1 lb Fine oatmeal
1/2 oz Fresh yeast
1 t Salt (scant)
Water at blood heat
Put the oatmeal and salt in a bowl. Cream the yeast with a teacupful
of water, and leave it to rise to a creamy froth. Mix into the
oatmeal and add more water until the batter is like a thick cream. A
ladleful is thrown onto the heated griddle or bakestone, in a narrow
strip. It immediately puffs up with steam, which makes it smooth
underneath and rough on top. “When baked it is damp and flexible,
and is hung on the wooden clothes rail before the fire” (if you have
one!) “to dry, or on lines across the kitchen ceiling. It must be
crisped quickly immediately before it is to be eaten.” The flavour
is slightly bitter and very appetising. “It can be used for soups,
fish, fowl, cheese, butter, or any kind of meat in place of any other
kind of bread or biscuit.”
(Lacking lines in the kitchen, you might try hanging the cakes over a
broomstick handle in front of a radiator or open fire, or just
toasting them under the broiler. When we had an Aga, in the kitchen
of the last house we rented, we used the “towel-drying rail” in front
of the ovens for this kind of thing, as well as for drying pasta: it
worked very well.)
Yields
4 servings