The Staffordshire Oatcake Company

The Staffordshire Oatcake Company produces a just-add-water mix, formulated to a traditional recipe, making it easier to cook this North Staffordshire favourite in your own kitchen.

I was sent a packet of Oatcake Mix to try, and in this post show you what you can expect inside and, for oatcake beginners, how to use it.

STAFFORDSHIRE OATCAKES

Although I’ve been cooking for over 35 years, and have been running this blog for nearly three and a half years, at the time of writing, you won’t find a recipe for Staffordshire oatcakes on here. Update 2023: you’ll now find my recipe for Staffordshire Oatcakes here.

That’s partly because, as an incomer to North Staffordshire from Leicestershire, I’m a relatively recent fan of the region’s oat pancakes. (By the way, if you’re a newbie too, these are nothing to do with Scottish Oatcakes).

I think it’s also because, although I’ve tried a few different oatcake recipes, I’ve never been entirely happy with the results. Anyway, there are plenty of shops selling oatcakes, as well as cafes serving them up filled with bacon or sausage and cheese, so it’s not been difficult to get my fix.

But it still irked me that I’ve never yet produced an oatcake to my satisfaction. So I was fully intending to return to the oaty conundrum.

Meanwhile, the Staffordshire Oatcake Company asked if I’d like a sample of their new Oatcake Mix. So it seemed the time had come to have another bash.

THE STAFFORDSHIRE OATCAKE COMPANY

The Staffordshire Oatcake Company came about when its founder, Mark Adams, had to furlough himself from his advertising business during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an interview with the Stoke Sentinel, Mark explained that he’d bought the traditional recipe from a retired oatcake maker who’d been using it for forty years.

Now, the Oatcake Mix is sold in independent shops and delis as well as via the Staffordshire Oatcake Company‘s online shop.

Said to be especially popular with those who’ve moved away from Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire but who still crave the delicacy, the packets are just the right size to fit through your letterbox.

So, how did I get on when my Oatcake Mix arrived?

WHAT’S IN THE PACKET & HOW TO MAKE OATCAKES?

When you open up the Oatcake Mix, you’ll find two separate bags. The large one appears to contain the flour and oatmeal, the smaller one bicarbonate of soda, yeast, sugar and salt.

Following the instructions printed on the back of the pack, the first thing to do is take a large bowl and mix together the contents of the bags.

Next, we add warm water.

Normally, if you’re not used to cooking with yeast, it can be tricky getting the temperature of the water just right. Too cold and the yeast won’t activate. Too hot and you’ll kill it.

So I thought it was helpful that you’re told to combine 250ml of warm water from a kettle and 400ml of cold water. Much simpler for novices than requiring a certain temperature, I think.

All you do then is mix everything together, forming a thinnish batter. It’s then covered with a tea towel and left for 15-20 minutes while the yeast does its thing.

By the way, the estimated prep time is given as 25 minutes. But this must include the waiting or ‘proving’ time as the mix itself is made very quickly.

After it it was proved, the mixture had that distinctive tang of lively yeast and had thickened a little.

The instructions say to add a little more water to get a “thin pancake mix”. I added more water. Then a bit more. But I wasn’t entirely sure if my idea of “thin” was the same as theirs.

I guess that’s one of the elements where experience comes in. And why, in the past, I’d found that making the humble Staffordshire oatcake isn’t quite as simple as it first seems.

COOKING THE OATCAKES

The Staffordshire Oatcake Company recommends a crepe pan or frying pan to cook the oatcakes.

I started off with a frying pan which worked fine. However, I ended up preferring my pan which is meant for cooking Indian dosas (which are indeed crepe-like).

I also briefly experimented with my electric griddle which did work too. But I wasn’t expert enough to replicate the nice round shape you get with a pan.

As per the instructions, you only need a smear of oil to grease the pan. I poured sunflower oil into a bowl and used a wodge of folded kitchen paper to spread a thin film over the medium-hot pan.

Then it’s in with a ladleful of the oatcake batter. The instructions recommend about 100ml of batter per 6-inch (15cm) oatcake.

Preferring a thinnish oatcake, I found this amount about right for the oatcakes made in my 20cm (8-inch) crepe pan.

But if you like thicker oatcakes, stick with the instructions. Bear in mind also that the oatcake may shrink a bit as it cooks.

