Soft, flaky and very traditional British scone recipe
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, meaning that, at no cost to you, I may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Read more here.
“That’s the badger,” says the Devon local, looking at the cream tea, with tea and traditional, crumbly, “lush” scones, with jam and clotted cream. That’s the real deal. This recipe with give you just that. A quick and easy, ridiculously soft and nice scone, perfect for a basket of treats to accompany your Devonshire tea.
These look like American biscuits, but they are not the same. A biscuit is flakier, more airy and a perfect companion for fried chicken. A scone is a little bit dryer, and can perfectly accommodate extra ingredients, like cheese, bacon, ham, herbs, chocolate, currents, raisin, cranberries, or a combination of them. Neither the British no the US version is ‘better’ –no hate here, but they cannot be interchanged. Ever. It’s the law.
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 scone
Servings Per Container 12
Amount Per Serving
Calories 233
Calories from Fat 70.2
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 7.8g
12%
Saturated Fat 4g
20%
Trans Fat g
Cholesterol 57mg
19%
Sodium 66mg
3%
Total Carbohydrate 33.8g
11%
Dietary Fiber 3.8g
15%
Sugars 7.7g
Protein 7.6g
15%
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Scones
Servings: 12
Calories: 233kcal
Ingredients
- 500 grams strong flour (bread flower)
- 250 milliliter milk
- 80 grams sugar
- 80 grams butter (softened, not melted)
- 5 tsp baking powder
- 3 eggs
- pinch of salt
Instructions
Utensils
- Large bowl
- Scale, bench knife, wooden spoon, rolling pin
- Dough cutter (circle or triangle)
- Baking tray, parchment paper
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 220oC/425oF. Grease a baking tray with butter and line the parchment paper. Set to the side.
- Put 450 grams of the flour into the bowl. Add the softened butter in little pieces.. Using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until you have a mixture that resembles bread crumbs. Try and prevent larger pieces of butter in the mixture -we don’t need puffy dough.
- Add the baking powder, salt and the sugar, and using the wooden spoon, gently mix the dry ingredients together. Add 2 eggs and mix – still gently – using the spoon. Add half of the milk, and bring everything together, adding the rest of the milk in a little at a time. You will get a very soft, wet dough. You may not need all the milk, depending on your flour, but in my experience, you will need all, or very close to all.
- Sprinkle most of the remaining 50 grams of flour on your clean counter top and turn over the dough mixture. Sprinkle the remaining flour on top. Now, you will begin to fold the dough over itself. This will add air to the mixture, and actually mix further, without kneading. We do not want to knead because we want the keep the scones fluffy, and not chewy. For that reason, we don’t knead, not to activate the gluten.
- Grab the wet dough as well as you can, and fold it in half. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and repeat. This method is called chaffing, and it will incorporate all the ingredients, and create a soft and consistent dough. You will do this a couple of times until all is incorporated. Be careful not to overwork the dough. If you want to add ingredients, this is when you do.
- Using a rolling pin, carefully flatten the dough to about 1″/2,5 cm. Using a round cookie cutter, you will cut out the scones. Dip the cutter into flour before cutting to help the dough release.
- Grab and combine the remaining pieces of dough to form a ball, and flat disc and use the cutter to cut more. Repeat this until your dough is used, but the more you collect and shape the dough ball, the less crumbly the scones will become. Cut the scones by pressing the cutter straight down, do turn the cutter as you press.
- Paul Hollywood uses a round cutter for round scones, but the traditional shape is a triangle. For that shape, use your bench knife (if you don’t have one, here is a direct link [ENTER LINK] to a good version). Divide your dough, and without working the dough too much, create two large circular-shaped dough pieces of an inch/2.5 cm thick. With your bench knife, cut the dough in 6 even pieces.
- If you leave the six pieces attached to each other, you will get scones with cleaner edges. If you separate them before baking, you get flaky, crusty, ‘un-neat’ edges (which add flavor).
- Beat the remaining egg for the egg wash. You can choose to add a little pinch of salt. With a brush or your finger, apply the eggs wash. Make sure to only wash the top of the dough to prevent the scones from rising unevenly.
Baking and Eating
- Bake the scones for about 15 minutes or until golden brown and risen. Keep an eye on the scones’ bottoms not to overbake them.
- Leave the scones to cool, if you’re disciplined enough. Either way, split or cut in half and apply butter, jam and/or clotted cream. Serve with tea.
