Oatmeal, Oatcakes, and Porridge: A Guide to Oat Types and What to Bake With Them

Walk down the baking aisle and you will find more types of oats than most recipes bother to explain. It can be confusing, especially if you are new to baking with oats and are not sure whether pinhead oatmeal is the same thing as steel-cut oats. It is, roughly, but the names change depending on where you are and who milled them. Here is a plain guide to the main types and what each one is good for.

All oats start as oat groats, the whole inner kernel with the husk removed. From there, the way they are cut, rolled, or ground determines what you end up with. The differences matter because they affect how the oats behave in a recipe, how long they take to cook, and what texture they give.

The Main Types of Oats

Steel-cut oats, also called pinhead oats or coarse oatmeal, are groats chopped into small pieces. They are chunky and take a long time to cook, which makes them ideal for a slow, creamy porridge but less suited to quick baking. They give a lovely nutty chew to a flapjack if you soak them first, but they will not soften properly in a short bake.

Rolled oats, often sold as old-fashioned oats or jumbo oats, are groats steamed and pressed flat. They are the familiar flaky oat you see in muesli and oat cookies. They hold their shape reasonably well in baking and give a nice texture to crumbles and toppings. Quick oats are rolled thinner and cook faster, but they turn mushy more easily, so use them when you want a smooth result rather than a chewy one.

Oatmeal, in the British sense, is ground oats, and it comes in grades. Fine oatmeal is powdery and soft, good for thickening and for smooth oatcakes. Medium oatmeal is the all-rounder, the one most oatcake recipes call for, with a little texture but still easy to work with. Coarse oatmeal is chunky and best for a rustic, slightly crunchy oatcake or a topping. If a recipe simply says oatmeal, medium is usually the safe choice.

Choosing Oats for Oatcakes and Other Bakes

For Scottish-style oatcakes, medium or fine oatmeal is your friend. Fine gives a smoother, more biscuit-like cake; medium gives a bit more bite. For Staffordshire oatcakes, fine oatmeal is traditional because the batter needs to be smooth and pourable. If you only have medium, you can pulse it briefly in a food processor, but do not overdo it or you will end up with oat flour.

For flapjacks, rolled oats are the classic choice. They hold the syrup and butter without collapsing into paste, and they give that lovely chewy bite. A mix of rolled oats and a handful of medium oatmeal makes an even better flapjack, in my view, with a bit of both texture and tenderness. For crumbles and streusel toppings, rolled oats are again the best pick, though a spoonful of coarse oatmeal adds a pleasing crunch.

One last note on storage. Oats contain natural oils and can go stale or slightly bitter if kept too long in a warm cupboard. Transfer them to an airtight jar or tub and keep them somewhere cool and dark. They will last for months that way, ready whenever the urge to bake an oatcake or a tray of flapjacks strikes.