"Put into a bowl four ounces of oatmeal, a pinch of baking-soda, and a pinch of salt. Melt a teaspoon of fat. (Bacon or poultry fat or butter or dripping. Goose fat is excellent.) Make a well in the centre of the oatmeal and add the melted fat with just enough hot water to make a stiff dough. Rub plenty of meal onto a baking-board; turn out the mixture and form into a smooth ball; knead with gradually spreading knuckles, working as quickly as possible, and roll out as thinly as possible - say an eighth of an inch.
The process is not quite easy to one unfamiliar with the work, owing to the stickiness of the dough and the tendency of the edges to break. The dough must be kept from sticking by constant rubbing over on both sides with dry meal, and the edges must be kept as even as possible by pinching with the thumb and forefinger. Give a final rub with meal to make the cakes white. They may be left whole (bannocks) or cut into quarters (farles).
Place on a moderately hot girdle over a clear fire, smooth side uppermost, and bake steadily till the cakes curl up at the edge. Remove them carefully, rub a little oatmeal over them and toast the smooth side slightly before a bright smokeless fire (or under the grill).
Place for a few minutes in a warm place, e.g. a moderate oven. Keep buried in oatmeal in the girnel or meal-chest; or failing these, in a tin, They are improved by being heated shortly before they are served, unless they are freshly baked."
The Scot's Kitchen