Scones-Daring Bakers Challenge January 2012

January 2012 Daring Bakers Challenge was hosted by Audax from Audax Artiflex. Challenge was to make scones. Scones recipe has been especially formulated by Audax after a large amount of research and experimentation.
Scones contain only a small number of ingredients, they are fast to make and quick to bake. In England and Australia scones are eaten with jam and butter usually with cup of tea of coffee moistly as a sweet snack, while in North America they are usually eaten with meals as a savory side.
I made scones for Sunday breakfast. I decided to make basic scones because some eat sweet and others savory breakfast so that everyone could try scones. Scones were very good; flaky and crispy at the same time and everyone loved them.

RECIPE:


140 g flour
10 g baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
30 g frozen grated butter
120 ml cold milk
1 tablespoon milk, for glazing the tops of the scones

Preheat oven to 240 C. Triple sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Rub the frozen grated butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles very coarse bread crumbs with some pea-sized pieces  if you want flaky scones or until it resembles coarse beach sand if you want tender scones. Add nearly all of the liquid at once into the flour mixture and mix until it just forms a sticky dough and add the remaining liquid if needed. The wetter the dough the lighter the scones will be. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board and lightly flour the top of the dough. To achieve an even homogeneous crumb to your scones knead very gently about 4 to 5 times the dough until smooth. To achieve a layered effect in your scones knead very gently once then fold and turn the kneaded dough about 3 or 4 times until the dough has formed a smooth texture. Pat or roll the dough into 15 by 10cm rectangle by about 2 cm thick. Use a well floured sharp knife to form squares or wedges as you desire. Place the rounds just touching on a baking dish if you wish to have soft sided scones or place the rounds spaced widely apart on the baking dish if you wish to have a crisp sided scones. Glaze the tops with milk if you want a golden color on your scones or lightly flour if you want a more traditional look to your scones. Bake in preheated oven for about 10 minutes until the scones are well risen and are lightly colored on tops. The scones are ready when the sides are set. Serve warm.

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