Gluten Free Staffordshire Oatcakes

Makes 10-12

As a child I loved these oatcakes, it was always a treat when my mother brought them home. They can be topped with almost anything, sweet or savoury! For the photo below, I roasted some strawberries with some vanilla essence and icing sugar and topped the lot simply with chilled double cream, a very decadent breakfast!

Being gluten free, I have been advised to avoid oats as they can sometimes cause similar problems to gluten, even the 'gluten free' ones, caused by a protein called avenin. In truth, all oats are gluten free, the ones that are labelled as gluten free have just been processed in factories that have no gluten products are processed. Its similar to when labels might say something along the lines of 'may contain soya' or 'processed in a factory alongside sesame products'. However, I personally do not feel strong affects from oats and if I use gluten free packaged ones and only in moderation, I think they add something lovely to certain dishes.

Ingredients:

450ml milk

450ml water

250g gluten free oats, blitzed to make a rough flour

100g gluten free brown bread flour

100g gluten free white bread flour

Pinch of salt

1 tbsp caster sugar

4g active dried yeast/ 10g fresh yeast

Flavourless oil or butter for frying

Method:

1. Warm the milk and water on the stove, just to between 30-40C, around body temperature. Any hotter and it will kill the yeast later. Combine the yeast with about a quarter of this mixture and allow to get nice and frothy.

2. In a large bowl, combine all three flours and the salt and sugar and add the frothy yeasty milk. Mix well and then slowly add the remaining milk mixture until you have a thin, smooth batter. You may be surprised at how thin it is, but its important in order to get the large thin pancake.

3. At this point I like to cover the bowl and pop it in the fridge overnight, before bringing it out and allowing it to come to room temperature. This allows the flours to fully absorb the liquids and the yeast to do its work slowly which is more stable. However, if you want to make them today, cover the bowl loosely with cling film and let it sit at room temperature for at least one hour.

4. Once you are ready to cook, heat a large frying pan on a medium high heat and add a small amount of oil or butter. Whisk the mixture briefly and then ad a ladleful to the pan and tip the pan to spread the mixture out. Watch the bubbles pop on top of the pancake, similar to a crumpet, until completely covered, around 3 minutes, then flip over and cook for another 2-3 minutes until nicely golden. Repeat for the remaining batter until you have a stack of lovely pancakes.

5. If you want to keep them warm, wrap them up well in foil and pop in a low oven for 5-10 minutes. If you want to melt cheese. put the cake back into the warm pan and sprinkle the cheese and cook until the cheese has melted, then top with ham, tomatoes or almost anything else you fancy, fold and serve. Delicious!