The perfect scone...what a claim! Often; it is the simplest bakes that cause the most contention and the scone is a good example of this. Scones at their most basic level consist of five - six simple ingredients: flour, a raising agent, milk, fat, sugar and egg (but not always!). However, the ingredient type and combination of each can create very different scones.
After testing various combinations I can now say that THIS recipe is the one I most trust and use. I will still always wonder 'what would happen if I just changed this?'... but eventually recipe trial and tribulation must come to an end and a reliable recipe decided upon.
Try the recipe for yourself - I would love to know how you get on!
"A scone is happiness with cream and jam on top" High Tea Society
The Perfect Scone
Ingredients
Makes 6 - 8 scones with a 5.5cm round cutter. For larger scones...use a larger cutter.
225g self raising flour
1 TSP baking powder
50g butter
50g caster sugar
Pinch of salt
100g - 150g buttermilk
100g sultanas with 1 tea bag of your choice*
1 egg beaten with a splash of water for egg wash
*If you can not WAIT to eat your scones - you can just add sultanas as they are BUT if you can wait I would recommend soaking your sultanas in hot tea for 30 minutes. They will become plump and soft and have a tiny hint of tea (Earl Grey works well but you can experiment). Once soaked, simply drain, pat dry and weigh the amount needed in the recipe.
Method
Scones need a nice hot oven to rise quickly so preheat the oven to 180 celsius and line a baking sheet with non-stick baking paper or use a silicone mat.
In a large bowl mix the self raising flour, baking powder, salt and sugar until well combined.
Cut your butter into cubes and rub through the flour mixture until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. You can use a kitchen aid with a paddle or a food processor if you do not want to do this by hand.
Add 100g of the buttermilk and sultanas and carefully knead the mixture until it forms a dough. If the dough is very dry - continue to add buttermilk until a workable dough is formed. It should not be too wet and sticky.
Sprinkle the worktop with flour and roll the dough out to around an inch thick.
Leave the dough to rest for a few minutes.
Take a 5.5 cm cutter and cut out your scones. Try not to twist the cutter as this may cause your scones to bake wonky.
Reknead the dough and roll out again until you have used all the dough.
Place your scones onto your baking tray, leaving a couple of inches of space in between each scone to give them room to expand in the oven.
Brush the tops with a little egg wash and leave the scones to rest again for 30 minutes.
Place in the hot preheated oven for 8 -10 minutes or until the scones are well risen and have golden brown top.
Leave to cool on a wire rack; or tuck into your warm fresh scones straight away...perfect for a knob of butter to melt into the warm dough.
Your scones will keep in an airtight container for 1 - 2 days before they start to go a little stale. Scones do freeze well - so once cool pop them into a freezer container and when you are ready to have them gently defrost at room temperature.
I will leave the burning debate of WHICH GOES FIRST: cream or jam to another blog
post...until then thank you for reading and please do...
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