What else can I use oats for other than porridge and crumble?
Clare, Stroud, Gloucestershire
Oats have a lot going for them: they’re nourishing, filling and good value. Yes, they’re the main player in porridge and, for some, in crumbles, too, but they also present many other possibilities, both sweet and savoury.
It all comes down to which oats Clare has knocking about. Spent jumbo ones, for example, would be very at home in soda bread, both worked into the dough and sprinkled on top before baking. Besides making cracking toast, the charm of this loaf lies in its simplicity: “You just mix all the wet ingredients, mix all the dry ingredients, then combine the two,” says Roberta Hall-McCarron, chef/owner of The Little Chartroom in Edinburgh. “It’s quite a wet dough and the oats soak up that moisture nicely, but they also help to keep the bread moist.”
