I love this scone recipe – and, believe me, I have tried many. All in the interests of research, you understand. There’s something very lovely about sitting down in the afternoon and tucking into warm scones, with lashings of jam and clotted cream. There has been some speculation of late over at Kitchen Confidence Cookery School about whether it’s jam or cream first. I firmly in the cream first camp. But frankly, does it really matter?
These are the best scones I have ever made, from Dough by Richard Bertinet. You can add a handful of sultanas if you like. I don’t, I like them just the way they are. I do also love a cheese scone, so I’ll post that recipe soon.
Scones Ingredients
75g salted butter
300g plain flour
75g caster sugar
20g baking powder
95g double cream
95g milk
1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt for an egg wash
Method
Preheat oven to 220ºC/425ºF/Cgas 7.
Rub the butter into the flour – using your fingertips, rub the flour and butter together gently until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the sugar and baking powder. If you are using sultanas, now is the time to add them.
Add the cream and milk and mix until all ingredients are bound together.
Sprinkle a little flour on your work surface with flour and tip the dough out onto it. Press down, fold it in half, press down again, fold again and repeat until you have a rough square.
Flour the top and bottom of dough, cover with a tea towel and leave to rest in a cool place for 15 minutes.
Sprinkle a little flour on your work surface then roll out the dough to about 3cm thick. Brush off any excess flour. With a sharp knife, cut scones into squares.
Lay scones on baking tray, not too close together.
Glaze scones with egg wash. Wait for two minutes, then glaze again.
Turn oven down to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6 and bake the scones for around 20 minutes until they are well risen and golden brown.
