Basic Scones

Time for the Daring Bakers‘ challenge of the month.

Audax from Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (aka biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

Scones in the U.S. are mostly triangular in shape with a crisp crust, but in England and Australia scones are more biscuit-like.

Here’s a scone from the summer in London. Dang, that’s pretty.

They actually refer to our scones as “rock cakes.”

Aud, who is Australian, also clarified on the difference between “Southern” biscuits, which are made with buttermilk. In Australia and England, they actually referred to as buttermilk scones.

Who knew biscuits/scones could be such a complex baked good!

Okay, so this challenge was to make the England/Australian version of a scone especially formulated by Audax after a large amount of research and experimentation. She designed it to help us master the techniques involved in making scones (biscuits) exactly the way you like them. Check out her recipe and instructions here. It’s so in-depth and awesome!

Luckily, the recipe contains only a small number of ingredients and is easy to make.

I sifted 1 cup of all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt in a medium bowl. Then I added 2 T. of frozen grated butter. My first time grating butter, and it made it super easy to mix into the dry ingredients. Good tip!

Next, I added 1/2 cup cold milk.

Kneaded everything together very gently 4-5 times. Really, Aud goes into pages on mixing. You gotta check out her tips! Then I patted it into about a 6-in x 4-in rectangle, roughly 3/4 in. thick.

After cutting out my scones, I brushed the tops with a bit more milk. Then baked them in a very hot oven (475 F.) for about 8 minutes.

Gorgeous!

Love the puffy layers.

Hilariously, I’m eating mine with butter and blood orange jam. I recently giggled when Kailey posted a tweet making fun of all the blood orange recipes on blogs at the moment. And what do I have in my fridge….blood orange jam. I bought it a while ago, when I couldn’t find marmalade at the store. Gah, that would have been perfect!

Regardless, I felt so British. I actually ate this last week while watching Downton Abbey. New episode this Sunday on PBS for all of you in the U.S. Get on it!