Classic Scones
The soft, tender, and delectable classic scones produced with only a few ingredients are ideal for breakfast, snacking, or serving with tea or coffee.
Ingredients
- 100 g Butter (cold, unsalted) 7 tbsp
- 300 g All-purpose flour 2 ½ cup
- 150 ml Milk (cold) 168 g/ ½ cup+2 tbsp
- 40 g Sugar(granulated) 3 tbsp
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 2½ tsp Baking powder- tsp
- 1 Egg (cold) medium-sized
milk wash
- 2 tbsp milk
Instructions
- In a jar/ bowl mix milk and egg. Put this in the fridge till all the other ingredients are combined.
- In a large bowl sift in all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Add sugar and whisk.
- Grate the cold butter in a grater or cut them into small cubes.
- Put the grated butter in the dry mix. With a pastry blender, pastry fork, a mixer, or, most easily, your fingertips, work in the butter until the mixture is unevenly crumbly (coarse sand)
- Into this add milk and egg mixture and combine with a spatula till no dry ingredients are visible. The dough will look sticky and shaggy.
- Turn it out onto a well-floured board. Flour your hands and the surface of the dough well. Fold the dough (around 10 to 15 times), just enough to bring it together. It is not supposed to be smooth and springy. Sprinkle on more flour as you need it to keep the dough from sticking.
- With a well-dusted rolling pin, roll the dough out to about 1 inch thick.
- Cut out circles with the help of a well-dusted cookie cutter/round glass. Transfer these circles to the parchment/butter paper-lined tray.
- Carefully apply milk with a brush on the top surface of the scones only.
- Place them in the freezer for 30 minutes.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 200℃/390℉ for 15-20 minutes or until golden.
Notes
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- Cold butter- As mentioned secret to flaky layers is cold butter otherwise scones may end up dense and heavy. So make sure the butter is straight from the fridge. While or after grating, if the butter feels soft and mushy put it back in the fridge for a few minutes.
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- Cold milk and egg- To ensure the butter remains cold the egg and milk should also be cold. So again make sure that they are straight from the fridge.
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- Avoid over-mixing- While incorporating butter to dry ingredients or folding the dough do not over-mix. The texture of scones might end up chewy because of over-mixing. One best way to avoid mixing is to use hands rather than a processor.
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- Fold the dough- Folding makes sure that the flour is not over-mixed, and also helps in creating layers.
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- Do not use too much flour- While folding make sure to sprinkle flour just enough to work with the dough. Too much flour can make scones very dry.
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- Do not twist the cutter- while cutting the scones with a cutter only press into the dough do not twist. Twisting can lock the sides of scones and will not allow them to rise.
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- Milk/ egg wash should be applied carefully- If milk/egg wash is applied on the sides scones won’t rise properly.