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.

Spelt Burger Buns, Brioche Style (Wheat Free)

Yayeeee!! First post of 2017!! I have an excite about it! And today, I've rustled up some burger buns.

My bread phase is still alive and kicking after the Christmas period, and myself and my companion thought we'd have some nice lamb burgers. We went to a concert this week, and had planned to stop by Dublin's Eddie Rockets restaurant to have some fine American diner food, but we hadn't timed it well enough. So, the day after we thought we'd make some burgers and chips: he made the lamb mince burgers, and made the buns.

This isn't so much as recipe as an idea for something to do with this dough recipe that I used to make the iced buns. It's a super soft dough, which is firm enough to use for brioche style burger buns. The crumb is firm and strong enough to hold a meat patty, but still soft and fluffy, like an edible pillow.

The difference is this time I used half the quantity of the original recipe, and instead of rolling the dough into fingers, I divided the dough into six equal balls and flattened them to about half an inch (1 centimetre) thick. I lightly greased and floured a flat tray, placed the dough pieces on the tray in a 2-1-2-1 pattern to they'd have soft corners, then allowed to proof until doubled in size. I preheated the oven to the same temperature as the original recipe, brushed each bun with egg wash and sprinkled with sesame seeds. I baked them for 15 minutes, turning the tray through 180 degrees halfway through cooking, until they were golden and brown.

These buns are best eaten on the day they're made, when fully cooled. The next day, they can be eaten as sandwiches. They day after, they can be eaten as toast. But after that, they're best as dog food. I wish I had taken some pictures of them as hamburger sandwiches, but it was night time and the photos didn't come out very well.

If one were to use the full recipe quantity, this would make 12 buns suitable for quarter-pounder meat patties, or 24 buns or slider burgers, which would be super cute and adorable. If you don't like sesame seeds, you can leave them off, or you could also use poppy seeds. I'd personally love to find some black sesame seeds for next time.

I bought a packet of sesame seeds from Lidl, and they had 100 gramme bags. So now I have a load of sesame seeds in my companion's cupboard. If anyone has suggestions for recipes that need lots and lots of sesame seeds, I'm all ears!

This time last year: Rondos: Almond "Fingers" (Wheat Free with a Dairy Free Option)

This time in 2015: Something Savory: Chicken and Ham Pie (Wheat Free)

This time in 2014: Oatie Biscuits (Wheat Free)

I've Finally Cracked It! Working with Yeast and Spelt: Iced Finger Buns (Wheat Free, with Dairy Free Option)

UPDATE 05/05/2017: I slightly altered the dough preparation method, introducing a sponge technique to help dissolve the yeast, and properly gauge the amount of flour and liquid needed.

I've done it. I've finally done it. I have succeeded after years of trying: I have at long last cracked the code to making dough with yeast and spelt! So many years of failed attempts... I'm so relieved.

So, I decided to celebrate by making a tasty batch of lovely iced finger buns! A little taste of childhood for my siblings and I.

There is nothing quite as English as spreading a load of icing on top of a piece of bread. I don't quite know why, but it fairly accurately sums up the spirit of the British approach to eating. And to make them, you need a nice, soft, pillowy bread recipe.

So what has my difficulty been with spelt and yeast? I've mentioned many times over the years, more than I can count at this stage, that spelt and yeast don't mix well. This was a believe I had formulated as a result of countless failed attempts at making yeast leavened dough with spelt flour instead of wheat flour. I thought the problem was the flour. Turns out the problem has been the yeast and the fermentation process all these years.

Ireland doesn't have a very warm climate: it has a wet, damp, humid, mostly freezing cold climate. None of these is conducive to:

1. Fermentation
Yeast needs a nice warm environment to grow in. It is indeed a living organism, a tiny little mushroom creature, that needs to be warm, well fed, and hydrated to perform like it should. I obviously haven't been getting my dough proving at the right temperature of humidity all these years, because the dough has never risen.

or 2. Yeast Lifespan
Cold damp houses aren't nice places for yeast to live. I'd say more times than not over the last few years, I've used yeast that has probably already perished under such inhospitable conditions.

I bought some new yeast, some new flour, and attempted to make yeast dough again. I summed up the courage to attempt it again, even though it may have failed miserably. This time, I was not disappointed.

I had formulated the recipe by cross referencing a load of recipes together, inspired mostly by the Korean doughnuts and dinner rolls of Maangchi, and by the iced bun recipe of The Great British Bake Off's Paul Hollywood. I also followed some recommendations online about how liquid behaves differently with wheat flour and spelt flour. Armed with this knowledge, I formulated the recipe below.

