food

Buttermilk Scones

Buttermilk Scones with Jam & Clotted Cream – for classic cream tea. Recipe by Sam Stern.

food

Buttermilk Scones

Buttermilk Scones with Jam & Clotted Cream – for classic cream tea. Recipe by Sam Stern.

Supplies

  • 225 grams self-raising flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 50 grams soft butter
  • 50 grams caster sugar
  • 150 milliliters buttermilk (or 150 milliliters of milk with a squeeze of lemon juice left for 1 hr)
  • Milk or extra butter milk for brushing
  • Granulated sugar for finishing
  • Your favourite jam or fruit curd
  • Clotted cream or double or whipping cream

Steps

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 220C/400F/gas 7. Grease a tray.
  2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add the butter. Rub it into the flour between your fingers and thumbs, lifting the mix high over the bowl as you do so, until it looks like fine sand. Keep it light (over-handling the scones makes them heavy). Add the sugar and two-thirds of the buttermilk. Mix with a fork.
  3. Add more buttermilk for a soft (not wet) dough. Draw it together with your fingers and knead it very lightly for a second until you get a smooth ball. Sit the dough on a floured board. Pat it out very lightly into a rough circle approximately
  4. 2.5 centimeters thick. Cut out the scones using a floured 6.5 centimeters cutter, pressing down sharply without twisting. Lift the scones out cleanly and place on a tray. Re-roll the scraps and repeat, re-flouring the cutter. Brush the scones with extra buttermilk and sprinkle with sugar.
  5. Bake for 15 minutes until risen and golden. Cool on a rack.
  6. Split in two when warm or cold. Serve butter, jam or fruit curd and clotted or whipped double cream.