Scones

I know I have Blogged about scones before but...........I love to fiddle. I never normally bothered putting fat/shortening into scones. I am a very lazy cook and it was just too much bother to rub it in. Sad I know but there you have it. What started my recent fiddling was Sue on Vi's pantry said a couple of times to do scones in the food processor. Shock Horror. I come from the handle little and lightly brigade and I just couldn't see how using a food processor would work. This from the girl who will chuck cake mixes into the said machine without a moment's thought. There was nothing else but to try it. Sue had recommended 'Lily's scones' from HTBADG by Nigella Lawson. She was right. they worked a treat. I was amazed. The only thing I had against that recipe was the amount of cream of tartar used. 41/2 teaspoons. Seemed excessive to me. I make scones so much I would need to empty the supermarket shelves of the stuff to keep me in stock. So I started fiddling. The one thing I liked was cream of tartar negated the need for buttermilk as it provides the acidic environment needed by the baking soda. Ordinary milk would do. The food processor rubbed in fat for me. A whole new chapter in fiddling was opened with unparalleled success. The result was light fluffy scones with a shiny crunchy top. They didn't even need to be cut in half. One touch of the knife and they obligingly fell into two pieces so light were they. You really need to try them. Trust me they are so quick. You'll have them made before the kettle has boiled.

Ingredients.

250g/9 oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting
250g/ 9 oz wholemeal flour
1 rounded tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 rounded tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp salt (if using salted butter use 1/2 a teaspoon)
1oog/4oz chilled butter cubed
1 egg beaten
300 mls milk

Method

Pre-heat your oven to 200.C/180.C fan/400F/Gas 6

Whizz the dry ingredients together in the food processsor to mix.
Add the butter and whizz again until the mix looks like the texture of sugar.
Put approximately half the beaten egg into a measuring jug, then make up to 300mls with the milk.
Pour this into the mix and whizz for a few seconds until everything just combines. It will form a moist ball.
Turn out onto a floured work top and pat or roll lightly out to about 2cm/3/4 inch thick.
using a 6cm/2 1/4 inch fluted cutter, cut into rounds and place quite close together on a lightly greased and floured baking tray.
Use the rest of the beaten egg to brush over the tops.
Bake for 10 - 12 mintes or until well risen and golden. Remove to a cooling rack.

makes 12 - 14 scones


If you don't want to use the Food Processr just sift the dry ingredients into a bowl.
Rub in the cut up butter lightly with your finger tips
Then stir in the egg and milk

Dig in while they are still warm

Perfect with the raspberry jam posted below.

Variations

Add 50g/2oz grated cheddar for savoury scones

If you want sweet scones. Use all plain flour and add 25g/1oz caster sugar.

Wheaten Scones

I know I have Blogged about scones/soda bread so many times but there was a scone thread running on Vi's pantry and I made these. The scones that had been made came from Rachel Allen's 'Bake'. Not her own recipe but a friend's. It had a huge mount of butter in the mix 4 oz/100gms. I didn't like the idea of that at all as I thought it would make the scones very biscuity. I don't usually bother with butter in scones at all but that is just sheer laziness. Silly really I mean how much effort does it take to rub in a bit of butter. I rubbed in 1 ounce/25gms. The recipe also called for cream of tartar which I don't normally bother about. I found it made no appreciable difference. Maybe it is required if the large amount of butter is used to aid the rising a bit more. I have recently started adding an egg to my scone mix as it adds a lovely richness. Rachel Allen is an Irish girl. Her recipe is the same as mine. Scones and soda bread are a way of life in Ireland not a treat to be made occasionally so the recipes are much the same all over. The one over riding rule is buttermilk and baking soda. Sweet milk and baking powder just don't give the flavour or the lightness. I find these as light and as soft as can be so I see no reason to change. Even when a day or two old they are lovely split toasted.

Wheaten Scones

225gms/8ozs wholemeal flour
225gms/8oz plain flour
or you can use all plain flour for plain scones.
Approx 250mls/9fl oz buttermilk or fresh milk soured with about 1 tablespoon lemon juice if you don't have buttermilk.
1 beaten egg
1 rounded teaspoon Baking Soda /Bicarbonate of Soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar or honey if you want sweet scones
25gms/1oz butter (optional)

Method

Pre heat oven to 200.C/180.C Fan/400.F/Gas 6

Sieve the plain flour salt and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl.
Add the wholemeal flour and stir to mix
Rub in the butter if using
Add the sugar if using
Pour in the butter milk and beaten egg and combine quickly . You want a soft workable dough.
If it is too wet add a little more flour. If it is too dry add a little more milk.
When it is combined tip out onto a floured worktop and form into a round patting it in shape very gently with your hands You need it to be approx. 2.5cms/1 inch thick.
Cut out with a 2 1/2 inch/5 cm cutter and place on a baking tray.
Pop into the oven for 15-20 mins until golden brown.
Cool on a wire rack with a tea towel over them.

