Sweetie Pie's Perfect Scones! Part 2: Written Recipe

After experimenting over the course of a few days (which you can read all about here) I found what I consider to be the perfect scone: light and fluffy with pale sides and a brown top, with only a little hit of sweetness. I like my scones very plain.

To get the consistency of texture, the dough has to be worked through properly. This is tricky with something like scones, which need to be handled as little as possible before baking so they don't get tough. The way around this is to add some extra starch to reduce the overall amount of gluten in the flour. With a higher percentage of starch, the scones are lighter, fluffier, and easier to work with.

Split these beauties in half and enjoy with jam, butter, or cream. Or maybe all of the above, if you're feeling indulgent....

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DIFFICULTY

Very simple! 

TIME

1 hour

RECIPE RATING

Easy!

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INGREDIMENTS

6 ounces (170 grammes) white plain flour: spelt or wheat

2 ounces (55 grammes) cornflour

1 tablespoon baking powder, or 1 teaspoon of baking powder with 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda for Irish style scones

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 ounces (55 grammes) butter, room temperature

2 tablespoons (28 grammes) caster sugar

4 fluid ounces (115 millilitres) milk, room temperature

1 teaspoon lemon juice, if using baking soda

Eggwash, made with an egg and a pinch of salt, or you can use milk to omit the egg

METHOD

• Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) and preheat a flat baking tray also.
• Sieve the flours, baking powder (and baking soda, if using), and salt twice, making sure to hold the sieve high. I like to sieve the mixture out onto a piece of baking paper, then back into the mixing bowl.
• In a mixing bowl, rub the sieved ingredients with the butter until it's like fine breadcrumbs. It doesn't matter what temperature the butter is, as long as it's very well rubbed in. Stir in the sugar.
• Add the milk (and lemon juice, if using baking soda) and mix quickly and throroughly with a metal spoon until just mixed.
• Turn out onto a floured work surface and chaff six times: chaffing is the process of flattening the dough by hand, folding in half, turning through 90 degrees, and then repeating. This is a much gentler process than kneading.
• Cut out scones using a cutter, shape the dough into a rectangle and cut squares, or shape into a round and cut into wedges. You can gather the remaining dough and re-roll, but the second rolling won't be as even as the first.
• Sprinkle flour onto the preheated tray and arrange the scones about half an inch apart from each other: if they're a little huddled together, they will rise straighter. Eggwash the tops, making sure it doesn't dribble down the sides. If you like, you can baste the tops with eggwash another two times during cooking for an even richer colour. You can also sprinkle the tops with coarse sugar or salt.
• Bake near the top of the oven for 15 minutes. This can depend on the size of the scones: when they've risen high and have turned a rich brown on top, they're ready.

These are best eaten the day they are made, but they freeze very well. Freeze any leftovers on the day of baking for best results.

Sweetie Pie's Perfect Scones! Part 1: Experiments

Ah, the humble scone. So many varieties, so many styles, and so many shades of deliciousness. And as such, so many challenges.

What somebody considers a perfect scone is polarising and subjective. I'm sure we can all agree that a Victoria sponge should be light, fluffy and sweet. I'm sure we can all agree that a piece of shortbread should be sandy and buttery. But, I'm not sure we will all agree on what we like about scones.

From my observation here in Ireland, there are three main families of scones: ones eaten in England, ones eaten in America, and the ones that every Nana knows how to make here at home.

• English scones are more cake-like: sweet, light and fluffy, and are usually quite small. The ingredients are typically cold, and the butter is rubbed in fully to make them fluffy.
• American scones are like giant chunks of sweetened shortcrust pastry: the butter is left in small pieces in the dough and not rubbed in fully, and everything is ice cold, making them flaky more so than fluffy. There is also a very high percentage of butter.
• Irish scones are more like sweetened buns of soda bread: bready, not very sweet, and rough on the outside. They are very plain, and often quite dense.

My personal preference is an English style scone: light, fluffy, breaks apart easily for buttering, and is usually small. Achieving this without using shop bought self-raising flour nor butt-tonnes of baking powder is quite a challenge, though.

I did four experiments in the kitchen, which will be presented to you in note form with elaboration as needed. Every single recipe added the ingredients in the same order: butter rubbed into flour and raising agent, sugar added, followed by the liquid mixed in quickly with a knife before finishing the mixing on the work surface. Every mixture was rolled to an inch thick (2.5 centimetres) and baked at 200°C (400°F) for 15 minutes.

NOTE: Chaffing is a procedure where the dough is folded and flattened repeatedly. It's often used for delicate pastries that shouldn't be handled much, and is also used in traditional bread making for doughs which are very wet.

 

From the top to the bottom: Batch 1, Batch 2, Batch 3, and Batch 4

Batch 1

8oz flour

2 tsps b powder

Pinch of salt

2oz butter, cold, or margarine

1oz sugar

4floz milk

Mixed in the machine. Not chaffed. Broke when baking: poor crust colour. Eggwashed once.

I got a Kenwood mixer as a wedding gift, and tried making scones in it. Would not recommend!

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Batch 2

8oz flour

1 tablespoon b powder

Pinch of salt

2oz butter, cold, or margarine

1oz sugar

4floz milk, slightly warm

1 tsp lemon juice

 

Lemon juice mixed with milk at the last second before adding to dough. Mixed by hand, chaffed four times. Cut into wedges. Rose nicely, but cracked on top slightly and caught too much colour on the sides. Eggwashed once.

