzoh. Actually, quite good, especially with
Slipcote cheese. The T.I. article I did a couple of years ago on
preserved travel foods, "The Pilgrim's Picninc Basket", is webbed at
this URL, and has a redaction:

http://www.adelphi.edu/~sbloch/sca/cooking/ppb.html#oatcakes

Adamantius

Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 09:17:35 -0400
From: "LHG, JRG" <liontamr at ptd.net>
Subject: SC - Lindow Man's Last Meal

Hallo!
I am no longer recieving the list, but thought I'd pass this along anyway.
I have been working on an event menu from the time of Colum Cille (St.
Columba, or approx 500 AD) . Here are my bread choices thus far. I hope you
enjoy them. Send any comments directly to me in addition to the list, since
I cannot otherwise read them.

Aoife
_______

Oatcakes--sadly, like raised bread recipes, this one was undoubtedly the
'No Brainer' cooks felt no need to write down, particularly in Early Celtic
Society,  where no early cookbooks survive or were probably ever written.
In fact, the earliest published Scottish Cookbook (Mrs. McClintock's
Receipt Book for Cookery and Pastry Work, pub. 1736, and again by Aberdeen
University Press. 1986) contains an oat-recipe (oat-meal pudding) but no
oat-bread. In fact, the only bread recipe it contains is for French Bread!
Following the oatcakes recipe is the product of several experiments to
discover if the addition of rye and wheat flour improve the oatcake, making
something similar to Lindow Man's Last Meal.

Based on the recipe in Recipes from the Country Kitchen (see bibliography)

"One of the first people to hear about the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie
at the battle of Culloden, in 1746, was an old woman living in a nearby
cottage. Immediately she took a small table, her griddle, and a bag of
oatmeal down to the  road. There, lighting a wood fire, she  set about
baking oatcakes, which she handed out the the Young Pretender's
soldiers...."

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cooking time 20 minutes ((exactly as in the analysis of Lindow Man's last
meal))
Preheat oven to 190 degrees C (375 F) ((see  Lindow Man's meal  again))

Ingredients for 4 oatcakes ( or farls)

8 ozs. fine oatmeal
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tbsp melted butter or bacon fat (recommended)
1/4 pint boiling water

Mix all ingredients together, stirring very well to moisten. Turn out onto
a board dusted with rolled or whole oats, and lightly knead until it forms
a smooth ball (it will be hot!). Re-dust the board with oats as needed and
roll or pat thinly out into as neat a circle as can be made, mending breaks
as they occur. Cut this into 4 triangles (farls), or cut out rounds (cakes)
with a cutter. Transfer these to a baking sheet or stone. Bake in a
pre-heated oven 20 minutes or until pale fawn, or bake on a griddle or
bakestone, turning once when underside is speckled brown. Sprinkle
generously with salt while warm. Keep airtight if intended to be served
crisp.

Excerpts from The Life and Death of a Druid Prince, How the Discovery of
Lindow Man revealed the Secrets of a Lost Civilization, by Anne Ross and
Don Robbins.
"The remains of the cereal grain in Lindow Man's gut, recovered as bran and
some chaff, was shown to be a well-ground mixture of  some kind of
primitive wheat and rye with barley......
"Applying this technique to Lindow Man's last meal confirmed Gordon
Hillman's suspicions that the last meal had been a kind of bread. The
measured Temperature was close to 200 degrees Celsius, far too high for
cereal but consistent with baking. The team was able to go further than
that, however. They estimated that the heating time had been very short,
perhaps only a few minutes, and certainly not the hour or so that might be
necessary to cook porridge. ...
"....Thus the modern equivalent of the last meal would not be coarse whole
meal or even pumpernickel rye bread, but something much closer to the
traditional Scottish barley biscuit or oatcake. These can only be flat and
unleavened, for they are cooked, rather than baked, on a flat hot surface
for a short time, almost like a pancake with no appreciable gluten
content."

