Scones

Those look very nice. I haven't had a more 'biscuit' style scone in quite some time! Typically I make the sweeter kinds at work and at home, often forgetting about the more contemporary tea time snack.

Thanks for sharing the recipe and pics with us : )

I was looking for a good recipe for scones and came across your thread.  I made two batches of scones over the weekend using a recipe from the River Cottage series.  The receipe is approx. half of the amount use here - i.e. 300 grams of AP flour and two tsp of baking flour.  These were very rich and it's the first time I made them with double cream.  I reduced the sugar slightly and added in a small handful of choc. chips.  Not quite the proper scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam but clotted cream is a luxury here in Hong Kong.

I'm trying one more time to upload a picture of the scone I made...

 I have been using this recipe for 30 yrs. and it has never failed and everyone loves them.  It comes from an old English recipe book.

8oz. (200g) plain (AP) flour 

1 tsp. (5ml.) bicarb. (baking soda)  

2 tsp. (10ml.) cream of tartar 

*(I have switched to using Self-raising flour instead of the above 3 ingredients - no noticeable difference)

1 tsp. salt. (I use just a pinch)

1 1/2oz. (45g) margarine  (I use butter for better flavour)

About 1/4 pint (4 fluid oz.) milk

(For fruit scones add 2oz (50g) sultanas or currants and 1oz (25g) sugar after rubbing in the fat.  

For cheese scones, add 1 tsp. (5ml.) dry mustard with the flour and 3oz. (75g) finely-grated cheese after rubbing in the fat.)

Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl and rub in the fat (or use kitchen machine) until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.  (At this stage, return to mixing bowl if using machine). Incorporate other ingredients for fruit or cheese scones if desired)  Add enough milk to form a soft but not sticky dough, using a round-bladed knife (I use my hands) to mix.  Turn on to a lightly floured surface and knead very gently just until the dough is smooth (just a few seconds should do) Roll out using a light pressure on the rolling pin until dough is 1/2in (5cm.) thick.  Cut into 2in (5cm) rounds with a pastry cutter.  Place on a lightly floured (not oiled) baking sheet, sprinkle with a little extra flour and bake in a hot oven (200C. 425F. Gas Mark 7) for about 10 mins. until risen and golden. Serve warm with butter and jam or clotted cream and jam (the British way!) Enjoy!

 I usually make the fruit scones but use a little less sugar as we don't like things too sweet.  These scones do not keep well so, if not eating on the day they're baked, freeze them and then heat them up in the microwave, but watch them as they only take a few seconds to warm up even though they are frozen.

Thanks for sharing your recipe. I would def. try it with SR flour

I don't understand...where did the picture of the scones I uploaded go?  This has happened a couple to times.  They get inserted  first time and after a day or two the pics disappear.  What am I doing wrong?

I've uploaded pics of my Challah and egg tarts before and there was no problem with the pics.

Thanks for the posting,

Have you ever tried making scones with sour milk or butter milk? It too is a great variation.....wish I was having a cuppa with you..............Pete

I have just noticed that I made a boo-boo in my recipe (see above)  In rolling out the dough, it should be to 1/2 in thickness which is, of course, about 1.5 cm not 5 cm.  I hope no one made 2in. high scones!

Hi again,

If it is a thickened sour cream(by sour cream I mean cream that may be a couple of days older than normal and has just started to sour...not a purchased sour cream) I will break it down with some milk 50%/50% and I use 100% buttermilk. The cream recipe comes from my old departed Mum. She sometimes  would also set aside a required quanity of  milk and let it slowly sour in the fridge (don't let it get way too old of course) and used it for scones.

The buttermilk recipe I found on Google. There are a number of variations but I use 100% buttermilk..........When using your recipe have you tried mixing in grated cheese and a small amount of grated onion or chopped chives. Only a small amount of onion is required other wise it can dominate too much but it is lovely. Another favourite here in Australia is  dried dates chopped in thirds or halves and mixed through the dough.

Hope this helps give you some other ideas to build upon......Cheers........Pete.

Hi again Zoltan,

Yes I know what your saying about throwing sour dairy products out. I would not leave it for weeks on end when it becomes totally rotton, curdles and is smelly. Only  within a day or 2 of it having turned with a slight sour smell. If I can't use it by then it gets thrown for health reasons. The cooking generally (I think) kills any bacteria. It hasn't hurt me as yet and I'm 55................good luck.

Hi,

I guess our most well known lemonade brand here is Schweppes. A very large national and respected soft drink manufacturer. Your American 7up and sprite are easily obtained at most shops as well.

Then there are the large regional area manufactures here such as Kirks and Saxby's. Too many too name.

As well as  our main supermarkets selling the above mentioned  popular brands they also sell generic brand  under there own house brand such as, Coles Lemonade, Woolworths Lemonade and Home Brand Lemonade. The last being a cheap and to my taste a not so pleasant lemonade.

I'm not a lemonade drinker by nature but these are generally the main names I've noticed.

I'm sure there are a lot more...........Cheers...............Pete

Thanks Pete,  I know the Schweppes brand but have only seen their bitter lemon but not the clear lemonade that we all 7-up or Sprite.  I was rather surprised to see the scone recipe that uses lemonade!!  Don't know if you know the magazine - delicious which is produced by ABC TV network. It's a great mag. if you're into cooking as well as baking.

Hi JYSlouey,

My heavens ...lemonade scones....my mum would turn over in her grave if she knew of that. Somehow I can't put the two together in my mind.

Yes I do know the magazine. It's great for recipes and ideas. A quality magazine at that.

FYI Clarification on buttermilk. Since writing about buttermilk in scones I have found out (on TFL) that in America your dairy factories make buttermilk with full cream, low fat and also skim. I have only ever written in terms of using buttermilk as a low fat dairy product. Our buttermilk here is stamped 98% fat free.

I presumed buttermilk was the same in America, as originally it was always a fat free product, being the residue from butter. This is why I use all buttermilk in my scones due to a lack of fat. If I was using a full cream buttermilk I think I would break it down for my scone baking. 98% fat free is the only way I can buy buttermilk here. Hope this clears any possible misunderstanding of my buttermilk use.

Also why my mum used left over sour milk or sour cream in her good old days for scone cooking was that sour dairy products had not been developed and available back then. As money was tight it was a good way of not wasting food. I guess her cooking style has flowed over with me. This line of thought came via my mother in law and is in that very senior age goup of 90+. She also used sour milk or cream in scones to prevent wastage. Also refridgeration was not as good back then as it is today and milk going off quicker than usual would have been common.  It was in my mother's later years that I remember her setting aside milk to sour for a batch of scones.

 The things you learn on TFL and listening to our seniors.............

Cheers......Pete.

Hello Aussie Pete, I do agree that lemonade in scones sound a weird and I don't think I'm ever going to try to use this.  I was just curious.   It did occur to me that your mum may have used the sour milk, mainly because she's from an era when food rationing was in force and every penny counts. Believe, me  I'm  a couple years older than you  and whilst I am lucky not to have gone through the war years, I hear of such stories from my pa and ma.

BTW, I'm from Hong Kong, not the US.  I seldom have need for buttermilk in my  baking and when if it's  available, it's quite expensive and tastes a bit odd and the outcome is a bit dry.  I think I'll stick to either double cream or sour cream.  Cheers Judy.

My apologies to Zoltan Szabo if I've hijacked your thread on scones.  :D