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Oatcakes
For years my doctors have been warning me that my blood cholesterol levels are too high. After trying several medications unsuccessfully to help control that problem I started looking for other options. That led me to looking for ways to increase the amount of oats that I eat. I discovered how delicious steel-cut oats can be as a porridge, and then found that oatcakes can be a very tasty and effective way to add more oats to my diet. Unfortunately, there is some evidence that the high temperatures involved in baking may reduce the cholesterol-lowering effect of oats (see notes at the bottom of this file), so I'm now using a combination of oat porridge and oatcakes and oat bread. Variety is good.
This page has links to the various oatcake recipes that we use most often, and to a few that we are currently testing. We've tested many recipes, and made modifications to the most promising ones. Only twice have my experiments resulted in batches that even I couldn't bring myself to eat.
Oats with helpers
These recipes include wheat flour to create a less dense texture.
This is the base recipe from which several of the recipes below are descended. Read this one first.
🫓 Date cranberry oatcakes (oatcakes-date-cranberry.gmi)
This has become my favorite every-day oatcake. I am more likely to have these oatcakes on hand than any of the others in this group.
🫓 Pineapple oatcakes (oatcakes-pineapple.gmi)
This was an instant favorite from the very first time that we tried it. Most folks prefer the version made with butter and regular pancake mix best, but even the "healthier" version as it is written here is a nice treat.
🫓 Peanut butter oatcakes (oatcakes-peanut-butter2.gmi)
Or maybe it's peanut butter oatmeal cookies?
🫓 Carol's Peanut butter oatcakes (oatcakes-peanut-butter-amanda.gmi)
A richer version of peanut butter oatcakes.
🫓 Healthier oatcakes (oatcakes-peanut-butter.gmi)
An effort to make a more healthy version that also has more protein, this is the base recipe modified to use whole wheat flour and powdered peanut butter in place of the pancake mix.
🫓 Chocolate oatcakes (oatcakes-chocolate.gmi)
This recipe resembles chocolate brownies, though most folks will want more sugar in it if you're really looking for brownies.
🫓 Cinnamon Oatcakes (oatcakes-cinnamon.gmi)
It was this recipe that we used first, and that most of our family thinks of when you mention oatcakes. If my wife asks for "plain oatcakes", this is the recipe she's thinking of.
Cakes with oats
These recipes produce flat-breads that include substantial amounts of oats along with other grains. They're nice to add a bit of variety occasionally.
🫓 Oatcakes from "Early Period Grains and Their Uses" by House Barra (oatcakes-housebarra.gmi)
This is a different approach to making oatcakes than the one we normally use. By the time I finished adding whole wheat flour to form a stiff dough the wheat flavor overpowered the oats, it was more like eating a whole wheat bread. Not at all unpleasant, but I wanted the oats to be the star of the show.
🫓 ~Jonnycakes avec les Multigrains~ (Jonnycakes-Multigrain.gmi)
A new savoury stovetop pancakey whatsit for your hardy consumption. -- Shufei
A recipe for jonnycakes that includes a good portion of oats, and is fairly similar to oatcakes. The author has granted me permission to post it here so it's also available on the web.
All oats
These recipes use only oats with no other types of flour or grains.
🫓 Oatcakes with yeast (oatcakes-yeast.gmi)
A simple rustic flatbread using only oats, oil, and yeast. This one is becoming my favorite staple bread. The same recipe includes intructions for baking as a loaf of bread rather than the flat oatcakes.
🫓 All-oats oatcakes (oatcakes-all-oats.gmi)
This recipe uses oat flour in place of the pancake mix or wheat flour that is common in the other recipes.
🫓 Medieval Oat Cakes (oatcakes-medieval.gmi)
The liquid ingredients consist of honey and melted butter -- no water or milk. Add some dried fruit and cinnamon to the oats and you're done. Either fried or baked.
🫓 Sourdough Oatcakes (sour-cakes.gmi)
I haven't yet tried this recipe, mostly because its instructions were so confusing. I record it here for two reasons: first because I'm still hoping to try it and work out a clearer set of instructions; and second because of the intriguing -- if somewhat tenuous -- historical background. I'll update the recipe as I resolve the confusing bits.
