living in the woods and making stuff

Right before Christmas I stopped by my friend Dolores’s house to drop off some fabric, and she sent me out the door with a batch of freshly made buttermilk oat farls (similar to a scone or biscuit). They were delicious, and I have been wanting to make them ever since. They are dense, tangy, and the perfect thing to eat with butter and jam, warm out of the oven.

The rolled oats are soaked in buttermilk overnight, and the farls are very moist and buttermilky as a result. If you love buttermilk and oats, you will probably love these.

The dough is shaped into a circle, and then cut into 4 or 8 pie wedges (Dolores shapes her’s into a square, and then into 8 triangles). I made mine round because I used my round cast iron pizza pan, as all my cookie sheets have migrated to my mom’s house. I patted the dough right onto the pan, cut it carefully, and slid the pieces apart. It worked well. I didn’t preheat the pan, so I was a little worried that the biscuits wouldn’t cook as well on the bottom, but they turned out golden on the top as well as on the bottom.

Here is the recipe, pretty much exactly as Dolores told it to me.

2 cups rolled oats (not instant!)

1 1/4 – 2 1/4 cups buttermilk

2 1/2 cups sifted flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix oats with 1 1/4 cups buttermilk. Make sure to cover, and let stand overnight.

In the morning. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter baking sheet. Stir flour, salt, and baking soda together in a small mixing bowl. Gradually beat flour mixture into oats to form a soft dough, adding more buttermilk if necessary (it probably will be). Shape dough into flat circle, about 1 inch thick. Cut dough into quarters or eighths, and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden.

They are best when served warm, and can be kept warm by placing in a dish lined with a teatowel, in a warm oven, or by the stove. They can also be reheated quite easily in a toaster oven or regular oven!