Lindow Man Cakes (copyright 1998 L. Herr-Gelatt)

There is really no way of knowing if  the marsh man's bread, as analyzed,
was ceremonial or not in nature. As flatbread of mixed grains were quite
commonplace, I would suspect that this was not the case. The ritual aspect
of his last meal lay in the branding of the cake, in my opinion. The burned
patch signaled his "lot", which was to end in human sacrifice. We have no
such sinister plans for our cakes, however! Here is my version, which is
quite tasty. It utilizes oats instead of Barley, since I have no access to
Barley flour and attempts to homegrind it have proved destructive to my
equipment. As oat content has been found in other archaeological bog-find
victim's last meals, I felt quit justified in doing so (Tollund man,
Grauballe Man (Denmark)). Additionally, since the grains would have been
hand-ground in a quern during that period, I have chosen to use modern
stone-ground products when possible.

1/4 cup plain fine oatmeal (not rolled oats, as Lindow man's bread
contained flour). If necessary, process the oats in a food processor to
make then very fine).
1/4 cup stone ground whole wheat flour
1/2 cup stone ground rye flour
1/2 tsp. salt (optional)
3 tbsp bacon fat with crispy bits or butter, or combination of both
1/3 cup of boiling water, or more or less to mix.
Salt for sprinkling, if desired.

Mix together the flours and oatmeal, and the 1/2 tsp. salt if desired. Melt
the fats and mix with the boiling water. Pour most of this into the flour
mixture and mix well, adding more  as necessary to make a stiff and
somewhat crumbly dough. Knead the dough, which should become quite pliable,
using more of any of the above flours if desired (oats making a more
attractive exterior when cooked).

Pre-heat a dry griddle on medium flame. Pinch off a ball of dough the size
of a large walnut. Roll or press out on oat-covered board or between hands
to very thin pancake (alternately, shape as described in the oatcake
recipe, above). Repeat with 3 more balls to make 4 cakes. Place on the
griddle and cook 2-4 minutes per side. If griddle is too hot cakes will
begin to smoke. When cakes have large dark speckles, turn them and cook on
other side (2-4 minutes each side). When cooked and dry-looking, remove to
a plate and immediately sprinkle with salt if desired. These must stored in
an airtight container if  they are to be kept for any length of time.

This bread is perfect camp food, is extremely filling and tasty, and the
ingredients travel well and work well in combination with other dishes.

Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 13:4559 -0400
From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Oatcakes-- was Midrealm Coronation Lunch
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

david friedman wrote:
>> Oatcakes and  Barley Cakes, Assorted Breads and Manchets,
>>> Johnnae llyn Lewis
>>
> Do you have a period recipe for oatcakes? I have a conjectural one,
> based on Froissart's brief mention of teir use by scottish troopers,
> and would be interested to compare.
--------------------------

I actually turned up more descriptions than just the Froissart mention.

Alexander Fenton, among others, has documented the long association of
the Scottish herth with these characteristic flatbreads of oats and
barley. See Fenton, Alexander. “Hearth and kitchen: the Scottish
Example.” Food and Material Culture. [Proceedings of the Fourth
Symposium of the International Commission for Research into European
FoodHistory.] East Linton, Scotland: Tuckwell Press, 1998. pp. 29-47.

Brown, Catherine. Scottish Cookery. 1985. Edinburgh: Mercat Press, 1999.
includes descriptions by C. Lowther dated 1629 from his diary "Our
Journal Into Scotland"  'Three Travellers in theBorders had oat bread
cakes, baked a fifth of an inch thick on a griddle...'. p. 6.
Brown also mentions an account by G. Buchanan titled Description of
Scotland which also mentions them. This was also dated 1629.

Neither Lowther or Buchanan turn up in th ESTC so I suspect they are
journals and were never published. Moryson, Fynes. An Itinerary Written
by Fynes Moryson Gent. from 1617 is available and they are mentioned in
there.

A quick read on the subject is Lockhart’s The Scots and Their Oats.
Althoug he’s talking about Yorkshire and not Scotland, Brears’ The
Gentlewoman’s Kitchen also includes a good account of regional hearth
breads. Brears includes a 1683 recipe for "To make thick Oat-cakes" that
contains no oats. It makes a thick cake that is simiar he says to the
cakes that can still be purchased in Yorkshire bakeries today.

