Scone Thread

[footfootfoot]

People! Listen! The things that are sold as scones in the US are not what real bakers in the US would call a scone. A real US scone would be a slightly sweet, not dry, very rich biscuit like pastry. I say bicuit like since its main source of leavening is butter and baking powder rather than yeast.
I.e. it is not a bread or a muffin. This is from the Fanny farmer cookbook C. 1918. If you want my recipe which really kicks hinder PM me.

Cream Scones

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
4 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons sugar
2 eggs

1/3 cup cream

Mix and sift together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Rub in butter with tips of fingers; add eggs well beaten (reserving a small amount of unbeaten white) and cream. Toss on a floured board, pat, and roll to three fourths inch in thickness. Cut in squares, brush with reserved white, sprinkle with sugar, and bake in a hot oven fifteen minutes.
5

Baking Powder Biscuit I

2 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon lard
5 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk and water in equal parts
1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon butter

Mix dry ingredients, and sift twice.
6 Work in butter and lard with tips of fingers; add gradually the liquid, mixing with knife to a soft dough. It is impossible to determine the exact amount of liquid, owing to differences in flour. Toss on a floured board, pat and roll lightly to one-half inch in thickness. Shape with a biscuit-cutter. Place on buttered pan, and bake in hot oven twelve to fifteen minutes. If baked in too slow an oven, the gas will escape before it has done its work. 7

Baking Powder Biscuit II

2 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons butter
5 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix and bake as Baking Powder Biscuit I.


My Breakdown:
Scones Vs. Biscuit

S: Pastry or ap flour (less protein, i.e. less gluten, means less chewey, more crumbly)
B: Bread flour More protein i.e. more gluten, means chewier, flakier ,less crumbly)
S: sugar (sweeter)
B: no sugar
S: eggs (richer)
B: no eggs
S: twice as much fat (richer, smoother mouth feel also all butter rather than half lard means slightly more moisture and more butter flavor, lard is comparatively neutral in flavor)
B: half as much fat (more bready tasting, lighter in a less rich sense of the word
S: the liquid is made up of eggs and cream (how rich is that?)
B: the liquid is made up of either milk or water and milk 50/50
The upshot is that a proper American scone should be characterised as “Rich, moist, crumbly, and sweet” If anyone tries to sell you anything different tell them (expletive deleted) ß ok, who gets that reference?