It’s amazing how we can miss the little things. Oh I’ll just grab a bag of scones from Tescos for breakfast. Not something you can do here so easily. Sure you can find them in a few locations but they generally cost an arm and a leg. They are however incredibly simple to make … once you know how and try it once or twice.
The last while I’ve started to make scones more and more… if you’re not in a rush on Sunday morning it’s fun to do with the kids. We’re also trying to make more at home .. less plastic .. less meat (no I don’t eat some magical meat style scone)
If you’re reading this though you’re probably here for a recipe and well here is a modified recipe I use. Some recipes call for buttermilk … some call for butter … some for sugar. This is my recipe I’ve been trying to perfect and it has been working out quite nicely.
First up … Preheat your oven to 180C.
For your ingredients you’re going to need a few things.
Flour … here I’m using T55 flour. You can go bio … you can go crazy. I’m going to use around 450g and a generous amount for the work surface.
1 Egg. (I beat it and keep a drop for the glaze with a splash of milk at the end)
1 pack of baking powder (The little pink packs you can buy the well known brand Alsa pictured above .. or you can go with bog standard super market brand working out at around 1/2 the price)
Butter 140g (150g go crazy)
Milk 150ml (maybe more maybe less it’ll depend on how wet your mix is)
Sugar 50g
Salt .. a decent pinch
Flour 450g / 1 pack of baking powder / 50g sugar / 140g butter / Salt …. mix them all together with your hand. Some recipes call for you to sieve the mix and then add the butter. I say screw that 🙂 Also a lot of recipes say you’ll get a nice breadcrumb like mixture … I’ve no idea what these people think breadcrumbs are like but it’s not like this 😀 (Maybe I’m doing it wrong)
Once it’s all well mixed … make a hole in the center and add your milk (150 – 200ml) and 1 beaten egg. I like to start by adding 100ml of milk and mix it all around and add more as necessary.
Depending on the amount of liquid you use you’ll end up with a sticky mix … don’t worry we’ll sprinkle flour on the work surface and it’ll make the mix less sticky.
Kneed and flatten out your mix on a clean / floured work surface. Some recipes say to avoid unnecessary kneeding of the mix … again I’ve not noticed that much difference.
Get your assistant to cut out the scones for you. (Mental Note: Talk to your assistant about proper work place hygiene and hair nets)
Place them onto a baking tray which you’ve floured a bit as well. Hopefully you left a little bit of egg .. and to that you can add a splash of milk … and coat the top of your scones with that. Bung them all into the oven for around 15 minutes at 180C You’ll end up with around 20 scones with this mix. Depending on the size.
Now it’s the tricky part … Butter? Jam? Cream? will you be having it with tea? Barry’s? Lyons? 😀
I’m going to have to work on making this picture look pretty … it’s that awkward moment when you’re too interested in eating and not in setting up a nice pretty photo.
