Scones

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

8 tbsp (125 mL) butter, cubed and frozen + 2 tbsp butter melted for brushing
1.5 cups (375 mL) fresh blueberries, washed and frozen
0.5 cup (125 mL) whole milk (don't skimp on the fat!), cold
0.5 cup (125 mL) sour cream, cold
2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour (very very important that it is all-purpose flour!), plus more for dusting work surface
0.5 cups (125 mL) granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder
0.25 tsp (1.25 mL) baking soda
0.5 tsp (2.5 mL) table salt
1 tsp (5 mL) grated lemon zest

1. Adjust rack to middle position of the oven. Preheat to 425F. Pulse 8 tbsp cubed frozen butter with flour, 0.5 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest in a 7-cup food processor (Kitchenaid) until butter averages 3 mm in diameter. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
2. Whisk together milk and sour cream in a small bowl. Fold milk mixture into the flour mixture with a spatula until just combined. With the spatula, transfer the dough to a liberally floured surface.
3. Dust the dough with some flour and knead 6 to 8 times just until it holds together into a ball, working quickly to avoid warming up the batter.
4. With a floured rolling pin, roll the dough into a 30 cm square. Fold into thirds like a letter, and then into thirds again to make a 10 cm square (see Figure 1). Chill in freezer for 5 minutes.
5. Transfer the chilled dough to a floured surface and roll the dough again into a 30 cm square. Spread frozen blueberries evenly over the dough surface and lightly press them into to embed it into the dough, but careful not to pop the berries.
6. Tightly roll the dough into a log. Lay seam-face down and press down to form a 30 cm by 10 cm rectangle. With a sharp chef's knife, cut the rectangle into 8 trianges, as diagrammed in Figure 2.
7. Line air bake sheet with Silpat. Arrange scones about 3 cm apart. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.
8. Bake for 18 to 23 minutes until tops are golden brown and crisp. Cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before consuming - these things are hot! Top with jelly and clotted cream.

This recipe may be frozen after completing step 6 and baked at your convenience. For frozen scones, just add about 5 minutes to the baking time at 375F. Recipe has been tested for crystallized ginger (1 cup coarsely chopped), lavender (0.25 cup), dried cranberries (1.5 cups hydrated), pink peppercorn (4 tbsp crushed), and cherries (fresh, pitted and halved).





Figure 1. How to fold the dough in step 4.












Figure 2. How to cut the dough in step 6.

Gluten Formation is Essential for Puffy Scones

Sun K, Tsai J, and Hsieh J.

Introduction

Bad scones afflicts cafes, hotels and restaurants serving breakfasts across North America (I would venture to declare "the world" but I have never ventured outside North America...but will in October!). Characteristics of bad scones include dryness, flatness, dryness, tastelessness, dryness, and the density of a 75% polyacrylamide gel. Courtesy of Dr. Sun (St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON), we have procured jars of real clotted cream (well, almost real, these are pasteurized). It would be blasphemy to apply such examples of gourmet divinity to sub-optimal-tasting scones. In this study we aimed to rectify, or at least alleviate, chronic bad scone-ness to accompany our clotted cream. We used Cook's Illustrated's Blueberry Scone recipe to see if it really was indeed, the best scone recipe ever.

Results

First task was to confirm identity of clotted cream. Clotted cream consists of 55% milk fat. Double Devon cream (sold at many grocery stores throughout the GTA) is 48%. Whipping cream is 35%, but requires dedicated whipping to achieve spreadable consistency. If one thinks the fat content of Double Devon cream is excessive enough, and that anyone would be crazy to go to great lengths to procure clotted cream, consider this: skim milk is 0% fat and homogenized milk is 3.25% fat. There is only a 3.25% difference in fat content yet the taste and perceived texture is markedly different. Imagine with a fat content difference that is 7%! Believe me, the gustatory CD36 receptors can tell.

Removing said jar of clotted cream from 4 degrees revealed that clotted cream is completely solid - telling of the high saturated fat content. Sufficiently convinced with the high fat content of this jar, we proceeded to make the scones.

Unfortunately, as a testament to the importance of good pantry organization, I was unable to locate my bag of all-purpose flour. However, cake flour was readily on hand, right beside my bag of rice and underneath the bag of coffee. Recipe called for grated butter, but to minimize handling of frozen butter with 37 degree-ish hands, butter was pulsed in a food processor (Kitchenaid) with flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest until the size of peas. Homogenized milk and full-fat sour cream was mixed, and then folded into the butter and flour mixture. The batter was handled as described in Protocols, frozen blueberries were pushed in, and 8 triangular scones were baked in a preheated 425 degree oven on a silpat-covered airbake (very important to avoid excessive browning on the underside).

Figure 1. Blueberry scoes juxtaposed to clotted cream and strawberry Bon Maman.

Blueberry scones emerged from the oven looking acceptably puffy (Figure 1). Taste revealed a very moist, almost cake-like texture. The appreciable rising is attributable to the acid-base reaction between the baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and sour cream (lactic acid) to release carbon dioxide. Satisfying, but Dr. Sun insisted that all-purpose flour be used in the next experimental batch.

Recipe was followed as described above, except with the substitution of all-purpose flour for cake flour. Chopped crystallized ginger (Dan-D-Pak) was used in lieu of blueberries, but these were not expected to have affected results. Note: there is no such thing as too much crystallized ginger. All-purpose crystallized ginger scones emerged from the oven and to our amazement, the scones were even puffier (Figure 2) and almost double in height compared to cake flour blueberry scones.

Figure 2. Crystallized ginger scones juxtaposed with clotted cream and Lyle's Golden Syrup.

Application of clotted cream and bon mamman jam indicated that all-purpose flour also leads to a more fluffy and scrumptious scone (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Blueberry (cake flour) scones with jam on the bottom, and then clotted cream on top.

Discussion

The main difference between cake flour and all-purpose flour is that cake flour contains no gluten, the protein that provides bread and other baked goods with its structural integrity. Such gluten (some of which would have formed during kneading) was necessary to maintain the air pockets of carbon dioxide released from the sodium bicarbonate/lactic acid reaction during baking. In the cake flour scones, without interchain disulphide bonds and tyrosine-tyrosine crosslinks, and some hydrogen bonds, the batter immediately collapses after the bubble of carbon dioxide is formed.

In conclusion, cake flour is good for making cake, but all-purpose flour and thus gluten formation is essential for a fluffy scone.

Other tasting notes: Lavender Vidal jelly works surprisingly well with brie.

Figure 4. (Clockwise from top) Lavender, Cranberry, and pink peppercorn scones.