Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens! His recipe for basic scones (see below) was very simple and fail proof. It was a thrill to say I had made them from scratch!! Thanks Audax!!
Basic Scones (a.k.a. Basic
Biscuits)
Servings: about
eight 2-inch (5 cm) scones or five 3-inch (7½ cm) scones
Recipe can be doubled
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
optional
1 tablespoon milk, for glazing the
tops of the scones
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to very hot 475°F/240°C/gas mark 9.
2. Triple sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. (If your
room temperature is very hot refrigerate the sifted ingredients until cold.)
3. Rub the frozen grated butter (or combination of fats) into
the dry ingredients until it resembles very coarse bread crumbs with some
pea-sized pieces if you want flaky scones or until it resembles coarse beach
sand if you want tender scones.
4. 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!
5. 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 (do not press too firmly) 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.)
6. 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). Or use a
well-floured sharp knife to form squares or wedges as you desire.
7. 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 to your scones.
8. Bake in the preheated very hot oven for about 10 minutes
(check at 8 minutes since home ovens at these high temperatures are very
unreliable) until the scones are well risen and are lightly coloured on the
tops. The scones are ready when the sides are set.
9. Immediately place onto cooling rack to stop the cooking
process, serve while still warm.
