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!
The challenge scone (biscuit) recipe has been especially formulated by Audax Artifex after a large amount of research and experimentation. So if you want to make perfect scones, you should follow the link to his blog and read all the hints & tips he has been coming up with. I myself should have read them more accurately because my scones were more flat discs than puffy and muffin-like. I guessed I patted them too flat and kneaded them a little bit too long. Resting into the fridge helped the raising process, thats the reason the walnut-gorgonzola ones are higher (they rested longer).
Nevertheless, the taste was great and the baked dough soft. I put them onto my to-do list for my next birthday lunch - a few batches more before should make a perfect result at the end ;)
My modifications were gorgonzola and walnuts for a more savoury and buttermild and passion fruit puree for a more sweet version.
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| Walnut-Gorgonzola Scones (front) and buttermilk-passion fruit Scones (back) |
Walnut-Gorgonzola Scones
makes 6-8 scones
- 1 cup (240 ml) (140 gm/5 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 2 1/4 teaspoons fresh baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon (1¼ ml) (1½ gm) salt
- 2 tablespoons (30 gm) frozen grated butter
- Approximately ½ cup (120 ml) cold milk
- 40 g grated gorgonzola cheese
- 4 tablespoons roasted and finely chopped walnuts
- Optional 1 tablespoon milk, for glazing the tops of the scones
makes 6-8 scones- 1 cup (240 ml) (140 gm/5 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 2 1/4 teaspoons fresh baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon (1¼ ml) (1½ gm) salt
- 2 tablespoons (30 gm) frozen grated butter
- 60 ml cold buttermilk
- 60 ml passion fruit puree
- Optional 1 tablespoon buttermilk, for glazing the tops of the scones
Preheat oven to very hot 475°F/240°C/gas mark 9. Triple sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. (If your room temperature is very hot refrigerate the sifted ingredients until cold.) 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. Add gorgonzola and walnuts when making the walnut-gorgonzola scones.
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!
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.)
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.
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.
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. Immediately place onto cooling rack to stop the cooking process, serve while still warm.
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