Oatcakes

A good dip needs a good dipper, and besides nachos / pita bread / carrot sticks / ... my favourite is oatcakes! My recipe is based on Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's post - Bill's Rona oatcakes. In my recipe, I use oatbran, which I happen to have at home, instead of oatmeal. Oatbran is the outer husk of the oat grain and it has a cremier texture than oatmeal. Apparently it has greater nutiritional value than oatmeal too (amongst others, it conains higher percentage of dietary fibre). I am not going into details here as you will find much more information on the web (if you are interested to do so). I also added a Tbsp of sugar to my dough to lend the oatcakes a light sweetness - perfect to complement cheeses such as cheddar, gruyere or simply smothered with chutney and jam.

INGREDIENTS

150g oatbran

150g porridge oats

20 twist of black pepper

1tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar

A handful of mixed seeds sunflower seeds/ pumpkin seeds... (optional)

40ml extra virgin olive oil

35ml sunflower oil

Boiling water, to bind

DIRECTION

1. Preheat the oven to 180C or 350F. Line baking trays with aluminium foil or greaseproof paper.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Pour the oil into a well in the centre. Mix well.

3. Pour in enough boiling water ( I used about 3 - 4 Tbsp) to bind the dough into a solid and firm, but not sticky dough.

4. If the dough becomes sticky, add a bit of oatbran.

5. Form the dough into a ball and leave to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes or so.

6. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 3 - 6 mm, as desire.

7. Use a cookie cutter to cut out discs of oatcakes. Place on aluminium foil/ greaseproof paper on the baking trays.

8. Different thickness of oatcakes require slightly different baking time. For mine, I rolled them to about 4mm thick - and these were baked in the oven for 15 minutes, then turned and bake for a further 5 - 10 minutes.

9. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

10. Serve with dips, cheese, chutneys...