The great scone debate

[Daisy]

Nana - I'd like a really simple idiot-proof recipe as well, if anyone has one.

I asked Mr Google for an easy scone recipe, and had a go!

I'll put the recipe in Recipes laters, but this is what happened.

I called the chosen recipe up on my iPad so I could refer to it whilst baking.

Got all the ingredients, baking tray, bowl, spoons, scales etc out ready. I even remembered to put the oven on.

I decided to weigh everything out first - flour, check! in the bowl. Pinch of salt, check, in the bowl. Butter, cold, check, in the bowl. Sugar and sultanas (oh yes, not just plain scones!) check, ready to tip in. Milk - check, in measuring jug, as close to measurement as I could get it. What could possibly go wrong!!!

I rubbed the butter into the flour. It took rather a long time, and there were still a few buttery lumps, but I didn't want to 'over work' it. (I'm not too sure what that means, but think it's to do with not mugging the flour and butter to death.) Tipped in the sugar, stirred. Tipped in the milk, stirred. And looked in vain for the 'firm dough' described in the recipe. Nope! It was sloppy and lumpy. Then, I realised I'd only put in 125 g of flour instead of 225!! So I added the extra 100g in two 50g lots. Phew, I think I've got away with it, I thought. Kneaded it a bit and it was definitely 'firm'. So I floured the work surface and rolled it out. The recipe said it serves 8, so I presume that was one each. I cut out the first two and realised I wasn't going to have enough dough to make 8, so I rolled the dough a bit thinner and carried on cutting - there, 8 no trouble! But I had a big lump of dough left. I bunged the 8 in the oven, middle shelf, and tried to decide what to do about the lump. Ooops - I forgot to brush the 8 with milk, so a quickly got them out, dabbed milk on them and stuck them back in. I made the lump into a flattened ball, dabbed it with milk and put that in on the bottom shelf, no room on the middle one.

They came out looking kind of ok, until you looked at the sides and realised that apart from the first 2, they were kind of flattish!!! I left the lump in until it looked done, but I don't know what it's like inside - probably not cooked through.

Thank goodness I didn't try a difficult recipe! But at least I'm no longer a scone virgin!

IMG_1320LR.jpg

[Daisy]

For some reason the photo isn't showing, so I'll try again!

[Clover]

Daisy your post made me laugh! Well done for having a go.
Did your recipe have any baking powder in it as this obviously helps with the rise.
Your first attempt look good.I'm sure they taste lovely.

[Daisy]

Clover - I didn't know whether laugh or cry or tell myself off for being so silly!

The recipe didn't call for baking powder, but to be honest, Clover, I think mixing 100g of flour in after the milk has been added and then failing to understand the significance of rolling out to 2 cm thickness didn't help the overall outcome. They didn't taste bad, but were more like soft biscuits because most of them were so thin! I've put the recipe up on the Recipes section:

http://gransrus.com/forum/leisure-in...omemade-scones


I learned somethign else - trying to navigate on your iPad when you're rubbing butter into flour isn't great for the iPad screen!!!

[Clover]

Daisy,practice makes perfect.
Mine never turn out the same twice in a row.

[Daisy]

thanks, Clover. I'll have another go! I don't often make cakes or pastry by hand - I always use the food processor which gives consistent results. Still, I'm sure eventually I will master this scone-making thing. Sooner or later!!

[Gemini]

Your baking sounds a lot like mine Daisy

They do look nice though, how do they taste?

[Nana]

Me too Gem 😂

[Daisy]

Gem - they didn't taste too bad actually. I just needed to make them thicker. The next batch will, of course, be WI Competition class!!