The Ingredients

Since scones contain only a small number of ingredients each should be of the highest quality!

• Flour – lower gluten (i.e. soft) flours (about 9% or less protein) produce taller and lighter scones than normal plain (all-purpose) flour (about 10%+ protein). But to be honest it wasn’t that great a difference so long you sifted the dry ingredients thoroughly at least three times. That is always triple sift the dry ingredients this will ensure that the flour is well aerated and the raising agents are evenly distributed so resulting in light scones. I found that finely milled soft “OO” flour gave the best results but don’t worry you can get excellent results with sifted plain (all-purpose) flour. You can use self-raising flour if you wish (remember to leave out the raising agents and salt) in the recipe below it is important to triple sift the self-raising flour as well I like to add about ½ teaspoon of extra fresh baking powder per cup of self-raising flour to ensure a good lift in my scones.
• Fat – unsalted butter gives the best flavour while lard gives the flakiest texture since it has a much higher melting point than butter so promoting a flaky texture in the final scones. The best compromise is to use a combination of the two in equal measure. I usually use all (unsalted) butter for flavour and health reasons. In most recipes the fat is rubbed into the flour using fingers or a pastry cutter (don’t use two knives or forks since it takes too long to cut in the fat using this method). It is best to grate the butter using the coarse side of a box-grater and then freeze it until you need it. Freezing the butter prevents the fat from melting into the flour. The idea is to coat the fat particles with the flour. You are looking for a fat/flour combination that looks like very coarse bread crumbs with a few pieces of butter about the size of peas, the finer you make your fat pieces the more tender the crumb of your final scones. If you want very flaky scones then make the fat pieces large like Lima beans and only lightly coat them in the flour. If your kitchen is very hot you can refrigerate your flour so helping to keep the fat from melting. Don’t freeze your flour as this will make it too difficult to rub the fat into the flour. (Typical usage about 1 to 8 tablespoons of fat per cup of flour).
• Chemical Raising Agents – always use fresh raising agents, baking powder deteriorates within two months once the jar is opened, the recommended dose is about 2 teaspoons per cup of flour. Baking powder nowadays is double action – there is an initial release of gas once the dry and wet ingredients are combined and there is another release of gas from the high heat of the oven. If you are using acidic ingredients (such as buttermilk, soured milk, cream, honey, cheese, tomato sauce etc) then use an additional ¼ teaspoon of baking soda per cup of liquid to help neutralise the acid and make the final baked product raise correctly. Baking soda is four times stronger in raising power than baking powder. You can make you own single action baking powder by triple sifting together one part baking soda and two parts cream of tartar store in an airtight container.
• Liquid – you can use milk, buttermilk, soured milk, half-and-half, cream, soda water, even lemon-flavoured soda pop (soft drink) or a combination of these as the liquid in your scones. You can sour regular milk with a tablespoon of cider vinegar or lemon juice for every cup. Just stir it in and let it sit for 10 minutes or so to curdle. Use about ½ cup of liquid per cup of flour.

• Salt – a small amount of salt (about ¼ teaspoon per cup of flour) helps improve the action of the raising agents and enhances the flavour of the scones.

The Equipment

• Baking pans – use dark coloured heavy weight baking pans as these have the best heat distribution and really give a great raise to your baked goods. Many people like to use cast iron skillets for best results.
• Measuring cups and spoons – try to accurately measure all ingredients especially if this is your first attempt at making scones  remember to scoop the ingredient into the measure and level with a knife. If you can weigh flour using scales even better.
• Scone (biscuit) cutters – use a cutter that is made of sharp thin metal with straight sides and is open at both ends this ensures that the scone will raise straight and evenly and ensures the cut scone is easy to remove from the cutter without compressing the dough. Try to avoid using cutters with wavy sides, thick walled cups, glasses, metal lids, small jars or any cutter with only one opening since it is difficult to remove the cut scones from these without compressing the dough therefore leading to ‘tougher’ scones. If you cannot get a good cutter you can cut out squares or wedges etc using a sharp knife if you wish.
• Rolling pins – most scone doughs are very soft (and wet) so can be easily patted out using your fingers. For a large amount of dough you can use a rolling pin remember to use light pressure from the centre outwards to form an even thickness of dough ready to be cut into scones. Avoid rolling back and forth over the same area as this can overwork the dough.

