Before using a scone recipe UK based, you need to learn a brief history about it. Scones are also known as Girdle Scone quick bread of British origin, and worldwide fame made with leavened barley flour or oatmeal rolled into a round shape and cut into quarters before baking on a grill. People back then bake scones in cast iron pans hung in rural England and Wales's kitchen fires. With the advent of Eastern trade, scones became an integral part of the fashionable ritual of "taking tea," They are still served daily, hot and buttered, throughout Britain.
So if you want to enjoy your morning coffee or afternoon tea, here are some things to remember when making delicious scones. Read below.
If you want your treats to rise correctly, opt for a delicious scone recipe UK based that includes using cold or frozen butter. The colder, the better, and that extends beyond just ingredients, too. It's ideal to have a chilled bowl and pastry cutter as well.
You can have soft treats if you avoid overmixing the ingredients. Mix the dough until it comes together nicely. And although the food processor can help keep the temperature down, it's easy to over-mix, so use a pastry instead. It should look like pancake batter. Lumps are what you want!
Use pastry flour for the lightest scones. An easy scone recipe UK based may require the use of all-purpose flour or with pastry flour, as well.
Space the scones about one inch apart if they are separate wedges. Keep them cosy. However, if you want your scones to have soft sides, place them close enough to touch one another.
Cubing the butter before placing them in the freezer or refrigerator is an essential tip in any basic scone recipe UK based.
Be sure to drain your fruit very well. If you are using frozen fruit, don't thaw it out before mixing it into your batter. If you're adding fruit, chocolate or other sweet ingredients to a basic scone recipe, use less sugar. An easy scone recipe UK based will require you to pour only a touch of buttermilk when you want to add other ingredients similar to canned pumpkin or mashed banana.
A pastry cutter works best. Make sure to mix in the butter well and remove sticking dough to the cutter.
Always chill your scones before you bake them. While you chill your dough, prepare your oven by preheating it. The final chill relaxes the gluten, which yields a tender texture. It also cools the butter down again, which is how you'll get that flaky texture. You can freeze your dough in a sealed plastic bag until you're almost ready to bake it. Make sure to rest your dough first after taking it out. This is an excellent way to prepare scones for busy holidays and large events.
The secret to the flakiest scones is by using cold ingredients — cold butter, cold eggs, and cold cream. A basic scone recipe UK based includes ingredients to make flaky treats because using such maintains the butter's integrity. Keep your butter, eggs, and cream in the fridge until you're ready to make your scone dough. Chill your bowl while you're at it!
It's tempting to want to get ahead on your brunch spread the night before, but scones are one component you'll want to bake off at the last minute. If you're going to enjoy your breakfast or afternoon tea, bake them before those times. Bake scones right before you plan to enjoy them. If you'd like to get ahead, you can make and shape the dough into scones ahead of time and leave them in the fridge overnight. Or you can freeze them on a baking sheet, transfer the frozen unbaked scones to a zip-top bag, and bake them straight from frozen, adding a couple of minutes to the baking time.
These are some things worth noting when using a scone recipe UK based. Moreover, you need to know what you have to do and don't do when baking this tasty treat. You must measure all the ingredients correctly and don't use softened butter. Cold butter makes scones rise higher and gives a crumbly texture. And most of all, do not overmix the batter. Avoid using a food processor to mix scones. Gently work the dough with your hand or using a pastry. These are the main points you need to follow when baking scones. Also, make sure to consider the factors mentioned above.