The perfect scone..

[Gob]

What’s the secret to a light and fluffy scone? Sarah McInerney consults an expert.

Scones are a part of every good country cook’s baking repertoire, able to be whipped up with a minimum of fuss.

But they can also get the better of even the most experienced home cook, not to mention a confident MasterChef contestant, if Monday night’s episode is anything to go by.




An end result that should be light and fluffy can come out dense and stodgy, having failed to rise, causing many (me included) to put them in the too-hard basket. It seems there’s more to scone baking than the recipes imply.

For some tips on how to turn leaden rocks into luscious scones I turned to the organisation responsible for producing tens of thousands of them each year at the Sydney and Melbourne agricultural shows, The Country Women’s Association (CWA).

Gloria Hyatt oversaw the CWA cafe at this year’s Sydney Easter Show where about 3000 scones were baked on site each day to fill the tummies of hungry show goers. It’s an annual fundraiser they’ve been holding for 52 years, such is the enduring appeal of the humble scone.

What began as an unleavened Scottish bread cooked over a griddle flame now comes in a variety of flavours from herb to fruit to cheese, not to mention pumpkin, as made famous by Queensland’s Flo Bjelke-Petersen.

Both an old-fashioned comfort food and a decadent afternoon treat, it’s hard to go past one straight from the oven served with lashings of strawberry jam and a large dollop of cream.

These days raising agents like baking powder or self-raising flour are used, giving the scones a lovely light texture. From this point on recipes can vary greatly, with butter, milk, eggs, lemonade, soda water, vinegar and icing sugar just some of ingredients that may be included.

Whatever the recipe, Gloria Hyatt had these tips to share for baking beautiful scones:

Use a light touch when mixing the ingredients together – don’t over knead. Just mix until the ingredients are combined. Gloria uses a knife to cut in the ingredients but a spoon (or your hands) will work just as well.
Make sure the dough is sticky and not too dry.
Rest the dough for 10 minutes before cutting it into scone shapes. Cover this with a tea towel or a sprinkling of flour to stop it from drying out as it rests.
Place the scones close together on the baking tray so they rise upwards, not outwards. Cook them in the hottest part of the oven.
If you want to make fruit scones, add some chopped up dates or sultanas with a tablespoon of sugar.

The ladies baking the CWA scones at the show also had this tip – for a crusty top, cool the scones on a wire rack. For a softer top, wrap them in a tea towel once they leave the oven.

Following this advice to the letter I trialled three different recipes in a bid to change my luck on the scone front.

Quick and easy
Digging around online I found a blog that had tweaked the recipe used by the Victorian branch of the CWA for their cafe at the Melbourne show (thank you RasberriCupcakes). A combination of self-raising flour, milk, cream and salt, it’s quick to make, so a good one to keep in mind if friends unexpectedly pop around for afternoon tea. This mixture is quite sticky, so don’t forget to flour your benchtop and scone cutter.

To say that these scones have the wow factor is an understatement. They rose fantastically in the oven (see photo at the top of the page), resulting in gloriously large specimens like the best Devonshire tea scones of my childhood (admittedly being my first go, my scone cutter was probably a bit too big). They also had a lovely golden sheen on top, despite not being glazed. Taste wise they were light with a hint of sweetness – better with jam and cream than plain butter, but enjoyable to eat nonetheless.

Sweet or savoury
A few years ago I rescued a 1966 edition of the popular home economics text book Cookery The Australian Way from a box my mother was sending to the local charity shop. It features 10 different scone recipes including the intriguingly named bloater scones (flavoured with cayenne pepper and fish paste) and puftaloons, essentially scones fried in oil or fat and served with jam, honey or bacon.

Cookery the Australia Way scones

The book’s foundation scone recipe combines self-raising flour, butter, milk and salt and can be used as a base for both sweet and savoury varieties. Unsurprisingly, given they’re the scones of my childhood, they tasted the most authentic to me. The dough also had the added advantage of not sticking to everything.

