Scottish Bannocks with Oat and Sprouted Wheat Flours (2024)

In honor of Queen Elizabeth II, we thought to bake a bread from the UK. I scanned various articles about bread in this region, and the Scottish bannock intrigued me right off the bat, partly because it dates back to at least the 8th century and partly because it traveled to North America with Scottish immigrants and eventually was incorporated into the cuisine of Native Americans in Western Canada and the Northern Great Plains.

I was amazed at how delicious these little breads are. The oat flour and sprouted wheat flour have a natural mild sweetness that is super versatile as well as interesting all on its own. Moreover, bannocks are incredibly easy to make, taking at most 30 minutes, and you have the option to use up extra sourdough starter discard if you want to.

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Historically, Scottish bannocks contained oat flour, barley flour, or pea flour, and nowadays they’re usually made of a mix of all purpose flour and oat flour (often rolled oats that have been pulsed in a food processor or blender). Bannocks can be shaped into small rounds, or made as one large disc that’s divided into wedges to serve like scones. Bannocks were originally unleavened, and this article suggests that for a time, sourdough and yeast were used for leavening, but with the advent of chemical leaveners, baking soda or baking powder became the go-to.

In the recipe below, I use oat flour milled from whole oat groats and sprouted wheat flour milled from sprouted hard red spring wheat berries. I did some research into what types of wheat grow in Scotland and still wasn’t sure what would be the closest domestic approximation. So I picked a sprouted wheat purely because I liked the idea that sprouting would have unlocked the nutrients in the wheat berry in the absence of fermentation. I also used sourdough discard for more flavor and for the acidity that sets off the baking soda. There is also a recipe option below without sourdough starter, where buttermilk provides this acidity, which appears to be a common approach these days. Both dough versions also get leavening from the baking powder as it heats up.

This video shows the dough consistency when shaping the bannocks with lightly oiled hands. You can make flour substitutions as you see fit, adding liquid slowly to aim for a consistency similar to what you see in the video. If you don’t have oat flour, you can pulse rolled oats in a food processor or blender until they are a powder consistency.

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