Recipe: sour cream scones
Sweet or savoury
Scones were a staple sweet item in my life growing up. My favourite were the ones studded with plump raisins, served with butter and raspberry jam. A simple thing, a comforting thing. They were round, sometimes with a subtle crinkled circumference from a patterned cutter, with a somewhat cakey-but-dense texture and the scent of butter and flour.
The scones that I grew up eating seem a world away from that made by Americans, which boast a slightly more laminated and crumbly structure. Though I adore british scones, I have always wanted to try these seemingly more complex, American-style ones, which is how this recipe came about. I think the main difference between American-style scone recipes and british is the presence of egg in the American ones, which I gather helps to add structure. The use of sour cream adds flavour and helps to produce a more tender crumb, and you treat the dough like you would a pie dough in terms of leaving big, flat chunks of butter throughout to produce the slightly laminated layers. If I can give one tip for making scones, it would be to make sure everything is very cold, and don’t overwork the dough (bonus tip); it should look quite shaggy with visible pieces of butter throughout.
There isn’t a great deal of sugar in this recipes, so the scones can be served sweet or savoury. For sweet, I whipped cream with a touch of vanilla a layered it onto the scone along with some warm strawberries (frozen, since we are very much in the depths of autumn-verging-on-winter). For savoury, I roasted delica pumpkin with sage, olive oil, salt and pepper which I put on the buttered scone along with some Präst cheese.
Ingredients
butter 115g, very cold
plain flour 240g
caster sugar 70g
baking powder 17g
baking soda 4g
flaky sea salt 1/2 tsp
sour cream 120g, cold
milk or cream 60g, cold
medium egg 2, 1 for the dough and 1 for egg wash
1. Prepare your butter: with half of your butter, cut it into thin slabs about 4cm in length and 1/2cm in width. Cut the remaining half into 1-2cm cubes and place all butter back into the fridge while you get on with the next step.
2. Into a medium-sized bowl, add your flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix to combine. Place your cubes of 1-2cm butter into the flour mixture and toss to coat. Begin to work the butter into the flour with your fingers until it resembles large breadcrumbs. Add the remaining larger, thinner pieces of butter. Toss to coat, and begin to ‘shingle’ the butter: pressing the flat pieces of butter between your thumb and fingers through the flour. Don’t overwork. Remember, we want to see pieces of butter in the finished dough
3. In a small bowl, add your sour cream, milk/cream and 1 egg. Whisk with a fork to combine. Make a well in the centre of your flour/butter mixture, then add the sour cream/egg mixture and mix with a fork until the flour is hydrated and the dough is just coming together.
4. Flour your work surface and put the dough onto it. Shape it into a 7-inch square–don’t overwork or pat smooth. With a sharp knife of bench scraper, cut the dough into squares about 6x6cm in size, place on a sheet of baking paper and chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours. Towards the last 10 minutes of chill time, preheat your oven to 180C fan.
5. To bake, you can either leave the scones as they are, or for taller scones and further layers, you can double up the scones by placing one scone on top of one other. when ready to bake, whisk your remaining egg in a small bowl and brush the tops of your scones with it. Bake for 15-20 minutes until risen and gold. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack for 10 minutes before serving. They will keep for up to 3 days in a sealed container, and up to 5 days if toasting before eating.