Here is my contribution to Scone week; buttermilk and cape raisin scones. Heidiannie has made lavender welsh scones, and Celia has made lemonade and cream scones.
These have two claims to fame, one they are made with home cultured buttermilk and, two they are made with 00 Italian flour. Actually they have three claims to fame, they are light and utterly lovely and I was really proud of myself as I usually make rubbish scones. However Brian ate, let me whisper it … five of these in one go… then he didn’t want supper, what a surprise.
There. That’s all. Thank you Rachel Allen, I love your book, Bake. It doesn’t scare me like some cook books do.
I’ve made several things from it now and so far so good. I just looked and the scone recipe is here on the net. So there is no excuse for anyone not to join in.
Rachel Allen's Buttermilk Scones
Zeb Bakes 
Scone week??
It’s a joke! Well, it could be scone week, unless I”ve inadvertently made some blogging faux pas, I hope not. Wow I’ve just had a peek at your blog ! What a fabulous collection of scones you have there Southern Elle :)
Hehe just thought scone week should be something I was aware of. Glad you like my blog – it’s still just a baby but I’m loving being a blogger!
I don’t know how you do it ! It’s just one more thing I simply have to bake …. thanks to you (and Rachel Allen of course). I love scones but am only proficient at turning out oddly shaped paperweights (v. dangerous if dropped). So until now I resorted to cheating and buying scone mix – nice enough but I always felt a bit of a cheat when people complimented me on them. So now I’ll bake the ‘real McCoy’ and feel a lot better about myself (if not about my waistline which is visibly expanding – think swimsuit Blue, think swimming pool, think lovely southern beach, forget about scones and bread and pizzas ……. ah!)
What’s a waistline between friends, Blue? The secret to the scones, is like the muffins, sieve the flour twice, don’t squash the mixture, just ‘bring it together’ and pat it out, don’t roll it, and then cut it. I only understood that yesterday and now I am self proclaimed scone expert (who are we kidding here?)
Get a danish dough whisk and that will help if you are warm of hand like me! Though you could wait till the autumn and post beach time :)
oh ,Joanna–if there wasn’t a trans-atlantic flight involved, I’d be right over!
those are glorious!
jane
Let me know when you are coming and I’ll hide some away or better make you fresh ones ;)
They look so lovely and light! Please tell about your home cultured buttermilk – is that the whey leftover from making labneh? It really could be scone week, eh? With yours, and Heidi’s and Dan’s and my cheaty ones.. :)
Celia, thanks! :) The buttermilk is one of the cultures I got last month when I was in mad yoghurt trying out mode. I had five different cultures, the piima, matsoni, fil mjolk, buttermilk and villii. I am now down to three, having satisfied my curiosity about a couple. I have frozen some, because apparently you can freeze yoghurt and then use it to start again. I’ll let you know if that works. So it’s a culture. I am always a bit confused by buttermilk, because the name is given to different products, one being the whey left over from churning cream into butter which is different. Wiki says:-
“Buttermilk refers to a number of dairy drinks. Originally, buttermilk was the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cream. It also refers to a range of fermented milk drinks, common in warm climates (e.g., Middle-East, India, or the Southern USA) where fresh milk would otherwise sour quickly.[1] It is also popular in Scandinavia, despite the cold climate.
Whether traditional or cultured, the tartness of buttermilk is due to the presence of acid in the milk. The increased acidity is primarily due to lactic acid, a byproduct naturally produced by lactic acid bacteria while fermenting lactose, the primary sugar found in milk. As lactic acid is produced by the bacteria, the pH of the milk decreases and casein, the primary protein in milk, precipitates causing the curdling or clabbering of milk. This process makes buttermilk thicker than plain milk. While both traditional and cultured buttermilk contain lactic acid, traditional buttermilk tends to be thinner whereas cultured buttermilk is much thicker.[2]
Joanna, these look lovely. I love a scone, and due to me being a little hit and miss with the success of them- hardly ever make them. They are great when they are great and heavy little hockey pucks when they are not. The Monkeys go mad for them (when they are good…)
It’s scone week, even mine were light, it’s something in the air I reckon or in Celia’s ones in the bubbles of the lemonade! I am going to try both hers and Heidi’s one day soon. But I don’t keep fizzy drinks in the cupboard, we only have them when someone comes to stay.
I think there should definitely be an official scone week, scones are great! And yours are fab – really well risen and golden. You’ve reminded me just how long it is since I last made them. Must recitfy that soon. Scone, melting butter, dollops of fresh jam….. heaven!
I am making Everyone’s scones! I love them, my family loves them, my knitting group loves them, my Bible study ladies love them- I could make scones everyday and everyone would be happy! AND FAT!
Yours look so good- I love using buttermilk- because I hate having it sit in my refrigerator door and get moldy.
So I’m making yours for the knitting group tomorrow.
Thanks, Joanna.
I do love a good scone. Yours look fab, Jo! Sultanas peeking out? I have a soft spot for date scones…ahh.
Great info on the buttermilk. I have always been so confused by it and what it actually ‘is’ (couldn’t understand if it was the liquid leftover from butter, why it was so thick! – perhaps a little like me at times…) Lately, I’ve been using homemade yoghurt thinned down with a little milk as a substitute in recipes calling for buttermilk. No complaints so far and it’s always on hand. :)
Thank you Heidi and C and Christine! The fruit in these was Cape Raisins, but you can use any fruit you fancy as I am sure you all do! Christine, I was confused too by the buttermilk and as the key thing is the acidity of the liquid so that it reacts with the raising agents I have done the same thing in recipes that call for b’milk and used yoghurt. Gives the same result. Maybe historically there was always buttermilk around in farm kitchens, hence its regular appearance in simple breads and cakes and its use in soda breads?
Joanna, these look delicious – no wonder 5 were eaten in one go. I’m usually rubbish at baking scones too, so I should give these a go – I have the book, I could use it! We make buttermilk too, though I never use enough of it to keep it going. What did you think of the villii? We gave ours to my mother as I’m not too fond of the slimy texture and she kept it going for years – then it suddenly pegged out on her. Have you tried kefir – that’s our morning “yogurt” of preference.
Hi Choclette, the day turned out nice didn’t it? Villii has another name in Sweden, which translated as long milk or elastic milk or something like that, because if you picked up a spoonful it sort of hung and bounced, like a yoghurt bungee rope, and I remembered it from childhood with fear and loathing and was curious to see if it was indeed vile. This time round It tasted ok but the texture I can live without and I had all the others to deal with too. At the moment we are happily re culturing the matsoni, the piima and the buttermilk. Which is more than enough for our little household. I do want to try the kefir though….
Do you have one of the danish dough whisks? I know I keep banging on about them, but they are really good for mixing scone mix and muffins in particular, I think they are part of the reason those scones worked so well. We went to Chiswick house today where they had all sorts of interesting cakes in the cafe, seed and beetroot, almond and polenta, I didn’t try them but I admired the names :)