Thursday, June 30, 2011

Cream Scones

Ahh....a little sad that I didn't manage to squeeze out the time to look through bread recipes to support dearest Sweetylicious' Aspiring Bakers this month. Baked scones instead for breakfast.

They look awfully beautiful, like works of pastry shops eh?

The downside is though...My bad. I used bleached all purpose flour instead. I think the lower protein content caused the insides to be softer and more crumbly. Plus I underbaked them a little, so it resulted in scones that are made for old people without teeth.

Cream Scones (adapted from Sur La Table's The Art & Soul of Baking)

Ingredients:
280g unbleached all-purpose flour
50g sugar
2 1/2 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
113g cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inches cubes
(Toss in 70g raisins before adding cream)
240ml chilled heavy whipping cream
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp sugar, or for more crunch and a touch of brown sugar flavor, 2 tablespoons turbinado or raw sugar

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 220°C and position an oven rack in the center. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper or a thin silicone mat. Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of the food processor and process for 10 seconds to blend well. Add the cold butter pieces and pulse 5 times at 1-second intervals, or until the butter is cut into medium pieces. Add the cream and pulse another 20 times, or until the dough holds together in small, thick clumps. Use a spatula to scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently squeeze the clumps together until they form a cohesive dough.
2. Pat the dough into a circle 7 inches in diameter and about 1 inch thick. Use a chef's knife to cut the dough into 8 equal wedges and transfer to the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart.
3. Brush the tops with a thin coating of the lightly beaten egg (you will not use all the egg). Sprinkle evenly with the sugar. Bake the scones for 14 to 16 minutes, until firm to the touch and golden brown. Transfer to a rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Serve the scones warm or at room temperature.

Storing: Once baked, serve the scones within 2 hours, when they are at their freshest and most appealing. Keep them uncovered at room temperature until serving time.

10 comments:

  1. Hmm...I always though unbleached flour is just flour that didn't go through the bleaching process? And thus the name unbleached, it has nothing to do with the protein level in the flour. Check out the link:
    http://www.differencebetween.net/object/difference-between-bleached-and-unbleached-flour/
    I suspect you might have under mixed the batter and thus the crumbly texture? But these scones do look gorgeous. ;)

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  2. Your phoso do look good though! Maybe this recipe produces more crumbly scones? I agree with HBS though, there isn't a difference between bleached and unbleached flour, so the cause shouldn't be that

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  3. you may want to rest the dough for 10 minutes beofre shaping them. They still look great to me!

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  4. Your scones look awesome. Nice scones are notoriously difficult to make, whatever the case.

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  5. i've never make scones before! this look so pretty! next time, you shall make this for me okay :D soft also never mind!

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  6. hey they look GREAT!! even tho i have my full set of teeth, sometimes i do like super soft stuff due to laziness to chew lol. i have that cookbook as well but havent made too many from it yet!

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  7. To me, taste is still more important than look. I know that shaping sticky scones can be quite tricky, but these scones look good to me.

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