Baking Traditional Scones for Afternoon Tea

The Ritual of a Warm Scone

Few things feel more quietly British than a plate of scones cooling on a wire rack while the kettle comes to the boil. A good scone is a small triumph of restraint: handled little, worked quickly and eaten while still faintly warm, when the crumb is soft and the butter inside it is still doing its work. Shop-bought versions are often dense and sweet, more cake than scone. Made at home in half an hour, they are something else entirely — light, tender and just rich enough to carry a generous spoonful of clotted cream.

This is a recipe to keep in your head rather than your folder. Once you have made it two or three times, you will stop measuring quite so anxiously and start judging by feel, which is exactly how slow baking should be.

What You Need

The quantities below make ten to twelve scones with a 6cm cutter. Everything should be at room temperature except the butter, which should be properly cold.

• 450g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
• 2 level teaspoons baking powder
• A good pinch of fine sea salt
• 100g cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
• 50g caster sugar
• 250ml buttermilk, or whole milk with a squeeze of lemon juice left for ten minutes
• 1 egg, beaten with a splash of milk, for glazing

You will also want a large baking tray, baking parchment, a round fluted cutter and a pastry brush. If you have a marble or cold worktop, so much the better — warm hands and warm surfaces are the enemy of a light scone.

The Method: Light Hands, Fast Work

Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan, gas mark 7) and line your tray with parchment. Put the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl and whisk them together briefly, just to break up any lumps.

• Add the cold butter and rub it in with your fingertips, lifting the mixture as you go, until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stop while there are still a few visible flecks of butter — those little pockets create steam and lift the scones.
• Stir through the sugar, then pour in the buttermilk. Bring it together with a round-bladed knife, then finish with a light hand, gathering the dough into a rough ball. It should be soft but not sticky.
• Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead only two or three times, just until the dough holds together. Overworking develops gluten, and gluten makes scones tough.
• Pat the dough to a thickness of about 3cm. Do not roll it — patting keeps the crumb open.
• Dip your cutter in flour and press it straight down through the dough. Do not twist it. Twisting seals the edges and stops the scones rising evenly. Lift the cutter cleanly away and place each scone on the tray, spaced a little apart.
• Gather the offcuts gently, pat them together and cut again. These will be slightly less tidy, which is entirely forgivable.

Baking and the First Ten Minutes

Brush the tops of the scones with the beaten egg, taking care not to let any glaze run down the sides, or it will catch and hold the rise. Bake for ten to twelve minutes, until they are well risen, golden on top and sound hollow when you tap the base. If your oven runs hot, check at nine minutes.

Move them to a wire rack and let them sit for at least five minutes before splitting. This is the hardest part of the whole exercise. A scone eaten scalding from the oven will crumble to nothing; one eaten after five minutes is warm, tender and just set.

Cream, Jam and the Order of Things

The great Devon and Cornwall debate will not be settled here, so choose your habit and defend it cheerfully. What matters is the quality of the two things you pile on top.

• Clotted cream, thick enough to stand in a spoon, is the traditional choice. Let it come to room temperature first, so it spreads rather than tears the surface.
• Strawberry jam is the classic partner; raspberry runs it close, and a good damson or blackcurrant jam is wonderful in autumn.
• Split the scone with your fingers if you can, or cut it in half horizontally with a knife — never slice it into rounds.
• Serve with a properly brewed pot of tea, stronger than you might take it on its own. Milk in first or after is your business.

Rescue Remedies and Making Ahead

Flat, spread-out scones usually mean the dough was too warm, too wet or handled too much. Chill the flour and the bowl, use cold butter and add the buttermilk in stages.

Dry, crumbly scones have simply been baked a shade too long. Take them out as soon as the tops colour and the edges look set.

Unbaked scones freeze beautifully: cut them, lay them on a tray, freeze until solid, then bag them. Bake from frozen at the same temperature, adding two to three minutes. Baked scones are best on the day they are made, but a five-minute refresh in a moderate oven will bring yesterday's batch back to something close to its former glory.