The Best Cheese Scone Recipe Ever

Please view the updated version of this video :
   • Mastering Cheese Scones  

A truly great scone is light and fluffy on the inside, and crusty on the outside. Its the contrast of texture that makes it great. You cant achieve this with just a recipe, its all about technique.

Major thanks to Jamila at Funicular for providing 1 on 1 training.

Chapters
00:00 Start
00:35 flour
00:59 butter
01:33 milk
02:44 placement
03:20 dont microwave
03:45 start, adding 200g flour
03:59 adding baking powder
04:25 adding salt
05:06 sifting
05:40 herbs
06:22 adding butter
07:05 mixing butter
07:53 adding cheese
08:33 adding milk
10:12 weighing 110g balls
11:38 top with cheese
12:07 results
12:47 Lavender Scones



4 cheese scones
200 g standard grade plain flour
2.5 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
Pinch cayenne
40 g butter
60 g cheese (tasty)
Small amount of finely chopped rocket or parsley, or garlic chives
180 ml milk
28 g cheese for top
Make 110g balls

Directions:
Toss flour, salt, cayenne, herbs
Grate butter
Cut together using two knives
Cut to coarse texture
Add cheese, cut
Toss
Add milk, mix as lightly as possible until just no dry flour. Should be tacky. Do not over work. You want as much milk as you can get in and still form a tower.
Cover tray with baking paper
Weigh 110g spoonful's at a time
Stack in a tall tower
Place with 2 cm gap min
Top with grated cheese
Bake for 24 mins no higher than 180c. The temperature of Maillard reaction (browning) is 140-180c. Temperatures higher than 180C can cause acrid flavours. Best to test your oven with a thermometer. Avoid fan bake, or use lowest setting possible.
Test for cooked by gently poking. If it bulges out the far side, it needs another 4 mins
Rest 10 mins before eating

4 Lavender scones
230 g standard grade plain flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 tbsp. sugar
1.5 tsp dried culinary lavender buds, or 3 tsp fresh flower buds
46 g butter
205 ml milk
To serve:
spread with Damson Plumb Jam (or raspberry etc)
whip 125 ml pure cream with 0.5 tsp Organic Vanilla Bean Paste and dollop on top

Date scones 8
10 medjool dates 200g, rough cut
1 Seville orange all the skin chunky zested
Soak the dates and zest in the orange juice overnight in the fridge.
2 pinches cinnamon
1 Pinch cloves
1 pinch salt
top with demerara sugar

6 cheese scones
300 g standard grade plain flour
3.75 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Pinch cayenne
60 g butter
90 g tasty cheese
Small amount of finely chopped rocket or parsley, or garlic chives
270 ml milk
42 g cheese for top

8 cheese scones
400 g standard grade plain flour
5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Pinch cayenne
80 g butter
120 g cheese (tasty)
Small amount of finely chopped rocket or parsley, or garlic chives
360 ml milk
56 g cheese for top

15 cheese scones
750 g standard grade plain flour
9.375 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Pinch cayenne
150 g butter
225 g cheese (tasty)
Small amount of finely chopped rocket or parsley, or garlic chives
675 ml milk
105 g cheese for top

FAQ

FLOUR
High Grade Flour: does NOT mean higher quality, it’s actually to do with the amount of gluten in the flour. If you’re baking bread or dense cakes, gluten gives elasticity to dough and helps your bread to rise and be the right density. If you use High Grade flour with your scones, you will find it easier to to make a scone with height, but it will be at the cost of the texture.

Standard Flour : has less gluten, is better for light pastries, cakes and SCONES, which call for a more delicate texture. Using the technique of stacking the scone in a narrow tower, you will achieve an acceptable height, and with less gluten you will have a much better all important texture. Another trick is once you've shaped your scones, chill them before baking. The final chill relaxes the gluten which yields a tender texture. It also cools the butter down again, which is how you'll get that flaky texture.

Use Standard Grade Flour for your scones.

Temperatures make a large difference in the reactions that take place and the resulting texture, flavour and colour.
It’s important to ensure you’re baking your scones at the temperature most suitable to take advantage of caramelisation and the Maillard reaction to achieve optimal tastes, texture, and overall look from both.
Fat rich scones are baked at a lower temperature than your regular run-of-the-mill yeast bread to ensure you get optimal results. If you use a thermometer – which you should, you should have an internal temperature range of 82 to 88 °C at the end of baking.
It is best to use a conventional oven when you are baking scones. If using a fan-forced oven, as a general rule, drop the temperature by 20°C to imitate conventional.
Turn the fan to the lowest setting.