There are a number of recipes-- all late. [The first Scottish cookbook
wasn't published until 1736.] The combination of just meal and water
made into a paste and baked with perhaps a bit of dripping wouldn't need
a recipe, per say. It's interesting to note that eventually there are
thick cakes mentioned along with a number of thin ones that are made in
a variety of ways. This is still to be found and Catherine Brown goes
into a number of these descriptions in her works.

Here are these recipes--

CXL. To Make Oak-Cakes.

Take fine Flower, and mix it very well with new Ale yeast, and make it
very stiff, then make it into little Cakes, and roul them very thin,
then lay them on a Iron to bake, or on a baking stone, and make but a
slow fire under it, and as they are baking, take them and turn the edges
of them round on the iron, that they may bake also, one quarter of an
hour will bake them; a little before you take them up, turn hem on the
other side, only to flat them; for if turn them too soon, it will hinder
the rising, the Iron or Stone whereon they are baked, must stand at
distance from the fire. pp. 260-261.
The queen-like closet; or, Rich cabinet stored with all manner of are
receipts for preserving, candying & cookery. Very pleasant and
beneficial to all ingenious persons of the female sex. By Hannah Wolley.
Publication date: 1670. The running title at the top of the page is:
The Ladies Cabinet, so I suspect that this recpe is found in her
earlier work as well. It's not on EEBO yet so I can't check it.

John Nott in his Cooks Dictionary of 1726 includes another recipe that
calls for the ale yeast, but it's not a copy of Wolley's.

There are also recipes or mentions in Thoas Tryon's  The good
house-wife made a doctor,of 1692.
where in CHAP. VI. he writes:
• ...  or less Egress and Regress; but the better way is to make it into
thin Cakes, like Oat-Cakes, and bake them on a Stone, which many in the
North of England  ..."

Mrkham mentioned them earlier in his chapter VI of The English
Housewife. "Of the excellency of Oates, and the many singular vertes and
vses of them in a family."

By 1688 Randle Holme in his The Academy of Armory, or, A Storehouse of
Armory and Blazon desribes them as: Oaten Cakes, are made of Oat meal,
and Leavened very well, and knodden flat and round, and Baked on a Back
Stone, of which there are 2 sorts, hard and soft." Found Page 294 of the
Book 3, Chapter 6.

Moffet's Healths Improvement also has soething to say about them, but I
won't copy that here as I shall have to look the text up again. He was
first published in 1655, but is believed to have written his manuscript
in the 1590's. [Beck thought 1594.] He died in 1604/1605.

Johnae llyn Lewis

Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 18:52:25 -0700
From: david friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Oatcakes-- was Midrealm Coronation Lunch
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

> david friedman wrote:
>>>  Oatcakes and  Barley Cakes, Assorted Breads and Manchets,
>>> Johnnae llyn Lewis
>>>
>>  Do you have a period recipe for oatcakes? I have a conjectural one,
>>  based on Froissart's brief mention of their use by scottish troopers,
>>  and would be interested to compare.
> --------------------------
>
> I actually turned up more descriptions than just the Froissart mention.

> Hope this helps.

Thanks. Lots of interesting stuff.

My guess is that Froissart's oat cakes aren't raised, given the
constraints of what they are being used for. Just oatmeal, water and
salt gives a reasonably good result. But it would be nice if we could
find something more extensive earlier than the 17th c.
-- 
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/

Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 22:27:05 -0400
From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Oatcakes-- was Midrealm Coronation Lunch
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Olive Geddes points out that the documents surviving for Scotland are
few and far between. We have all these incomplete household accounts and
records and no recipes. In terms of food history and records, the
country lags the rest of Europe. I have this feeling that she found it
easier to do her book on golf than to research the food history of
Scotland for The Laird's Kitchen Three Hundred Years of Food in Scotland
which she did for the National Library of Scotland and the HMSO.

I would think that the Froissart oatcakes are just meal and water and
baked by the fireside. But around a hearth and with access to yeast from
ale barm, there probably also grew up the "raised" or leavened cakes.
There seems to be a variance of opinion as to what quality of meal to
use as well as how thick to make the cakes.

Johnnae llyn Lewis

Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2004 00:05:31 -0700
From: David Friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] oat cakes
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

> Oat cakes ye say... that sounds interesting..