The Technique

• Triple sift the dry ingredients – sift your dry ingredients from a height this permits plenty of air to be incorporated into the mixture which allows for maximum lightness in your scones and ensures even distribution of all the raising agents and other ingredients.
• Rubbing in the fat – this is the stage where you can control how tender or flaky your final scone crumb will be. The more you coat your fat with flour and the smaller the particles of the final mixture, the more tender the end product because you’re retarding gluten formation in the flour (unfortunately the price you pay for this tenderness is that the final dough will be soft and might not raise very well since the gluten isn’t developed enough to form a stable structure to trap the gases that are released when the dough is baked). Conversely the larger you leave the pieces of fat (the infamous “pea-sized” direction you always see in scone/biscuit recipes), the flakier the final scones will be (that is the gluten in this case is more developed but you might find that the final baked product is dry and the mouth feel of crumb could be too firm i.e. tough). So summarising the tenderness/flakiness of your scone is achieved in this stage by manipulating the size of the fat particles and how much of the flour is used to coat the fat (the more flour used to coat the fat promotes more tenderness while larger fat pieces promote more flakiness). Either way quickly rub in the grated frozen fat into the dry ingredients using
  1)your finger tips – as you lightly rub and pinch the fat into the flour, lift it up high and let it fall back down into the bowl, this means that air is being incorporated all the time, and air is what makes scones light, continue this until you have the desired sized flour/fat particles in the mixture, or
  2)a cold pastry cutter – begin by rocking the pastry cutter into the fat and flour mixture continue rocking until all the fat is coated in flour and the desired sized flour/fat particles are obtained.
• Moistening and bringing the dough together – add nearly all of the liquid at once to the rubbed-in dry ingredients. When mixing the dough (I use a soft plastic spatula), stir with some vigour from the bottom to the top and mix just until the dough is well-moistened and begins to just come together it will be wet (and sticky). And remember the old saying – the wetter the dough the lighter the scones (biscuits)! Then turn the dough onto a lightly floured board.
• Handling the dough – as most people know it is important not to overwork the dough but what isn’t appreciated is that under-working is almost as common a mistake as overworking. Look at my first attempt (the first photo in this article) at making the challenge recipe it is crumbly and a bit leaden and the crumb isn’t flaky at all this is due to under-working the dough and making the flour/fat particles too small, it took me about six batches to understand this and not be afraid to handle the dough so the scone (biscuit) would raise correctly. Under-working causes as many problems as overworking. Overworking leads to tough, dry and heavy scones while under-working leads to crumbly leaden ones. If you are not happy with your baked goods look carefully at your final scones (biscuits) and decide if you have under- or over-worked your dough.
• Kneading or folding/turning the dough – this is the stage where you can control whether or not your scone has distinct layers by 1) only kneading the dough (for no layering effect) or 2) only turning and folding the dough (for a layering effect). As mentioned above given the same amounts of flour and fat, leaving larger pieces of fat equals more gluten formation and, therefore, flakiness. Leaving smaller pieces of fat equals less gluten formation and, therefore, tenderness. Your dough at this stage of the recipe will be a mixture of different gluten strengths since it is almost impossible to make a totally homogeneous dough at home. The major idea at this stage of the process is to exploit these gluten differences to achieve a desired degree of lamination (layering) in the final baked good. That is at this stage your dough (after you have added the liquid and mixed it until it just holds together), will have different layers of relatively gluten-rich (tougher) dough (the more floury parts of the dough), and layers of relatively gluten-free (tender-er) dough with small pieces of fat (the more fatty parts of the dough). So at this point if we only lightly knead the dough these layers will become less distinct which means the dough will become more homogeneous so producing a more even and more tender crumb when baked. But if at this stage you only fold and turn the dough (as shown below in pictures) over itself, these different layers will remain intact but will get thinner and thinner with each fold and turn, so when the fat melts and the liquid turns to steam in the oven, this steam pushes the tougher layers apart, leading to an overall flakiness and a layering effect in the scone crumb (see picture of the buttermilk biscuit above). So if you want an even more tender crumb just lightly knead (much like you would knead bread but with a very very light touch) the turned-out dough a few times until it looks smooth. If you want to form layers (laminations) in your final baked goods do a few folds and turns until it looks smooth. Always do at least one light knead to make the final dough structurally strong enough to raise and hold its shape whether you are aiming for a smooth tender crumb or a flaky layered crumb.
• Pat or roll out the dough – since most scone (biscuit) doughs are soft (and sticky) it is best to use your fingers to gently pat out the dough once it has been kneaded or folded and turned. Use a very light touch with little pressure while forming the dough rectangle to be cut into rounds for the scones. If you want tall scones then pat out the dough tall, about 3/4 inch to 1 inch (2 cm to 2½ cm) thick is about right.
• Cutting out your scones – use a well-floured scone (biscuit) cutter for each round that you stamp out from the dough. That is dip your cleaned cutter into fresh plain flour before each separate cut. Do not twist the cutter while stamping out the scone, push down firmly until you can feel the board then lift the cutter the round should stay inside the cutter then gently remove it from the cutter and place the round onto the baking dish. You can use a sharp knife to cut out other shapes if you wish from the dough, also the knife should be floured before each cut as well.
• Baking your scones – always preheat your oven when baking scones. Place each scone almost touching onto the baking dish this encourages the scones to raise and also keeps the sides soft and moist. If you want crisp sides widely space your scones on the baking dish.
• Extra comments about resting the dough – I found in my researches that a number of respected sources mentioned resting the dough in various stages in the recipe. Surprisingly this advice is sound. I found that if you rested the just mixed dough (in the fridge) for 20 minutes there was a huge improvement in the dough’s handling qualities and the final scones height, lightness and crumb were outstanding. Also I found that if you rest your patted out dough covered in plastic for 10 minutes in the fridge that the rounds are easier to stamp out and the final baked goods raise higher and have a better crumb. Also you can rest your stamped out rounds in the fridge for a couple of hours without harm so you can make your scones place them into the fridge and then at your leisure bake them later great for dinner parties etc. This is possible because modern baking powder is double action, i.e. there is another release of gas when you bake the rounds in the heat of the oven. 