I made sure the dough had a lovely house to live in while fermenting: the oven, with the heat turned off but the light left on, with a bowl of boiled water on the bottom shelf to make it nice and steamy. This made the dough rise perfectly! I was amazed: the dough looked, and smelled, incredible. Look at all those bubbills!!

Although I had a little hiccup with the oven, where the element was broken and I had to improvise with the fan assisted grill setting, they baked wonderfully! The rolls were exquisitely soft and springy on cooling, and had a deliciously present yeasty flavour. 

The butter, sugar, and eggs keep the bread soft, but not too sickly sweet or rich. In fact, I think they'd make nice hot dog rolls if the mixture were slightly re-purposed.

See the lovely soft sides, and delicious texture within? I know I'm totally fangirling over this bread right now, but I cannot tell you how happy I am to finally have a successful spelt bread attempt.

So, without any further ado, after almost four years of blogging, I present to you a recipe for soft spelt bread.

FREE FROM

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

CONTAINS
☒ Eggs
☒ Dairy (dairy substitutes can be found in italics)
☒ Gluten
☒ Yeast
☒ Refined sugar products


INGREDIMENTS
For 16 small buns, or 12 large buns

• 1 pound (455 grammes) white spelt flour, plus some for dusting
• 2 quarter-ounce (7 gramme) packages of dry active yeast
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) salt
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar
• 2 medium eggs, room temperature
• 6 fluid ounces (180 millilitres) hand-hot milk
• 2 or 3 tablespoons (30 to 45 millilitres) warm water, to adjust the texture if needed
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) butter, at room temperature, or margarine

For icing,

• 1 tablespoon (15 grammes) butter, or margarine
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) icing sugar
• 2 to 3 teaspoons (10 to 15 millilitres) hot water
• Optional: Food colourings and essences

METHOD

First, prepare the yeast dough.

• In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, milk, salt, and eggs. Mix in the yeast, and then add in half of the flour to make a paste. If it is too dry, add more milk or water, and if it is too wet, add some more flour. It should be like a gluey paste, not a cake or pancake mixture.
• Allow this mixture to sit for about 20 minutes, or until it starts to rise and bubble. If you like, you can allow to it rise until doubled, which will save kneading time.
• Add in rest of the flour, a little at a time, to form a dough. You can use your hands, or a wooden spoon. You may not need to add all the flour, or you may need to add some more. Bread making is not an exact science: sometimes room humidity, or even the brand of flour, can change the consistency.
• Once you achieve a dough, turn out onto a floured work surface and knead for 5 minutes. The dough should be soft and tacky, almost sticky.
• Then, knead in the soft butter. It will take another 3 or 5 minutes to knead in the butter, and once you're done it should be a lovely soft, supple, tacky (but not sticky) dough.
• Clean out the bowl and grease it lightly. Roll the dough into a ball and put in the bowl, tossing a few times to coat it in oil.
• Cover with clingfilm, then a tea towel, and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 to 1½ hours to at least double in size. I put mine in the oven, turned off, with the oven light on, and a bowl of hot water on the bottom shelf to make a nice warm, humid atmosphere. 

Now, make the fingers.

• Grease and flour a 13 by 9 inch (33 by 22 centimetre) flat baking tray.
• Once risen and puffed full of air, gently deflate and turn out onto the work surface. Only use a dusting of flour if it's sticking.
• Divide the dough into 16 pieces, and roll each piece into a rectangle about 4 inches (10 centimetres) wide; the length doesn't matter. Roll them up like little Swiss rolls.
• Place the rolls on the baking tray about an inch (2 centimetres) apart to allow for rising. You want them to rise into each others' sides to get nice soft sides.
• Drape a clean tea towel or the clingfilm from earlier over the rolls and place back in the warm place and leave for 45 minutes to an hour, until once again at least doubled in size.
• Preheat your oven to 220ºC (425ºF, Gas Mk.7 or 8), then bake the rolls on the centre shelf for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown on top and well risen.
• Turn the buns out, still attached to one another, onto a wire rack to cool completely before pulling apart.

I used two trays because I didn't have one big enough. 

And yes, there are 14. I miscounted my doughballs.

Once fully cool, ice the fingers.

• Mix together the icing sugar, butter, and half of the water until a smooth icing is formed. You may need to add more water to make it nice and spreadable.
• Spread about a rounded teaspoon of icing onto each roll and spread it across the top with the blunt side of a table knife, or a palette knife.
• If you like, you can decorate the tops with sprinkles, hundreds and thousands, sweets, or grated chocolate.