I have a conjectural recipe in the Miscellany,
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/miscellany_pdf/Miscellany.htm

near the end of the recipe section.
-- 
David/Cariadoc
www.daviddfriedman.com

Date: Sun, 22 May 2005 19:11:02 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Period-appropriate cookies	and
	cookie-likesubstances....
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Etain1263 at aol.com wrote:
> Does anyone have any documentation for
> medieval cooking of cakes on a griddle???
>
> Etain

Take a look at bakestones for those recipes.
My description from my Scottish Luncheon--

Oatcakes and Barley Cakes—

Alexander Fenton, among others, has documented the long association of
the Scottish hearth with these characteristic flatbreads of oats and
barley. Traditionally baked on a stone before the fire, they often don’t
bake as much as dry out before the fire. Even when the “stone” of a
bakestone gave way to an iron griddle surface, this manufactured iron
griddle may still be called a “bakestone.” I bought mine at Covent
Garden in 1984. Historical accounts date back to at least the 14th
century when Froissart recorded the making of oatcakes by Scottish
soldiers. The Earl’s Glasgow accounts mention them of course early in
the 17th century. A quick read on the subject is Lockhart’s The Scots
and Their Oats. Although he’s talking about Yorkshire and not Scotland,
Brears’ The Gentlewoman’s Kitchen also includes a good account of
regional hearth breads, as does Elisabeth David and also McNeill. I have
made use of stone ground barley meal and imported oats.

http://home.comcast.net/~iasmin/mkcc/MKCCfiles/ 
AlasdairGuinevreLunch.html

Johnnae llyn Lewis

Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:33:50 -0400
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Pennsic Camp Cooking
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

On Aug 11, 2008, at 10:50 PM, S CLEMENGER wrote:
<<< Do you soak the oats first?
I had some oat bread at a potluck last week that was quite interesting.
Modern recipe, but still good.  Apparently, instead of mixing the dry oats
into the dough, one starts by cooking them, just like oatmeal....
--Maire >>>

Somewhere I've got a copy of the receipt book of Giulielma [Mrs.  
William] Penn, dated roughly 1690, if I remember correctly, and her  
recipe for oatcakes involves fine oatmeal soaked overnight in spring  
water to make a batter. It seems to be the closest near-period, actual  
recipe approximating Froissart's description (14th century?) of  
Scottish soldiers making oatcakes on a stone in the field.

Adamantius

Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:42:07 -0400
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Pennsic Camp Cooking
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

On Aug 11, 2008, at 10:45 PM, David Friedman wrote:
<<< I also made oatcakes another night. That's something I had been  
planning to do at Pennsic for years. They are about the simplest  
possible bread-like plausibly period thing, requiring only coarse  
ground oats, salt, water, a fire and a frying pan. Not the world's  
tastiest dish, but not bad. >>>

They're much better if, after "baking" in the pan, they are toasted/ 
dried in front of the fire to a cracker-like consistency. Northern  
English housewives were hanging them on the clothes line in front of  
the fireplace up to the 1940's or so, if an old PPC article on  
oatcakes is to be believed. They can be sort of limp and soggy if you  
eat them right away, but if you make a lot of them in advance and let  
them dry, they have an interesting dog-biscuit matzoh flavor (which is  
a lot better than I'm making it sound). It's probably also consistent  
with a lot of old Scandinavian flatbread practice, which may or may  
not sway Moorish thinking ;-).

Adamantius

Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:02:09 -0500
From: David Friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Pennsic Camp Cooking
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

I combine water, salt, and oats. Let them soak for some hours. Then 
fry as thin cakes in a dry frying pan.

I should see how it works with butter or oil in the pan, but I was 
trying to reconstruct something consistent with Froissart's 
description, and I didn't think scottish troopers could rely on 
having perishable fats with them.