BASIC SCONES

Ingredients:

1 cup (240 ml) (140 gm/5 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour

2 teaspoons (10 ml) (10 gm) (⅓ oz) fresh baking powder

¼ teaspoon (1¼ ml) (1½ gm) salt

2 tablespoons (30 gm/1 oz) frozen grated butter (or a combination of lard and butter)

approximately ½ cup (120 ml) cold milk

1 tablespoon milk, for glazing the tops of the scones

Method:

• Preheat oven to very hot 475°F/240°C/gas mark 9. Triple sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl.
• If your room temperature is very hot refrigerate the sifted ingredients until cold.
• Rub the frozen grated butter (or combination of fats) into the dry ingredients.

• It will resemble very coarse bread crumbs with pea-sized pieces for flaky scones or coarse beach sand for tender ones.
• Add nearly all of the liquid at once into the rubbed-in flour/fat mixture and mix until it just forms a sticky dough.
• Add the remaining liquid if needed. The wetter the dough the lighter the scones (biscuits) will be!

• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board, lightly flour the top of the dough.
• To achieve an even homogeneous crumb to your scones knead very gently about 4 or 5 times the dough until it is smooth.
• To achieve a layered effect in your scones knead very gently once (do not press too firmly).

• Then fold and turn the kneaded dough about 3 or 4 times until the dough has formed a smooth texture.
• Use a floured plastic scraper to help you knead and/or fold and turn the dough if you wish.
• Pat or roll out the dough into a 6 inch by 4 inch rectangle by about ¾ inch thick (15¼ cm by 10 cm by 2 cm thick).

• Using a well-floured 2-inch (5 cm) scone cutter (biscuit cutter), stamp out without twisting six 2-inch (5 cm) rounds.
• Gently reform the scraps into another ¾ inch (2 cm) layer and cut two more scones.
• These two scones will not raise as well as the others since the extra handling will slightly toughen the dough.

• Place the rounds just touching on a baking dish if you wish to have soft-sided scones.
• Or place the rounds spaced widely apart on the baking dish if you wish to have crisp-sided scones.
• Glaze the tops with milk if you want a golden colour on your scones or lightly flour if you want a more traditional look.

• Bake in a preheated very hot oven for about 10 minutes until the scones are well risen and are lightly coloured on the tops.
• The scones are ready when the sides are set. Immediately place onto cooling rack to stop the cooking process.
• Serve while still warm. Makes about eight 2-inch (5 cm) scones or five 3-inch (7½ cm) scones.

Variations on the Basic recipe

• Buttermilk – follow the Basic recipe above but replace the milk with buttermilk, add ¼ teaspoon of baking soda, increase the fat to 4 tablespoons, in Step 3 aim of pea-sized pieces of fat coated in flour, in Step 5 fold and turn the dough, rounds are just touching in the baking dish, glaze with buttermilk.
• Australian Scone Ring (Damper Ring) – follow the Basic recipe above but decrease the fat to 1 tablespoon, in Step 3 aim of fine beach sand sized pieces of fat coated in flour, in Step 5 knead the dough, in Step 7 form seven rounds into a ring shape with the eighth round as the centre, glaze with milk.

• Cream – follow the Basic recipe above but replace the milk with cream, add ¼ teaspoon of baking soda, in Step 3 aim of beach sand sized pieces of fat coated in flour, in Step 5 knead the dough, rounds are just touching in the baking dish, glaze with cream.
• Cheese and Chive – follow the Basic recipe above but add ¼ teaspoon of baking soda, after Step 2 add ½ teaspoon sifted mustard powder, ¼ teaspoon sifted cayenne pepper (optional), ½ cup (60 gm/2 oz) grated cheese and 2 tablespoons finely chopped chives into the sifted ingredients, in Step 3 aim of beach sand sized pieces of fat coated in flour, in Step 5 knead the dough, rounds are widely spaced in the baking dish, sprinkle the rounds with cracked pepper.

