This Week's Bread: "Authentic British" Scones
So this one has a little bit of a story. A friend of mine, Taylor, is from Australia, saw my Angel Biscuits from the other day, and said, as most folks from outside the US say, "THOSE AREN'T BISCUITS THOSE ARE SCONES."
A lively discussion ensued about what was a biscuit, what was a scone, and why American scones AREN'T scones, either. So I decided to make Authentic British Scones, and I know they authentically British because even though a Mexican from Texas made them, the recipe says they're Authentically British.
Originally I was going to make clotted cream for them, but (1) proper clotted cream is illegal in the US, (2) I couldn't find anyone selling raw milk locally to MAKE it, (3) the recipe for a substitute took 24 hours to make and I wanted them tonight. So I made whipped cream instead.
These are GOOD.
They taste like a southern biscuit, not as salty and buttery but a bit more mildly sweet. They're also more crumbly than flakey. But with a dollop of jam and a dollop of whipped cream, these are just amazingly heaven.
Americans are missing out on proper scones, unless we actually MAKE proper scones, and they're just called something else like pop-bisc-yahoo-cookies.
# Authentic British Scones
Curious Cuisiniere
6.0 scones
2.0 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2.0 tbsp sugar
4.0 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp salt
3.0 tbsp unsalted butter
0.6666666666666666 cup milk (dough)
1.0 whole egg yolk
1.0 tbsp milk (glaze)
1 - Preheat your oven to 425F.
2 - Beat the yolk and the milk for the glaze in a small bowl. Put aside.
3 - In a medium bowl, place the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter.
4 - Rub the mixture together with your fingers to break up the butter, until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
5 - Add the milk slowly, mixing as you add, using enough of the milk to get your dough to come together with no lumps remaining. Your dough should be quite sticky. If a good consistency is not achieved with the listed amount of milk, continue adding until your dough reaches a good consistency.
6 - Spoon the dough out onto a well-floured surface.
7 - Generously dust the top of the dough and knead the dough 2-3 times to coat it with flour and smooth the surface.
8 - Press the dough into a round that is roughly 1 inch thick.
9 - Using a well-floured cookie cutter, cut the dough into 2 inch circles. (Be sure to press the cookie cutter straight down and up. Twisting the cookie cutter will impact the amount of rise you get on your scones.)
10 - Place the rounds onto a greased and floured baking sheet.
11 - Brush them gently with the egg yolk and milk mixture.
12 - Bake the scones for 12-15 minutes, until golden and firm.
13 - Remove the baked scones from the oven and let them cool for 30 minutes (if you can resist). If you like softer scones, cover them with a clean tea towel as they cool.
Website Notes:
This scone batter freezes well. We like to freeze pre-cut rounds of dough for easy baking (just thaw and bake as directed).
Alternately, freeze the baked scones and reheat in a low oven for 5-10 minutes after thawing on the counter.
Makes 6 scones at ~37.5g carbs per scone
Calories 246
Total Fat 7g
Total Carbohydrate 38g
Protein 5g
Normally yields 10 2-inch scones.
