Black Pepper Oatcakes

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

Place one cup of rolled oats in the bowl of a food processor. Process until very fine, like a flour. Then add the remaining cup of oats, butter, salt and pepper. Pulse until coarse crumbs appear.

With the processor running, slowly add water just until the mixture resembles large curds. Don’t wait for it to form a ball and ride on the blade or you risk overdoing it.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board. Bring it together with your hands adding more water if necessary. You want a soft, cohesive dough that isn’t sticky.

Roll the dough out to 1/8-inch thickness. Using a pastry cutter, cookie cutter, or knife cut the dough into any shapes you like. Transfer the crackers to a large baking sheet.

Combine the milk and sugar in a small bowl stirring to dissolve the sugar. Brush the tops of the crackers and sprinkle with salt.

Bake for 20 minutes, until the bottoms are lightly browned. Then remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow crackers to cool on the sheet for five minutes. Then remove them from the sheet to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Store in airtight containers when completely cool.

Recipe adapted from a James Martin recipe.