Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C Fan/gas mark 7/425°F.

Line a baking sheet with baking parchment or a reusable baking liner.

In a bowl, mix the flour, oats, salt and bicarb.

In a jug, mix the stout, buttermilk (or runny plain yogurt), oil and runny honey. For ease, measure out the oil in an American quarter cup (60ml) or espresso cup, and then do ditto with the runny honey, as the oil lining will stop the runny honey from sticking. Stir the liquids together with a wooden spoon.

Add the liquids to the dry ingredients and stir with the wooden spoon to combine — you will get a sandy porridge, rather than a dough: at first, it will seem too runny but then, as the bicarb goes to work, it will become first moussy and then heavy like damp sand.

Pat into small handfuls to form 12 mounds on the lined tray; don't bother to shape them until all 12 are laid out and you can see which rolls need to have dough pinched off and which need to be bulked up, so that they are more or less of even size. When you've finished, pat each into a rough round roll shape about 7cm/3in diameter by 2-3cm/1in high.

Sprinkle the remaining 2 teaspoons oats over the rolls (a fat pinch each) and pop them in the oven for 15 minutes then transfer, 1 by 1, to a wire rack to cool just a little. Eat warm, or leave to reach room temperature. Soda bread is always best eaten on the day of baking, though reheating or toasting can revive a roll or slice of bread a day or two later.