<<< Do you soak the oats first?
I had some oat bread at a potluck last week that was quite interesting.
Modern recipe, but still good.  Apparently, instead of mixing the dry oats
into the dough, one starts by cooking them, just like oatmeal....
--Maire >>>

Date: Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:21:37 -0400
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] oatcakes
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

On Apr 6, 2009, at 11:20 PM, Stefan li Rous wrote:
<<< 
Adamantius' article says:

3) North English Oatcakes
Havercakes or riddlecakes differ from the sgian oatcake of the  
Highland Scots in that they are made from a soft dough or batter,  
rather than the firm pastry dough of the sgian. 

<snip>
 
PS: Adamantius, is that supposed to be "riddlecakes" or did I  
perhaps drop a "g" in multiple places? >>>

I seem to recall that as one of the traditional names for oatcakes of  
a particular kind in the North of England, possibly a Yorkshire  
dialect term.

There's a pretty detailed article on oatcakes somewhere in an early  
issue of Petits Propos Culinaires, discussing the difference between  
bannocks, havercakes, scones/sgians and riddlecakes.

I'm up to my ears in paperwork (sinking, actually) connected with the  
Evil Spawn's college financing at the moment, so for the next month or  
so, memory is at a premium, and free time more so.

But yes, I believe riddlecakes is a legitimate term, and not the  
result of dropping an initial "g", at least not an error on my part or  
yours, AFAIK.

Adamantius

Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2009 23:41:29 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] oatcakes
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Indeed, riddle cake or riddle bread is north English dialect for a type of 
heavy oat cake.  However, the term appears to be from the 17th Century.

Bear

Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 18:52:20 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at att.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Riddle was oatcakes
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Interesting word.  A riddle is a coarse sieve used to seperate grain from 
chaff.  The two common forms of riddle appear to be a plate with holes 
drilled in it or a wooden rim strung with a coarse wire mesh.  From the 
usage, a riddle cake appears to be an oatcake made from coarse grain rather 
than from cut or milled oats.  And yes it is the source of the term, "riddle 
with bullets," from an earlier term, "to make a riddle of."

Bear 

Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:24:03 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Riddle was oatcakes
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Riddle goes far back as a term with quotations like these:

*/a/1100* /Gerefa/ in /Anglia/ IX. 264 S?dleap, hriddel, her~syfe.

*/c/1340* /Nominale/ (Skeat) 531 /Sak, cryuere, et sace/, sak, ridelle, 
and heresyue.

*1382*  
<http://dictionary.oed.com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/help/bib/oed2-w3.html#wyclif>Wyclif 
/Amos/ ix. 9 As whete is smyten in a rydil.

*/c/1440* /Promp. Parv./ 433/1 Rydyl, of corn clensynge,../cribrum/.

*1495* /Trevisa's Barth. De P.R./ XVII. cxxxv. 691 Hulkes falleth of 
whan corne is clensyd wyth a syfue or wyth a Ryddyll.

*1601*  
<http://dictionary.oed.com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/help/bib/oed2-h3.html#holland>Holland 
/Pliny/ XVI. xi. I. 464 The same are shred and minced so small, as they 
may passe through a sieve or a riddle.

A search through EEBO-TCP turned up:

Riddeled, o. plaited, wrinkled.
Riddle-cakes, La. thick sour-cakes.
Riddle an oblong sieve (to separate the seed from the Corn.)

Coles, Elisha, 1640?-1680, An English dictionary 1677

and this handy 17th century paragraph that explains all:

A Bannock, An Oat-cake kneaded with water only and baked in the Embers. 
In Lancashire, and other parts of the North, they make several sorts of 
Oaten bread, which they call by several names: as 1. Tharcakes, the same 
with Bannocks, viz. Cakes made of Oat-meal as it comes from the mill and 
fair water, without Yeast or leaven, and so baked. 2. Clap-bread: Thin 
hard Oat-cakes. 3. Kitchiness-bread: Thin soft Oat-cakes made of thin 
batter. 4. Riddle-cakes: thick Sour-cakes, from which differs little 
that which they call Hand-hoven Bread, having but little leaven, and 
being kneaded stiffer. 5. Jannock, Oaten bread made up in loaves.

Ray, John. A collection of English vvords, 1674

There's a recipe in Prehistoric cookery: recipes & history by Jane M. 
Renfrew.

