Oat Bannock (Skillet)

A Scottish-style oat bannock: one thick round of oat flour and buttermilk, scored in quarters and cooked slowly in cast iron on low heat.

Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here for the Flatbreads section and is adapted from the source named in the Notes.

Ingredients

• 1½ cups (about 165 g) oat flour, plus more for the counter
• ¾ cup (about 90 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup whole buttermilk
• Salted cultured butter, to serve

Directions

1. Mix. Whisk the oat flour, flour, baking soda and salt. Make a well, pour in the buttermilk, and stir to a shaggy, sticky dough.
2. Shape. On a well-floured surface, pat into a 7-inch round about ¾ inch thick, dusting the top with oat flour.
3. Heat a large cast-iron skillet or griddle over low.
4. Cook. Brush off the excess flour and lay the round in the pan. Score it into quarters about ⅛ inch deep. Cook undisturbed about 10 minutes, until the bottom is light golden. Flip and cook 10–15 minutes more, until cooked through.
5. Serve hot, cut along the scores (each quarter is a farl), with butter.

Notes

Source Adapted from Chandra Ram, “Bannock,” Food & Wine.

Which bannock The word is Scots — Gaelic bannach, “a cake.” This is the Scottish griddle version. Indigenous and Métis bannock in Canada is a different bread of wheat flour, baking powder and lard, fried, baked or cooked on a stick; no authoritative recipe for that version was found, so it is not given here.

The Flatbreads section of the Breads pages on the Food site covers the history, the science and the griddles.

The photo The photo is from the Scottish Scran recipe site: a scored oat bannock in a cast-iron skillet.