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Batch 3

4oz flour

1/4 tsp b powder

1/4 tsp b soda

Pinch of salt

1oz butter, cold, or margarine

1 tablespoon sugar

2floz milk, slightly warm

1/2 tsp lemon juice

Lemon juice mixed with milk at the last second before adding to dough. Mixed by hand, chaffed four times. Cut into rounds. Rose sideways, and coloured too much. Crust too thick. Distinct taste of b soda, though not overwhelming. Egg washed once before cooking, and again a minute before finished in oven

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It was at this point that I nearly gave up and realised why I've never done a scone recipe on this blog before. It seems my tastes in scones are very specific! I delved back into the history of my blog and found that I had, in fact, done a scone recipe. It was a quick mention in a recipe I'd done for tomato soup, and I remember eating those scones and thinking they were delicious. Turns out, the issue I was having with overworking the flour was very easily solved by adding in cornflour. The addition of extra starch reduced the overall amount of gluten, and meant that the dough could be easily and thoroughly mixed without exercising the gluten too much. Turns out I was trying to reinvent the wheel.

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Batch 4

3oz flour, with 1oz cornflour

1/2 tsp b powder

1/4 tsp b soda

Pinch of salt

1oz butter, cold, or margarine

2 teaspoons sugar

2floz milk, slightly warm

1/2 tsp lemon juice

 

Lemon juice mixed with milk at the last second before adding to dough. Mixed by hand, chaffed five times: withstood chaffing more because of high starch content. Cut into fluted rounds. Rose well -- cleanest cut ones rose the best. Coloured nicely: sides nice and pale, and top well browned. Distinct taste of b soda, though not overwhelming. Eggwashed three times: once before baking, once halfway through -- turning the tray through 180 -- and again a minute before finished in oven.

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Batch 5

3oz flour, with 1oz cornflour

1.5 tsps baking powder

Pinch of salt

1oz butter, cold, or margarine

1 tablespoon sugar

2floz milk, slightly warm

1/2 tsp lemon juice

Made in exactly the same way as Batch 4. No noticeable visual difference. Slightly fluffier, lacking the characteristic moisture and flavour of b soda. Suitable substitute for those who dislike b soda.

So, I can conclusively say, that cornflour is the magic ingredient. Whether you use baking soda or powder doesn't seem to matter that much, but what does it that the overall gluten is reduced by adding starch. Read all about the final recipe here!

Buttermilk Scones (Wheat Free)

There's nothing nicer than a lovely fluffy, freshly baked scone; it's one of life's simple little pleasures.

In North American countries, I believe these are more commonly known as biscuits and are eaten as part of a savoury meal, with stew or sausages and gravy. Here, they're served for breakfast, as a mid-morning snack, or an afternoon tea treat with butter and jam, and in the UK they can be eaten with clotted cream or honey.

Scones are supposed to be light and fluffy, but here in Ireland they tend to be solid and stodgy and sit in your stomach for hours. For years I've been experimenting with different recipes, but they've always been too dense and use a load of ingredients that aren't necessary.

What is necessary, however, is the combination of baking powder and baking soda. These two raising agents work together: the baking powder is a fast acting agent, that begins working as soon as they hit the oven's heat, and once it's finished working, the slow acting effect of the baking soda kicks in to continue the rising process. This is why they're super fluffsome!

Essentially, scones are baby soda breads with the addition of butter and a little sugar. They're lovely and fluffy, and best enjoyed with butter and jam. These are made using a handful of very simple ingredients: flour, raising agent, butter, buttermilk, and a hint of sugar. These are best enjoyed on the day they are baked.

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Nuts
☑ Eggs

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Dairy

INGREDIMENTS

For eight medium sized scones

• 12 ounces (340 grammes) white spelt flour
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) baking powder
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 8 to 10 fluid ounces (230 to 285 millilitres) buttermilk
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) block butter, cut into cubes
• 1 or 2 tablespoons (15 to 30 millilitres; 15 to 30 grammes) caster sugar

If using unsalted butter, add 2 pinches of salt.

METHOD

• Lightly grease a baking sheet with butter or sunflower oil. Preheat the oven to 220ºC (450ºF, Gas Mk.9).
• In a mixing bowl, sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar together until blended. Grate in the butter, then break it up a little with your fingertips; if you can still see pea-sized pieces of butter, that's enough breaking.
• Add the buttermilk bit by bit until you get a soft workable dough, mixing with a knife. Don't over handle it, or the finished scones will be tough.The dough might be a little uneven, with some bits dry and some bits sticky, but that's how it should be.
• Turn out onto a floured working surface, fold and flatten a few times to even out the consistency a bit. Flatten with your hand to a thickness of about an inch (2.5 centimetres). Using a 3 inch (7 centimetre) cutter or glass dipped in flour, cut out the scones. Do not twist the cutter: just go straight down and straight up. Twisting will make the scones turn out weird. I didn't make the rules here.
• Gently squish together the scraps and flatten out again to cut some more. You should get about eight or nine scones.
• Place the scones on the baking sheet so they're slightly touching. It helps as well to line them in a 3-2-3 pattern, as opposed to two lines of 4. This way, they help each other rise in the oven. Brush the tops with beaten egg or with melted butter.
• Cook them in the centre of the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown and well risen.
• Break apart and cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before eating. They're best straight from the oven, but they do keep well in an airtight box for up to a week.

THIS TIME IN 2015: Low Effort Tray Bake Sponge (Wheat and Dairy Free)

THIS TIME IN 2014: No recipe

THIS TIME IN 2013: Buttercream Icing: the King of all Icings