My husband has a special affection for scones and American biscuits. Both of these he had discovered while living in Singapore. For myself, I grew up eating a rather different type of scone which is like a thick pancake. Some looking up in the Internet told me that those are called drop scones. Back to the so-called standard scones, we have not been able to buy them from bakeries like we used to after moving back to Germany. Thus, I came to the idea of making my own after seeing the recipe from my book, the Australian Women’s Weekly – Sweet Old-Fashion Favourites, published in 2011 by Bounty Books (Click here to check it out).
It took me a couple of tries before getting it right. I get that. Somethings just need a bit of practicing. Here it goes, as adapted from the Australian Women’s Weekly-Sweet Old Fashioned Favourites:
Ingredients
450g self raising flour*
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp powdered sugar
60g frozen butter, grated**
About 430ml buttermilk***
Extra flour for dusting & kneading
Method
1. Line baking sheet with baking paper. Set aside. Preheat oven to 240 degrees Celcius or 475 degrees Fahrenheit. (I used 200 degrees Celcius or 392 degrees Fahrenheit with fan mode only. That is the maximum heat for that particular eco setting that I prefer to use.)
2. Sift dry ingredients into a big bowl. Add in the butter. Using 2 butter knives, incorporate the butter by slashing the knives criss cross through the dry ingredients. Alternatively, rub in the butter with your fingertips. Once the butter is well incorporated, pour in the buttermilk bit by bit to form a sticky and soft dough. You might not need all of the buttermilk therefore go slow with the additions. 3. Transfer the dough onto a well floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth. Using your fingertips, pat the dough down to a thickness of 2cm or 3/4 inch. Four the cutter of your choice and cut them out.
4. Transfer them to the baking sheet, spacing out the dough cut-outs from one another. Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until they turn golden brown.
5. Serve them warm with whipped cream/clotted cream/butter and jam.
* to DIY self raising flour, the rule of thumb is 2 tsp of baking powder for every 150g of plain flour. What I did here was to add in 6 tsp of baking powder and top up the flour till the scale hits 450g.
**I found this method allows me more control over the butter as I am not able to rub butter in well. Freeze the butter and grate it. Pop the grated butter into the fridge or freezer to cool it back up before adding it to the dry ingredients.
*** to DIY buttermilk, the guide is scant 250ml/1 cup of milk to a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice. I put in about 2 tablespoons of acid before topping up the measuring jug to achieve the 430ml. Set aside for 5 minutes before using.
Here, we had them with some clotted cream and strawberry rhubarb jam. Both homemade too! Happy baking, everyone 🙂
Cloth and Apron 