Though I haven't yet learned to appreciate the crispy dry cracker-style oatcakes, this recipe looks like the first one of those I'd actually like to try.
Not cakes, but still oats
Oat bread, plus my favorite oat porridge recipes. Perhaps I'll also find an oat milk recipe that I like -- it will go here too.
Here is another good way to enjoy oats. This is similar to the Oat Flour Bread at:
https://www.mamagourmand.com/oat-flour-bread/
🥣 Papa's Porridge (/PapasPorridge.gmi)
🥣 Microwave Oats (/MicrowaveOats.gmi)
My standard breakfast porridge; in case I become too feeble to prepare my own meals someday, someone will be able to prepare some familiar comfort food for me.
🫓 Country Crisp Cereals (country-crisp-cereals.gmi)
A dried, crunchy flatbread that can be crumbled to resemble a breakfast cereal.
Fun oatcakes
Wafflized oatcakes (wafflized.gmi)
Bake your oatcakes in a waffle maker for a fun change of pace.
Background
My search for oats recipes began at about the same time that my wife and I were reading through George MacDonald's stories together. Being a Scotchman many of his stories are set in 19th-century Scotland, and several of the stories include characters that are making or consuming oatcakes. His oatcakes are described as being a simple, hearty food that was durable enough to be wrapped in a napkin and tucked into one's pocket as you leave your house for the day's adventures -- there is no need to return home in the middle of the day to find something to eat. Some of these recipes reach that ideal, mostly those in the oats-only section.
My breakfasts started including oat porridge more often. We started baking oatcakes several times a month. One of the questions I struggled with when trying reduce my cholesterol levels is "how much oats do you have to eat to get that cholesterol reduction?" It turns out that the answer to that question is somewhat complicated. The FDA says you need 3 grams of oat β-glucans per day in order to have the desired effect. According to Wikipedia most oats contain 3-6% β-glucan by weight (though other sources report the range as 1.8%-7% see links below). Using the lower number (there are a variety of factors that affect the amount and effectiveness of β-glucans in the oats we eat, including how they are processed; we'll use the lower number to compensate for this) we find that 3/0.03 = 100 grams per day -- that means that eating oatmeal for breakfast a couple days a week and having a granola bar now and then isn't going to do it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oat_beta-glucan#Structural_properties
It's a good thing that I like oats. I don't have to try to sneak oats into other recipes in order to hide them. When I realized that I need about 100 grams per day I started looking for oatcake recipes that don't involve adding wheat flour and other ingredients. That's what the oats-only section above is about. I find it easiest to make a batch of oatcakes using 600 grams of oats, and then slicing the finished product into 6 (or 12) pieces so I can grab one (or two) slice and know I've got enough for the day. Of course, I really don't mind eating more than enough. 😄
A Review of Health-Beneficial Properties of Oats (https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10112591)
OBG content has been reported to range from 1.8 to 7%. OBG content varies greatly among oat cultivars and is affected by growing locations, storage, and processing conditions.
[T]he unique composition of oats, combined with their subsequent processing, add to the unique organoleptic and nutrient experience accompanying the consumption of oat products. However, the processing of oats into foods accepted by consumers can result in changes in their nutritional composition.
However, when oat β-glucans are consumed in breads there is no effect on serum cholesterol in moderately hypercholesterolaemic humans (Frank et al., 2004).
Recent work has demonstrated that β-glucan solubility in foods depends on the source of the material and processing conditions; solubility may also be subject to changes during food preparation and storage (such as freezing).
We conclude that the physicochemical properties of oat β-glucan should be considered when assessing the ability of oat-containing products to lower serum cholesterol. Our results show that an extruded breakfast cereal providing 3 g oat β-glucan/d with a high-MW (2,210,000) or medium-MW (530,000) lowered LDL cholesterol similarly by ≈0.2 mmol/L (5%), but the efficacy was reduced by 50% when the MW was reduced to 210,000.
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