I decorated mine with some coffee flavoured icing, and some plain icing in white and pink. Look forward to more experiments with spelt bread in the future, but for now make these and enjoy them for up to two days, as long as they're kept airtight.

Spelt Doughnuts Video Tutorial!

UPDATE 29/8/15: Click here for a revised and updated version of this recipe!

I made a tutorial video for the spelt doughnuts recipe that I published a few months ago, butI thought it would be pointless to have two blogs of the same recipe. So this blog post is literally just to say "Lookit ma new vidjo!"

Full spelt doughnuts recipe can be found here!

THIS TIME LAST YEAR: Confectionery Failures and New Job (thus Temporary Pause in Blogging)!

Spelt Doughnuts (Wheat Free)

UPDATE 5/11/14: Click this link to see the video tutorial for this recipe!
UPDATE 29/8/15: Click here for a revised and updated version of this recipe!

For those who have been missing the taste of doughnuts since discovering their allergies, here's a nice recipe so that you can be reacquainted!

I have always found doughnuts very visually appealing: fluffy cakey rings covered in caster sugar, or glazed with icing or chocolate and doused in illegally brightly coloured sprinkles. Usually the reality of eating a doughnut from the bakery isn't as nice as looking at them on the shelf, as here in Ireland there are only two or three kinds of doughnut, all of which are rather plain. I always considered the doughnut a second rate confection until in 2008 I visited Germany. 

While on holiday in Hamburg, I went to a bakery with a friend and was amazed not only by how popular the doughnut is, but also how many different kinds of doughnut you could buy! Jam filled, Nutella filled, custard filled, long ones split and filled with whipped cream and jam, spherical ones glazed completely in glacé icing, ones dusted with icing sugar, cocoa, cinnamon... and ring doughnuts glazed in every colour imaginable. It was a veritable doughnut wonderland!

I didn't think about them again until I visited Germany for a second time in 2012, and in Hauptbanhof in Berlin my boyfriend at the time and I found a "Dunkin' Doughnuts" shop. Yes I know it's an American chain, but once again I was fascinated by the sheer variety and imagination of some of the flavours.

Of course, this doughnut recipe that I developed through a few trials and errors is a fairly plain recipe, but hopefully as time goes on I will come up with some nice flavour and colour combinations.

So, here's the recipe:


FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten (unless you use gluten-free bread flour)
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Dairy dairy free options in italics
☒ Eggs


 INGREDIMENTS

Makes about 12 3 inch doughnuts, and 12 doughnut holes

• 6 ounces (170 grammes) spelt flour
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) cornflour
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) baking powder
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar
• Pinch of salt
• Optional: 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1 medium egg
• 3 to 4 tablespoons (45 to 60 millilitres) warm milk, or warm water
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) sunflower oil
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence, or the seeds of 1 vanilla pod

To coat:

• Caster sugar
• Icing sugar
• Cinnamon
• Glacé icing
• Chocolate glaze
• Sprinkles

HOW-TO 

• In a heavy saucepan, heat about 3 inches (8 centimetres) of flavourless oil to 180°C (350°F), measuring with a sugar thermometer. Alternatively you can use a deep fryer, if you have one. The temperature is important so make sure your thermometer is accurate.
• Sieve the flour, baking powder, salt, and caster sugar (and cinnamon, if using) into a large mixing bowl.
• In a separate bowl, mix together the egg and the oil. Make a well in the centre of the flour and add in the egg mixture. Mix a little until messy but not combined.
• Add 3 tablespoons of milk or water to start with, and mix until combined. If it's not coming together properly, add up to 1 more tablespoon of liquid.
• Once the dough is formed, turn out onto a work surface and knead lightly until smooth, about 3 minutes.
• Roll the dough out on a floured surface to a half inch (1 centimetre) thickness. Using a 3 inch (8 centimetre) round cutter, cut as many doughnuts as you can. Using a 1 inch round cutter (2½ centimetre), or the screw top from a wine bottle, punch holes out of the middle of the doughnuts. When cutting them, press the cutter into the dough then twist as you take the cutter away.
• Gently drop the doughnuts into the oil in batches of 2 or 3. Cook the doughnuts for about 3 to 4 minutes, flipping once.
• Lift the doughnuts out with a slotted spoon or tongs and drain on kitchen paper. Allow to cool.
• To coat, dip them in caster sugar or icing sugar, or you can ice and decorate them.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR: Free-From Gingerbread Men