Griddle Breads Beyond the Oatcake: Bannocks, Farls, and Soda Bread

Once you have mastered the oatcake, a whole family of traditional griddle breads opens up to you. They share the same basic idea, a simple dough or batter cooked on a hot flat surface rather than in an oven, and they are all quick, cheap, and deeply satisfying to make. Here are three worth getting to know.

The beauty of griddle baking is that it demands almost nothing in the way of equipment. A heavy frying pan, a flat cast-iron griddle, or even a sturdy baking stone will do. What matters is steady, moderate heat. Too hot and the outside burns before the middle cooks; too cool and the bread dries out and turns tough. Once you learn to read your pan, you can make any of these breads without a recipe in front of you.

Bannocks

A bannock is a broad, flat bread with roots all over Scotland, Ireland, and the north of England. The simplest version is made from oatmeal, a little salt, and water, cooked on a girdle and eaten warm. A richer version adds buttermilk, butter, or an egg, and sometimes a handful of currants. Bannocks can be thin and crisp or thick and soft, depending on how you roll them and how long you cook them.

To make a basic bannock, combine medium oatmeal with a pinch of salt and a little bicarbonate of soda, then stir in enough buttermilk to make a soft but workable dough. Shape it into a round about a centimetre thick, cut it into farls, and cook on a floured griddle for a few minutes on each side. The edges should be dry and the surface lightly browned. Eat them the same day, split and buttered, with soup or cheese.

Potato Farls and Soda Bread

Potato farls are an Irish staple, made from mashed potato mixed with flour, salt, and a little butter. The dough is rolled into a round, cut into quarters, and cooked on the griddle until golden on both sides. They are wonderful fried in bacon fat for breakfast, or simply warmed and buttered. They use up leftover mash, which makes them both thrifty and delicious.

Griddle soda bread is the quickest bread you will ever make. Wholemeal flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt, and buttermilk are mixed into a soft dough, shaped into a round, and cooked on a low griddle until the base is set and the top is dry. It is denser than an oven-baked soda bread, but the flavour is nutty and wholesome, and it takes about twenty minutes from start to finish. Serve it warm with butter, or toast it the next day.

These three breads, along with the oatcake, form a quiet little repertoire that can keep a household in fresh bread without ever turning on the oven. They are the kind of recipes that were once passed down without being written, learned by watching and doing. Baking them now is a way of keeping that knowledge alive, one warm farl at a time.