Oat & Cheddar Oatcakes

📝 Ingredients

• 150 g rolled oats
• 50 g plain flour (40 g for the dough, 10 g for the work surface)
• 40 g very cold unsalted butter
• 60 g mature cheddar
• 1 pinch bicarbonate of soda
• ½ tsp fine salt
• 70 ml hot water
• Black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Blender
• Mixing bowl
• Rolling pin
• 8 cm round cutter (or a large glass)
• Baking tray and baking paper
• Wire rack

📖 Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C (170 °C fan) and line a baking tray with baking paper. Pulse the oats for 10 to 15 s until you have a coarse powder that still has a few pieces in it: that's what gives the crunch.
2. Finely grate the cheddar and cut the cold butter into small cubes. In a mixing bowl, combine the blitzed oats, 40 g flour, the bicarbonate of soda, the salt and 2 turns of the pepper mill.
3. Add the butter cubes and rub them into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse sand with no large lumps of butter. Work quickly so the butter doesn't melt in your hands.
4. Stir in the cheddar, then gradually pour in the hot water, mixing with a fork. Bring together into a ball by hand: the dough should be soft and barely sticky. If it crumbles, add 1 tbsp water. Leave to rest for 5 min so the oats can swell.
5. Dust the work surface and rolling pin with the remaining 10 g flour. Roll out the dough to 4 mm thick, no thinner, or the oatcakes will break. Cut out rounds with the cutter, gather up the trimmings, re-roll and cut again: about 16 pieces, or 4 per serving.
6. Place the rounds on the tray 1 cm apart, as they barely spread. Prick them 2 or 3 times with a fork to stop them blistering during baking.
7. Bake on the middle shelf for 18 to 22 min, turning them halfway through, until pale golden and dry at the edges. Don't bake them longer if they still seem a little soft in the centre: they firm up as they cool.
8. Leave the oatcakes to cool completely on a wire rack before eating or storing them. If still warm, they trap steam and go soft in the tin.