A taste of the country

Gloria Hyatt’s scone recipe
Makes 12-18 (depending in the size of your scone cutter)
1 egg
4 tablespoons of oil (she uses vegetable oil)
2 cups of milk (or 1½ cups milk and half a cup of sour cream or thickened cream)
4 cups of self raising flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar

Beat the egg, oil and milk until combined. Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a bowl. Add the egg mixture to the flour. Knead until just combined and then turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Pat into a flat shape of the thickness you'd like your scones. Hyatt

prefers ¾ inch. Cut with a floured scone cutter and then place on a greased tray. Cook at 220 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.

Gloria's scones


Hyatt’s recipe was the last recipe I tried and the most complex of the three I tested, although still very easy to make. To say that the dough was sticky is an understatement. It’s so adhesive that just rinsing your fingers under the tap alone wasn’t enough - you have to scrape it off. Don’t forget to flour your kitchen bench, otherwise you’ll spend ages scraping the mixture off that too.

It was all worth it though, the end result was light and fluffy with a lovely golden sheen on top. My guests described them as “tasting country” and devoured the lot. These scones were delicious eaten with butter as well as jam and cream and well worth the few extra steps.

Having now conquered three different scone recipes, I have no idea how on earth I got it so wrong in the past. Not only did they all rise well and taste lovely, but they were very quick to make. The trick is a strict adherence to the tips suggested by Gloria. When it come to baking, it’s always wise to listen to the voice of experience.

What’s your trick to a good scone? Do you use lemonade, buttermilk or some other variant in your recipe? Comment below and share your scone recipe and baking tips.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/homesty ... z1LR3mfyKj

[Gob]

And while I'm on the subject...

Rivalry over the correct way to assemble a cream tea is likely to be re-ignited this month by the emergence of a super-sized scone at the Devon County Show.

Organisers have devoted an entire marquee to the iconic tea-time treat this year in a bid to promote a campaign to secure protected status under European law.

Devon and Cornwall disagree over the spreading order of jam and clotted cream and the creation of the world's largest scone could take the row to an even bigger scale.

Richard Hunt, executive chef of The Grand Hotel in Torquay, is gathering sacks of flour for an unofficial attempt at the world record and says the giant pastry will be served "Devon-style – cream first, then jam".

Mr Hunt says the cream tea "epitomises everything that's good" about the county's produce and is guaranteed to put a smile on people's faces.

"In these times of financial turmoil, it represents affordable luxury and makes us feel special," he added.

Paul Winterton, general manager at Langage Farm, South Devon, is behind Devon's bid to win Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status for the Devon Cream Tea.

PDO status, already enjoyed by Cornish clotted cream, requires the features and characteristics of the protected product to belong to the geographical area in which they are protected.

And with the treat's assembly forming part of the case, success could see the order in which jam and cream are slathered onto the pastry enshrined by bureaucrats in Brussels, leaving Cornwall behind.



Mr Winterton estimates the global value of the Devon cream tea at around the £85 billion.

He added: "If we get support for the PDO, Devon can only be strengthened with people recognising the value from this point of view."

Gavin Sheppard, from Devonshire Tea, which will be providing hot brewed tea in the marquee, said the Devon version had a long and noble history and dated back to 997AD in Tavistock when it was served to labourers re-building the monastery.

The Devon County Show, now in its 116th year, takes place at the showground at Westpoint, Clyst St Mary, from May 19 to 21.

It will again involved a packed programme of livestock, and food and drink, as well as a flower and garden marquee.

Entertainment includes dare-devil motorcycle display, horse-back falconry displays and a rugby tournament.

http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/news/An ... ticle.html

[SisterMaryFellatio]

Heres my 2 cents.....

No matter how good your scone (for all you heathen bastards out there it is pronounced with a long O sound and it does have an E on the end and it should rhyme with stone) recipe is if you don't know your oven well you had just as well forget it.

If you know your oven well I have a great recipe.

Devonians can go get fucked.

