30 minutes · 8 scones
Buttermilk Scones
Tall, craggy scones with a proper rise. Baking powder made the scone what it is — before 1842, this teatime staple simply couldn't exist.
Ingredients
- 350g plain flour
- 4 tsp Borwick's Baking Powder
- ½ tsp fine salt
- 85g cold butter, cubed
- 3 tbsp caster sugar
- 225ml buttermilk (or milk with 1 tsp lemon juice)
- 1 egg, beaten, to glaze
Method
- 1
Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan) with a baking sheet inside.
- 2
Rub the butter into the flour, Borwick's and salt until it resembles fine crumbs, then stir in the sugar.
- 3
Add the buttermilk and mix quickly to a soft dough — the less you handle it, the higher it rises.
- 4
Pat out to 3cm thick and stamp out rounds with a floured 6cm cutter.
- 5
Brush the tops with egg, place on the hot sheet and bake 10–12 minutes until risen and golden.
- 6
Cool briefly under a clean cloth. Serve warm, with jam first or cream first — we take no side.
A tip from Borwick's
A hot baking sheet gives the bottom heat a scone needs for maximum lift.