Basic Scones | Community Recipes | Nigella's Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to making good scones? ›

Baking tips for making the perfect scones

The colder the better when it comes to scones, we recommend a chilled bowl and pastry cutter too. Use pastry flour: This will create a noticeably lighter scone. However, self-raising flour works just as well and creates a higher rising scone that holds its shape nicely.

To ensure taller scones, start with a thicker dough disc and place the scones on a tray with sides, allowing them to slightly touch one another. This arrangement encourages the scones to push against the pan and each other, promoting height.

Just as in old times, today's scone recipes don't include eggs, but there are some rare recipes that do. Eggs may change the texture of the scone, which should be golden on the outside and airy inside.

For example, if you substitute oil for butter or margarine, you can significantly reduce the amount of saturated fat in your baked goods. This streamlined recipe for Light Scones uses just 3 tablespoons of canola oil, which contains a fraction of the saturated fat found in butter or margarine.

Use all-purpose flour for a higher rising scone that holds its shape nicely, both in and out of the oven. To make more delicate, lower-rising, cake-like scones, substitute cake flour for all-purpose flour. Reduce the liquid in the recipe by 1 to 2 tablespoons, using just enough to bring the dough together.

Recipes for scones sometimes provide a make-ahead option that involves refrigerating the dough overnight so it can simply be shaped and then popped into the oven the next day. But now we've found that resting the dough overnight has another benefit: It makes for more symmetrical and attractive pastries.

Not chilling the dough before baking: to really ace your scones, it helps to chill your dough again before it's baked. Using cold ingredients does help, but your hands will warm up the dough when you're working with it and the extra step of chilling will help you get the best result.

It is far better that the scone mixture is on the wet side, sticking to your fingers, as the scones will rise better. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and flatten it out with your hand, or use a rolling pin, to a thickness of 1-2 cm (1/2 – ¾ inch).

Don't forget to sift!

Be sure to double or even triple sift your flour, as it takes away the clumps in the flour allowing for more air pockets in the scone dough - the result being a fluffier and more crumbly scone.

What happens if you don't put baking powder in scones? ›

If we were to whip or steam the scones, they wouldn't retain their flakiness, and wouldn't rise as much as they would with baking powder. That leaves yeast. Yeast just needs some water and sugar to start producing carbon dioxide.

My scones have a dense, heavy texture and poor volume

You may have used too little raising agent or over handled the dough before it was baked. The oven may have been too cool.

In general, scones should be baked at a higher temperature than most other pastries. Using too low of a temperature will prevent the scones from rising. If the recipe called for a lower temperature, try baking the scones at 400°F (205°C) next time, and see if that helps.

Resting the dough also allows the flour to hydrate, making the dough a little less sticky, and making it easier to neatly cut out the scones. Using this method results in scones that are incredibly light and tender and look picture-perfect.

Tips for How to Make Scone Dough:

Whatever you do, do not overmix the flour mixture or dough or allow it to get too warm. This will result in flatter, tougher, and less flaky scones.

Some common reasons for dense scones are not using enough baking powder, overworking the dough and not baking with the oven at the correct temperature.

Heavy Cream or Buttermilk: For the best tasting pastries, stick with a thick liquid such as heavy cream or buttermilk. I usually use heavy cream, but if you want a slightly tangy flavor, use buttermilk.