YORKSHIRE *RIDDLE BREAD* Mix a quantity of pinhead oatmeal with water to make a
thick porridge. Leave overnight in a warm room. Next day add salt to taste and place spoonfuls on to a hot bakestone or griddle. As the bread cooks, it bubbles up, giving the characteristic appearance. Brown the cakes on one side only. page 40.

Johnnae

Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2010 08:06:55 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Oatcakes

We've discussed the subject of oatcakes several time in the past,
and Stefan has a file at oatcakes-msg  9/5/09 Period oatcakes.

For people interested in the subject, I wanted to mention that there's 
a new book out titled

The Staffordshire Oatcake. A History by Pamela Sambrook.

This is an investigation into the oatcake that is made in the Midlands 
and Moorlands, the region of the potteries. (The largest city in  
Staffordshire is Stoke-on-Trent.)

It's a small book, but a lively one filled with photographs and  
accounts. Chapter 5 is on "Bakestones and Griddles. From c.200 AD to c. 
2000 AD. Another chapter cites evidence from wills and inventories.  
PPC 89 has a review.

Amazon currently carries the volume, in case anyone else wants a copy.

websites here:
http://www.oatcake-book.co.uk/
http://keeleuniversitypressoffice.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/oatcake/

Those into British foods may like this blog food suppliers and producers
http://goodfoodshops.blogspot.com/

another blog account
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2009/jan/28/staffordshire-oatcake

Here's a website selling them:
http://www.staffordshireoatcakes.com/

Johnnae

Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2012 17:38:46 +0000
From: Gretchen Beck <cmupythia at cmu.edu>
To: Raphaella DiContini <raphaellad at yahoo.com>, Cooks within the SCA
	<sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Looking for "Celtic" foods, especially
	"finger foods"

Oats cakes should be gluten free (cross contamination from milling not withstanding).
I've used this recipe with success:
 1 cup oat flour
 1 Tbsp butter or bacon fat, melted
 1 cup boiling water
 1. pinch salt (to taste)
(I'm doing this from memory, but I'm pretty sure it was a 1to1to1 ratio).

Mix dry ingredients, mix in the fat, mix in the water (no need to be delicate, just dump it in there) and mix. If it's a little to mushy, mix with oat flour until you get a nice cookie dough texture. If it's a little too dry add a little extra water until you get a nice cookie dough texture. Flour board, roll immediately (having no gluten, the dough does not need to rest. The hotter you roll it, the easier it is to work with). Roll it into a round 1/4" or less, and cut into triangles. Bake until all the moisture is gone (you can also run it through the toaster oven's toast cycle a number of times). Cakes are usually done when the edges begin to curl.  You can also cook them on a griddle like pancakes -- same rule applies, bake until dry and the edges start to curl.

These are great with bacon, cheese, apples, and (for some odd reason) they seem to be best of all with apricot jam.
Smoked or pickles fish go well with these too.

toodles, margaret

Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2012 23:58:38 -0800
From: "David Friedman"? <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA? <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Looking for "Celtic" foods,??? especially
??? "finger foods"

At Fri, 2 Mar 2012 09:23:00 -0800 (PST), Raphaella DiContini wrote:
<<< I was thinking of small meat pies if I can find some Scottish, Irish, or Welsh sources. Perhaps something like oatcakes too, >>> 

My conjectural oat cake recipe (in the Miscellany, available on my site as a pdf) is based on Froissart's description of how Scottish troopers fed themselves on campaign.

I think that's the only recipe I have that is in any reasonable sense celtic.

David/Cariadoc
www.daviddfriedman.com
daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/

From the fb "SCA Cooks" group:

Mike Raney 
Froissart's Chronicles from the 14th C had this about Scots:

"Therefore they carry with them no other purveyance,
but on their horse: between the saddle and the pannel, they place
a broad plate of metal, and behind the saddle, they will have a
little sack full of oatmeal, to the intent that when they have eaten
of the sodden flesh, then they lay this plate on the fire, and
moisten a little of the oatmeal: and when the plate is hot, they
cast some of the thin paste thereon, and so make a little cake in
manner of a crak'nel, or biscuit, and that they eat to comfort their
stomachs. Wherefore it is no great wonder that they make
greater journies than other people do."
August 11 at 11:40am

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