TRADITIONAL SCONES There are many, many different recipes for

TRADITIONAL SCONES
There are many, many different recipes for scones. Some recipes use eggs, some don’t. Everybody
seems to have a closely guarded secret to make sure their scones are the best. My secret ingredients
are free and can be added at any time - confidence and care.
Be confident that you will make the best scones and they will be sensational. Care about them, using
good quality ingredients and they will reward you with their deliciousness. If you worry, something
will go wrong – perhaps the worry is transmitted through the fingers. I remember my heavy, lumpy
offerings when a scone novice. Just keep practising. This recipe for plain scones is pretty foolproof.
Ingredients:
Basic plain scone
200g Plain flour (preferably organic)
4 teaspoons baking powder
50g Cold butter, diced
½ teaspoon salt
150ml full fat milk at room temperature
1 teaspoon lemon juice or vinegar
1 tablespoon caster sugar
Flavour variations
Add any additional ingredients such as cheese/herbs/dried fruit after you have created the crumb
mixture and before you add the milk.
Spiced Christmas scones – scatter in some orange and lemon zest, some dried fruit, cinnamon etc.
Banana and Walnut – 1 – 2 chopped bananas and 50g chopped walnuts
Dried fruits/ Cherries – scatter in dried fruits and glace cherries
Savoury scones – Omit the tablespoon of sugar
Stilton and Walnut – 75 – 100g stilton and 50g chopped walnuts
Cheddar cheese and parsley – 100g mature cheddar cheese and two tablespoons parsley
Rosemary and wholemeal – replace the plain flour with good wholemeal or spelt flour and a few
sprigs of rosemary – chopped – perhaps also add some chopped garlic.
Method
1.
Preheat the oven to at least 200 degrees centigrade.
2.
Place the teaspoon of lemon juice/vinegar into the milk1
.3.
Sieve the flour, baking powder2, sugar*** and salt into a large bowl.
4.
Cut the butter into small cubes and drop into the flour. With your fingertips rub the butter into the
flour until there are no lumps of butter. It will look and feel like breadcrumbs.
5.
Make a well into the ‘crumb’ mixture and pour in the milk. It should have a few lumps, a bit like
yoghurt. This is the consequence of the acid reacting to the alkaline of the milk.
6.
Cut and fold the mixture with a large palette knife until combined and make a soft loose ball. If you
find the mixture is very sticky just sprinkle in some more flour.
7.
Scoop up the soft dough ball and place on a floured board or table top. The flour will prevent it from
sticking.
8.
Pat down the ball until it is about 2 cm thick (certainly no thinner) and looks reasonably smooth on
top (you could use a rolling pin).
9.
Cut out the scone shapes with a fluted round scone cutter3 and place the shapes onto a floured
baking tray.
10. Once you have finished cutting out the shapes, roll up the remaining dough into a ball and repeat the
process until all used up.
11. If desired, paint the top of the raw scones with milk or beaten egg to create a glazed top.
12. Place in the hot oven for about 9 – 10 minutes until risen and golden brown. Check that the base of
the scone is also a nice brown.
13. Cool and the serve with some good quality jam and either clotted cream, whipped cream or butter.
1
Scones love sour milk so do use up any rather old pots of cream or plain yoghurt that may be lurking in the fridge. Put these
in the measuring jug first and top up to 150cc.
2
I find that baking powder does vary in quality. Borwicks and Royal would be my recommended brands as they do not seem to
have that bitter aftertaste. Alternatively you could make your own using 2 parts cream of tartar to 1 part bicarbonate of soda.
This has a softer taste in the mouth. The scones look slightly more speckled and I am not sure they rise up quite so tall.
3
If you don’t have a cutter to hand, just make two large balls out of the dough mixture. Place these on the baking tray and pat
down slightly. With a large palette knife, sprinkled with flour to prevent sticking, cut a big cross on each of the balls so you
create 4 triangles. These will rise up and look rather like a small traditional soda bread loaf. Break them into pieces once
cooked.