Bara ceirch — The Traveller's Oatcakes
Thin oatcakes cooked on stone, dry and crisp, which keep for days and are eaten on the road with cheese or a little honey.
Thin oatcakes cooked on stone, dry and crisp, which keep for days and are eaten on the road with cheese or a little honey.
Who takes the road does not carry a pot, child. These cakes are baked as thin as a leaf on the hot stone, dried by the fire's edge, and they last as many days as needed to cross my realms. Slip them against your flank with a wedge of cheese: that is enough to walk from Caer Dathyl to the southern seas without ever begging. The mother provides even for those who wander far from her.
- •Oat flour — one measure (base)
- •Fat (lard or butter) — a little (binder)
- •Hot water — as needed (binder)
- •Salt — a pinch (preservation and flavor)
Bara ceirch — The Traveller's Oatcakes
Thin oatcakes cooked on stone, dry and crisp, which keep for days and are eaten on the road with cheese or a little honey.
Why this dish? The Children of Dôn — Gwydion, Gilfaethwy — travel across kingdoms in the Mabinogi; these thin dry oatcakes, which keep well and slip into a pouch, are the provisions of those journeying between Caer Dathyl and the southern marches.
Who takes the road does not carry a pot, child. These cakes are baked as thin as a leaf on the hot stone, dried by the fire's edge, and they last as many days as needed to cross my realms. Slip them against your flank with a wedge of cheese: that is enough to walk from Caer Dathyl to the southern seas without ever begging. The mother provides even for those who wander far from her.
Ingredients (period version)
- Oat flour — one measure (base)
- Fat (lard or butter) — a little (binder)
- Hot water — as needed (binder)
- Salt — a pinch (preservation and flavor)
Ingredients
- Oat flour (or blitzed oat flakes) — 200 g (base)
- Lard or melted butter — 20 g (binder)
- Hot water — about 100 ml (binder)
- Salt — 1/2 tsp (preservation and flavor)
Method
- Mix the oat flour and salt, add the melted fat, then the hot water until a firm dough forms.
- Roll out very thinly on an oat-floured surface and cut into large rounds.
- Cook on a dry hot griddle or stone for 2 to 3 minutes, until the edges lift.
- Dry the oatcakes near a gentle heat source to harden and crisp them.
- Store away from moisture; serve with cheese, butter or a drizzle of honey.
How it was made : Bara ceirch (oat bread), cooked on a flat stone or griddle (planc), is one of the oldest forms of Welsh bread, attested into modern times. Dry and durable, it was the travel and store food of shepherds and walkers, long before the use of bread ovens.
The contemporary twist : Break the oatcakes into shards as "Celtic crackers" to serve with farmhouse ewe's cheese and heather honey.
Sources : Bobby Freeman, First Catch Your Peacock: Welsh Food · S. Minwel Tibbott, Welsh Fare / traditions of bara ceirch
Don · Charactorium