Traditional Irish Breads

It's Autumn. The leaves are gold and red. The days are shortening and there's a nip in the air. Just the weather to get out the griddle and make some local bread. I make all my own bread of the yeast variety and I love doing it. What is it about throwing together soda farls potato farls wheaten bread and pancakes that is so comforting. They are rarely given time to cool but the vultures are on them. If there are any left they are great in an Ulster fry. Trust me the English don't know what a fry up is until they have tasted an Ulster. I have guests come from across the water trembling lest they don't get their fix of an Ulster fry but that is another story and another blog. Farls, the word comes from the Scottish Fardel meaning a quarter or fourth part. It is used by the Irish to describe their griddle bread. The Scots got very posh and and started to call them scones. A griddle traditionally was hung on a huge hook over the hearth fire to make these breads hence the big hooped handle. They are a pain to store and a nuisance when the handle loosens as it will over time and keeps crashing down. We have moved on here and manage on hobs. A big frying pan will do. You can buy griddles with frying pan handles now. They are just very shallow and flat. The one basic ingredient you need to make these breads is buttermilk. If you can't get it easily just add some lemon juice or vinegar to ordinary milk and wait ten or twenty minutes. It makes a good substitiute.

Potato Farls

A great way to use up last night's left over mashed potatoes. You can of course boil them up fresh for the occasion but if you are anything like me you will always have left over mash.
Knead the mash until it becomes like a soft dough.
Use about a third of it's volume in plain flour.
Knead again to combine. It will become easier as the flour is incorporated.
Roll out into a circle about 1.5cms thick and place in the hot griddle pan .
Cut a deep cross in it to divide in four.
Bake for three or four minutes
Flip over to do the other side.
Remove to a cooling rack and watch them disappear. Lovely fried later too with eggs and bacon

Soda Farls

This can also be used as oven soda. It's not so popular as the wholemeal variety known as wheaten bread. Soda farls done on the griddle are the thing. They are so good split and toasted too.
Don't bother with recipes that tell you to use a pound of flour. Far too much. The farls will be too thick and take too long to cook.

12 oz/325gms plain flour
1oz/25gms butter
1 teasp salt
1 teasp baking soda
1-2 teasps sugar
Approx 1/2 pint 250 mls Buttermilk.
In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients
Rub in the butter
Add enough buttermilk to make a firm but soft dough (think scone here) err on the side of dryness. You do not want it wet.
Knead quickly and lightly on a well floured surface and roll into a round about 1/2 inch/1.2 cms thick.
Place on the griddle and cut deeply into four. Cook for about 5-7 mins on each side.
Split one of the farls to check if they are done. The dough will be dry inside.
Don't worry too much if they don't go quite right the first time. Sometimes the griddle can be too hot or the dough too wet. A good way to see if the griddle is hot enough is to sprinkle flour on and it will brown quickly when the griddle is hot enough.
Remove to a cooling rack and cover with a tea towel. Eat them while still warm. Toast or fry them later with an egg

Buttermilk Pancakes

These can of course be made with sweet milk and baking powder but somehow they are not the same.

40z/100gms plain flour
pinch salt
1 teasp baking soda
1oz/25gms caster sugar
1 egg
1/4 pint/150mls buttermilk

Put all the ingredients into a food processor and whizz until smooth.
Heat the griddle or frying pan over a moderate heat then rub the surface with white fat (not butter as it will burn)
Drop tablespoons of the batter onto the pan spaced well apart.
When they start to go bubbly flip them over with a spatula and cook the other side for a minute or two.
Keep them warm in a tea towel while you cook the rest. They won't last long mind you.
If there are any left they are also nice with the Ulster fry when they are past their best.

Just make sure you have the butter dish to hand. It doesn't take long to churn out all three breads. Might as well since the pan is on anyway.

This is the link for the Oven Brown Soda./Wheaten Bread. This can be done as farls too but it is much nicer baked as a loaf. For some reason these farls are not so popular as the plain soda.

Irish scones are also made with buttermilk. They are lovely and light. You can find the recipe here.
You might as well as you'll have the oven on making the wheaten bread anyway and there will be flour all over the place as it is.

Scones the Irish Way

I had a little buttermilk left today after making the Wheaten Bread so rather than waste it I decided to throw a few scones together. Always a treat straight from the oven with a cup of tea. There are countless recipes and variations for scones. One thing stands clear. Buttermilk and bicarbonate of soda will give a better rise and a much lighter scone than if plain/sweet milk and Baking Powder are used.

Irish Scones

8oz/225gms Plain flour
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda/Baking soda
1-2oz/25-50gms Butter
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4pint/150mls Buttermilk

Sift the dry ingredients together into a bowl.
Cut up the butter and rub in
Add enough buttermilk to make a soft dough which is just firm enough to handle
Turn out onto a floured worktop and shape quickly and lightly into a round approximately 1 inch/2.5cms thick. (preferably thicker than thinner)
Cut into rounds and lay on a floured baking sheet
Bake at 200.c /400F/ Gas 4 for about ten mins until well risen and brown.
This should give you about eight scones

Tip: If you have no buttermilk, lemon juice added to ordinary milk and left for a little while will work quite well.