Once the underside is set and golden (1-2 minutes) then the oatcake is flipped and the other side cooked.

Actually, as the texture of the first and second sides of oatcakes are always different, I’ve often wondered if there’s an etiquette to which should be the inside and which the outside when folding or rolling them. Anyone know?

AND REPEAT

After you’ve made your first oatcake, just keep going. It’s recommended you whisk the batter before each use. You’ll need to grease the pan each time too.

I found that after smearing the pan with oil, the few seconds it took to whisk the batter and fill my ladle was just long enough to heat the oil so I could get frying again.

Once you’ve done a few you’ll probably find, as I did, that you get into the rhythm of it. Much easier after the first couple, you’ll soon have a stack of golden oatcakes piling up.

As with all pancake-type dishes though, don’t be surprised if your first one looks a bit thick and sad. I’ve no idea why this happens. But it always seems to in my kitchen.

As the packet makes at least 12 oatcakes you’ll have plenty of opportunity to get your technique right. I actually made 16 as some were experiments in a smaller pan and on the griddle. Also, I made mine thinnish so needed less batter for each one.

THE RESULTS

The first oatcake aside, I’d say that texture-wise, these were the best batch I’ve made. That’s possibly because I dutifully followed the instruction to add more water and make a thin batter.

Once I’d got into my stride, tilting the pan to cover the base of the pan evenly, they were also my best looking in terms of being uniformly round.

I thought the colour of the oatcakes was unusual. Were they more yellow than the browner colour I’m used to?

I think most of the recipes I’ve seen include roughly equal proportions of white or wholemeal flour and oatmeal. The Staffordshire Oatcake Company one has white flour and sixteen per cent oatmeal. I guess this might account for the difference.

OATCAKE FILLINGS

For my first taste, I made two fillings. Bacon and cheese plus mushroom and cheese.

Although I made the oatcakes in a pan, for this bit I decided to switch to my electric griddle. I find it the best thing for reheating oatcakes and, unlike a pan, I could do two at once.

The oatcakes held up just like they should. Keeping the filling inside without tearing or splitting.

Perhaps not as oaty as some I’ve eaten, I thought these oatcakes still had good flavour.

The fact that I’d successfully made them myself, after previous semi-failures, added to the pleasure.

The pack makes a lot of oatcakes. You can store the batter in the fridge for up to 24 hours if you don’t want to make them all at once though.

However, if you’re not that practiced in making oatcakes, pancakes and the like, it can be helpful to do a big batch so you can find a technique that suits you.

I put my uneaten oatcakes in the freezer. They were fine when I tried them a few days later, pinged in the microwave on defrost then reheated on my electric griddle.

For these, I tried something a little different to the usual bacon and sausage. Slices of chorizo paired with a sheep’s milk cheese, pictured above, was especially tasty.

THE VERDICT

I guess there will be those with their own tried-and-trusted family oatcake recipe who’ll scoff at the idea of a packet mix.

And some people in Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire (where you’re never very far away from ready-made filled oatcakes, or ones to take home and add your own fillings) might say, ‘why bother?’

But I don’t think either of those groups are the target customer for The Staffordshire Oatcake Company.

Many people who don’t keep a lot of baking ingredients at home may well think, when they see a pack in a shop or online, ‘maybe I could have a go at that’.

And with ex-Stokies now living all over oatcake-less regions of Britain and beyond, the company has done a roaring trade sending them out as far as Australia.

Closer to home, it’s thought that the convenient just-add-water mix will be popular with people camping and also narrow boating on North Staffordshire canals.

As for me, with very little oatcake making experience, I found using the simple mix with its clear instructions a useful step on my journey.

It seems to me that, such is the love of oatcakes in Staffordshire and beyond, there’s plenty of room for this type of product as well as the completely homemade and your own favourite ready-made oatcake supplier.

Certainly, judging by the success of The Staffordshire Oatcake Company so far, there’s plenty of people who like the sound of that middle ground.

And I suspect that, when the gluten-free version comes out, there will be even more customers snapping up packs in independent shops, delis and the online shop.

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Disclosure

I was invited to try The Staffordshire Oatcake Company’s Oatcake Mix and one packet was provided free of charge.

However, as always, I have given an honest opinion based on my own experience.

Where a product or service has been provided without charge then a disclosure such as this will always be included in the blog post.

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