Dish up the perfect afternoon treat with a batch of flawless scones and a cup of tea. Blissfully simple to make, good scones are all about mastering these essential principles – and then you’re guaranteed light and crumbly scones! Best enjoyed warm from the oven.
HOW TO BAKE THE PERFECT SCONES
First and foremost, brilliant scones are about having the confidence to do as little as possible. The less you knead the mix, the less the gluten will tighten up – which means your scones will stay loose and crumbly, rather than tight and springy.
Make sure you sieve the flour and baking powder into your bowl. This means that the two will be well mixed together, which gives you a better chance of an even rise.
Keep the butter in the fridge right until you need it. Because you will be rubbing in the butter with the flour (or blitzing in a food processor), you don’t want it to be too warm and turn into a mush!
Don’t add too much flour to the surface when you roll out your dough. It’s easy to forget that flour on your work surface still adds to the dough, which can make the scones heavier.
Once you’ve cut out your scone shapes, flip them over and place upside down on the baking tray. This will help them rise evenly, and counteract any ‘squashing’ that happened when you cut out the dough.
Watch Jamie making the perfect scones here:
THREE TWISTS ON THE PERFECT SCONE
Add a handful of cheese to your recipe and serve with chutney and slices of apple.
The gooey cranberry jam makes these scones reminiscent of a classic Jammy Dodger biscuit!
The addition of mixed dried fruit is gorgeous, whatever the time of year.