How to Store and Revive Oatcakes So They Never Go to Waste

One of the quiet virtues of oatcakes is that they keep. A well-made batch can last a week or more without any special effort, which is part of why they were such an important food in British kitchens long before refrigeration. But 'keeps well' is not the same as 'keeps forever', and how you store them makes a real difference to how they taste on day five. Get it right and you will always have something on hand for teatime. Get it wrong and you will be fishing soggy discs out of a damp tin.

The two enemies of stored oatcakes are moisture and stale air. Too much moisture and they go soft and eventually mouldy. Too little and they dry out into something closer to cardboard than biscuit. The trick is to find the middle ground, and it depends a great deal on which style of oatcake you have made.

Storing Soft Versus Crisp Oatcakes

Soft Staffordshire-style oatcakes are the more perishable of the two. Because they contain yeast, milk, and a fair amount of moisture, they behave more like bread than biscuit. Keep them wrapped in a clean tea towel or a paper bag at room temperature and eat them within two or three days. A plastic bag will trap moisture and make them clammy, so avoid it unless you plan to refrigerate them. In the fridge, wrapped well, they will last about a week, but they will firm up and need reviving before eating.

Crisp Derbyshire-style oatcakes are much more forgiving. Once fully dried, they can be kept in an airtight tin for two to three weeks without any trouble. A tin with a tight-fitting lid is ideal; a glass jar works too. The key is to make sure they are completely cool and dry before they go in, otherwise the trapped steam will soften them. If you live somewhere humid, a small square of greaseproof paper between layers helps stop them sticking together.

Sweet oatcakes, with their honey or sugar, tend to stay fresh a little longer than savoury ones, but they also attract moisture more readily. The same airtight tin rule applies.

Reviving Oatcakes That Have Gone Stale

Stale oatcakes are not a disaster. They are simply oatcakes waiting for a second chance, and there are several traditional ways to bring them back. For soft oatcakes that have firmed up, a quick warm on a dry griddle or in a low oven for a minute or two is usually enough. They will soften slightly and taste almost fresh. You can also wrap them in a damp tea towel and warm them gently, though this is a little riskier — too much moisture and they turn rubbery.

Crisp oatcakes that have gone soft can be re-crisped in a low oven for five to ten minutes, spread out on a baking sheet. Let them cool completely before eating, as they crisp further as they cool. This works particularly well for Derbyshire oatcakes and for sweet ones that have picked up a little humidity.

If your oatcakes are beyond reviving, do not throw them out. Crush them into coarse crumbs and use them as a topping for a savoury crumble, a base for a cheesecake, or a crunchy addition to a bowl of porridge. Toasted oatcake crumbs also make a lovely, nutty coating for fried fish or chicken, in the same way you might use panko. It is a small thing, but it is exactly the kind of thrift that has always sat at the heart of oatcake baking.