Jam is first, the reason being a Cream tea is served traditionally with homemade Strawberry Jam, it should be served with a small spoon. If cream goes on first there is no way (unless you help the jam off the spoon with a knife, the height of bad manners) you can not get the jam off the spoon without getting cream on it.
Here endeth SMF'S etiquette lesson!

I miss Clotted Cream!!

Edited to say Gob take those fuckin pics down, where are your loyalties those are Devonshire Cream Teas.

[The Hen]

My local shop gets imported a really nice British clotted cream. (Unfortunately I can't remember the brand.)

It comes in a glass jar with a metal lid on it and looks all 'Brithishy".

Do you know it?

[SisterMaryFellatio]

No I don't know it.....but my mouth wants to intimately!

i shall make the scones to go with it when I get there!

[Rick]

They look just like biscuits to me...

[Jay Tea]

Butter and jam on one side, clotted cream on the other, squish together, tonguing any cream-tea run off away, then into the mouth it goes, there's nothing more to it. Oh and proper strong tea. If you can't bake a scone you really don't belong anywhere near a kitchen.

[@meric@nwom@n]

They look just like biscuits to me...

I don't put eggs in biscuits though.

Disambiguation: American biscuit not a cookie biscuit.

[Rick]

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour, stirred before measuring*
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup lard or vegetable shortening, chilled
2 tablespoons butter, chilled
3/4 cup buttermilk

Preparation:
Heat oven to 450°. Adjust oven rack to center position.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Cut in chilled shortening and butter until you have pieces the size of small peas. Make a well in center of dry ingredients; pour in buttermilk. With a wooden spoon, gently blend dry ingredients into the buttermilk, just until mixture is clumping together. If necessary, add a few more teaspoons of buttermilk.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured board. Pat out in a circle about 8 inches in diameter and 1/2-inch thick. Using a 2 1/2 to 3-inch biscuit cutter, cut out and place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake on center oven rack for about 10 to 12 minutes, until tops are browned.
Makes 10 to 12 biscuits, depending on size of cutter.

*For the lightest biscuits, use a Southern white all-purpose flour if available.

Buttermilk biscuits...

[Daisy]

SMF try this

Take 1/2 pint double cream.

Cook the cream in a bowl over simmering water until reduced by about half. It should be the consistency of soft butter, with that golden "crust" on the top.

Transfer to serving bowl, discard any unclotted cream at the bottom of the dish. Cover and let stand two hours, then refrigerate at least 12 hours.

Best to use a wide flat bowl over the Bain Marie summat like a pasta dish works nicely.

Oh and I prefer cream first then jam

[dales]

[The Hen]

OK seeing it's Mother's Day here tomorrow, I think it is well and truly time for a damn good batch of Date Scones.

[Gob]

OOOOH!! Yummy!!!!

[SisterMaryFellatio]

Thanks Daisy.....am trying to get Sean to get me the cream of the milk from a dairy farmer he works with to make some. As his Nibs is not a cream fan hes not very forthcoming!


Dales....That is an insult to baking!

[Sean]

Like I said, with his journey to work and mine home it would be butter by the time it got here...

[SisterMaryFellatio]

Hen, hope they are being made for you?


Happy Mudders Day (as Pudd says)

[Daisy]

Let me know how it goes SMF, me nan used to make it all the time. But now we can buy it in the supermarket I have never had a reason to make it myself.

This thread is entirely responsible for Cookie and me gorging on fresh bakers scones, tiptrees strawberry jam and Cornish clotted cream the other day.

[Gob]

Hen, hope they are being made for you?

Nope, she's making them herself, she prefers scones to rock cakes

Happy Mudders Day (as Pudd says)

AaaAaAwwww....

[The Hen]

I love the "Mudder's Day". Is Pudd a reincarnation of a 1930s American gangster?

I am getting images of a little hard man in a waistcoat and trilby hat here.

[Sean]

Well he does favour a zoot suit for some reason...