The perfect Scone

Who doesn't love a scone? In my opinion there is nothing more quintessentially British that a cream tea, but what always make a cream tea is a light fluffy scone, piled high with clotted cream, strawberry jam and fresh berries. Don't get me wrong I love flying the flag for Sweden, but sometimes it's nice to get in touch with my inner domestic goddess and bake a British classic like this. I made this in one of my recent cookery lessons, and I was surprised by my students reaction when I said we were making scones, it never fails to please.  Me being me, I cannot simply make a bog standard scone recipe, I use copious amounts of butter, and fold it in a certain way that makes the scones lighter and higher. The butter running through the dough creates little pockets of steam inside the scone which consequentially makes the scone airy. So this was my little mission to make mine the best scone in the land, and do you know what? I think I have succeeded.

You will need:

525g of plain flour

40g caster sugar

2 tablespoons baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

350g of frozen butter

4 large eggs

250ml of double cream

1 egg beaten for egg wash

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees F.

In the bowl , mix the  flour, sugar, the baking powder, salt and lemon zest. Grate the frozen butter and toss in the flour mixture. Combine the eggs and cream and mix into the flour, mix until just blended. The dough will look lumpy, but this is perfect because you need to see the butter.

 On a well-floured surface and Knead the dough into a ball. Roll out the dough  into a rectangle and fold into thirds like a leaflet, roll out and repeat this process four times before cutting. By creating layer in the scone this almost makes the dough like puff pastry, you should see small bits of butter running through the dough. Finally roll out until the dough is an inch thick, flour a 3-inch round cutter and cut circles of dough. Place the scones on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Re-roll the dough and repeat the process until all the dough is gone.

Egg wash the tops of the scones, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.