History

Traditional Staffordshire Oatcakes Bakers - Irene and Darren

Over the years Oatcakes have decreased in thickness and diameter (from 16 inches to about 8 inches, but otherwise they have remained unchanged. The basic ingredients are still fine oatmeal, wheat flour, yeast and water.

Later on in the nineteenth century however, at the beginning of the period covered by the memory of living Potteries people, Oatcake making seems to have been fairly well established, within the six towns, and in smaller towns and villages, such as Leek and Longnor. Besides farmhouse making.
Besides farmhouse making there was also a cottage industry providing oatcakes for industrial and craft workers. It was rare for the normal village baker to make oatcakes.