Ever since having tea at Grays Court (thank you, joanie for telling us to visit York!) I’ve been searching for a denser, less-processed scone.
And since we wanted to enjoy the final Downton Abbey episode over high tea, I made these by combining Rachel Allen’s Scones (lots of baking soda and cream of tartar) with the National Trust's version. The NT scone uses self-rising flour, butter & lard, milk...but NO sugar. Sorry, but that's a bit too Calvinistic for me.
300g flour
75g whole wheat pastry flour
1 heaping tsp baking soda
2 heaping tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp sea salt
50 g caster sugar
150 g frozen butter, grated
200 ml buttermilk (or milk)
1 small organic egg, beaten (small amount reserved for topping)
Whisk dry ingredients together. Cut in butter until crumbly.
Make a well in the center and add liquid (milk/egg).
Stir gently by hand until flour mix is moistened.
Pour onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a rectangle. Don’t worry about making it look nice.
Fold in thirds, like folding up a letter.
Pat back into rectangle and fold again.
This builds up layers (laminates) without overworking the butter.
Wrap in plastic and chill a minimum of 30 minutes to re-firm the butter and relax the gluten.
Pat out on a lightly floured surface to a 1” thickness.
Cut into your favorite shape, but DON’T twist the cutter. Twisting seals the laminate layers and keeps the dough from rising.
Put on cookie tray lined with Silpat. Add 1-2 TBL heavy cream to remaining bit of egg and brush the surface of scones. Sprinkle with sugar (I used coarse, raw sugar).
Bake 400 degrees for 15 minutes for narrow cut scones...longer for larger circle sizes. They should puff up to 2” thick.
Serve warm with jam, butter, cream, clotted cream, double cream, lemon curd or anything else you can think of...except arsenic.
Note: these aren’t very sweet. If you don’t plan of topping with jam, add more sugar at the beginning. I also think I can add more whole grain flour and still have this work. Tests will continue.
Note: I used 1/3 of the dough and cut out 8 small triangles.
DA High Tea w/o the Servants (our Upstairs is the same as our Downstairs):
Sandwich triangles (crustless, where possible):
** Fresh Market chicken salad on croissant
** David Lebovitz's Egg Salad on pumpernickle
** Roast beef with horseradish on pretzel roll
** Cheezz's creamcheese with English cucumber on pumpernickle
Scones with homemade strawberry freezer jam, lemon curd and heavy cream, whipped.
Erin's Chocolate Mousse
Fresh strawberries
Pot of English tea
Champagne and orange juice
http://www.visityork.org/media/
And since we wanted to enjoy the final Downton Abbey episode over high tea, I made these by combining Rachel Allen’s Scones (lots of baking soda and cream of tartar) with the National Trust's version. The NT scone uses self-rising flour, butter & lard, milk...but NO sugar. Sorry, but that's a bit too Calvinistic for me.
300g flour
75g whole wheat pastry flour
1 heaping tsp baking soda
2 heaping tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp sea salt
50 g caster sugar
150 g frozen butter, grated
200 ml buttermilk (or milk)
1 small organic egg, beaten (small amount reserved for topping)
Whisk dry ingredients together. Cut in butter until crumbly.
Make a well in the center and add liquid (milk/egg).
Stir gently by hand until flour mix is moistened.
Pour onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a rectangle. Don’t worry about making it look nice.
Fold in thirds, like folding up a letter.
Pat back into rectangle and fold again.
This builds up layers (laminates) without overworking the butter.
Wrap in plastic and chill a minimum of 30 minutes to re-firm the butter and relax the gluten.
Pat out on a lightly floured surface to a 1” thickness.
Cut into your favorite shape, but DON’T twist the cutter. Twisting seals the laminate layers and keeps the dough from rising.
Put on cookie tray lined with Silpat. Add 1-2 TBL heavy cream to remaining bit of egg and brush the surface of scones. Sprinkle with sugar (I used coarse, raw sugar).
Bake 400 degrees for 15 minutes for narrow cut scones...longer for larger circle sizes. They should puff up to 2” thick.
Serve warm with jam, butter, cream, clotted cream, double cream, lemon curd or anything else you can think of...except arsenic.
Note: these aren’t very sweet. If you don’t plan of topping with jam, add more sugar at the beginning. I also think I can add more whole grain flour and still have this work. Tests will continue.
Note: I used 1/3 of the dough and cut out 8 small triangles.
DA High Tea w/o the Servants (our Upstairs is the same as our Downstairs):
Sandwich triangles (crustless, where possible):
** Fresh Market chicken salad on croissant
** David Lebovitz's Egg Salad on pumpernickle
** Roast beef with horseradish on pretzel roll
** Cheezz's creamcheese with English cucumber on pumpernickle
Scones with homemade strawberry freezer jam, lemon curd and heavy cream, whipped.
Erin's Chocolate Mousse
Fresh strawberries
Pot of English tea
Champagne and orange juice
http://www.visityork.org/media/
))