• Fresh Herb – follow the Basic recipe above but after Step 3 add 3 tbs finely chopped herbs (such as parsley, dill, chives).
• Sweet Fruit – follow the Basic recipe above but after Step 3 add ¼ cup (45 gm) dried fruit (e.g. sultanas, raisins, currents, cranberries, cherries etc) and 1 tablespoon (15 gm) sugar.
• Wholemeal – follow the Basic recipe above but replace half of the plain flour with wholemeal flour.
• Wholemeal and date – follow the Basic recipe above but replace half of the plain flour with wholemeal flour and after Step 3 add ¼ cup (45 gm) chopped dates and 1 tablespoon (15 gm) sugar.

Storage & Freezing Instructions

• Scones (biscuits) are really easy to store – bag the cooked and cooled scones and freeze until needed.
• Reheat in a moderately hot oven for a few minutes. Scones are best eaten warm.

It was my very first time baking with fresh apricots so I was a lil bit worried about the end result but then I really had to do something about the small mountain of ripe fruit I bought a day ago. I could not possibly eat all of them and the poor things do not keep for long. Off they went, right into my smooth and creamy teacake batter and I almost forgot about them till my kitchen got filled with this wonderful fruity aroma, almost like in a pâtisserie. Light and moist, these apricot cakes can easily be adapted to include peaches, plums, nectarines and raspberries. To be bookmarked for those stifling summer days when I get hit by the laziness bug yet have a craving for something sweet and homemade.

APRICOT TEACAKES

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

100 g butter

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup fine sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

Fresh apricots (about 4 or so, depending on the size)

Lemon juice and confectioner’s sugar

Method:

• Preheat your oven at 350 F. Mix the soft butter and the sugar together until creamy.

• Add one egg at a time and mix well. Sift the flour and baking powder separately.

• Add them to your preparation and mix well. Then add the milk and vanilla extract.

• Slice the apricots and squeeze some lemon juice of top. Take little paper cups and fill up to 2/3 up.

• Add a few apricot slices on top, and press them slightly in. Place in the oven for about 20 to 25 mins.

• Cool to room temperature. Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar. Makes about 10 to 12 mini teacakes.

Smells Heavenly, Tastes Divine

So what have you got in store for us? While 2011 has been a great year in many respects, the promise of a new beginning is always exciting and gives us the chance to sit back and do a kinda retrospective study on how far we’ve moved on in life, the satisfaction of achieving our goals and the disappointment following our mistakes. For me, 2012 will bring an end to the beautiful experience of being an intern and, therefore, compel me to go job hunting.  It’s definitely gonna be a year of challenges, struggles and goodbyes.

But before I think of the ‘hardships’ that lie ahead, I believe you’d all agree that I should take some time to rejoice and celebrate while I can. Life’s too short to cry over what-could-have-been; do what you feel like, say what’s on your mind. Regrets are but a waste of time. Have faith in your craziest dreams and remember that after every rainfall comes a sunshine.

To usher in the auspicious year, I chose to make one of my favorite Indian sweet. Mawa samosa, among the more complicated of sweets, took me almost half a day to put together. Filled with a sweet mixture of khoya, spices, dried fruit and nuts, the half moon-shaped pastry is traditionally soaked in syrup after deep frying. This I chose to skip since I was not keen on the extra load of calories but the mawas were on the sweeter side of my expectations. Hope that the sweetness lasts throughout 2012 for all of you! 

MAWA SAMOSA

Ingredients:

For the Filling

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1 tbs butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups milk powder

1/4 cup chopped almonds

1/4 cup raisins

5 cardamom pods

For the Dough

2 cups all purpose flour

3 tbs sugar

2 tbs butter

1/2 cup water

Method:

• For the filling, bring sugar, water and butter to a gentle boil. Add vanilla extract and whisk in the milk powder.

• Roast until mixture is light brown in colour, then stir in cardamom, almonds and raisins. Allow to cool.

• For the dough, sift flour and stir in sugar. Rub in butter and add enough water to form a soft, pliable dough.

• Roll out the dough into 2 large squares, approx. 23cmx23cm each. Bring 2 tbs butter to room temperature.

• Spread half onto one of the squares and place the other square on top. Spread the remaining butter over.

• Roll up tightly like a swiss roll and allow the dough to stand for about 10 minutes.

• Working from the centre to the ends, gently roll so that the cylindrical roll becomes about 5 cm longer.

• Cut into 24 portions and roll out each on a lightly floured surface into a disc of about 7cm.

• Divide the filling into 12 parts and place each in the centre of 12 discs. Cover with the remaining discs.

• Seal the edges by pinching them together and plait for a neat finish or press down with a pastry cutter.

• Deep fry in moderately hot oil until golden brown on both sides. Drain well on absorbent paper. Makes 12.