scone

I recently had a hankering for scones.

The thing that is appealing about the scone is it's basic-ness, immediacy and connotation of hospitality.

My favorite bit of scone wisdom is from a friend of my parents who lives in rural Queensland - she once told me that you should start making your batch of scones when you see your visitors' car in the distance. The scones I've always made have been wholemeal, due to beginning my baking life in the late '70s. I think that it was the first thing that I was able to make myself.

My other piece of scone apocrypha is from a chef who claims their grandmother as champion scone maker in the A.C.T. She used only plain flour, cream & soda water. Doesn't that immediately conjure up images of a pale yellow kitchen with red laminex bench tops?

This is my recent variation.

• Light the oven and turn it to the highest setting. Grease and flour a flat baking tray.
• Juice half an orange and marinate a handful of currants in the juice.
• Sift together 2 cups of wholemeal flour, a pinch of salt and 4 teaspoons of baking powder. Sift the flour again.
• Rub in 60g or two tablespoons of butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Lift the flour way up as you do this (it makes the scones lighter).
• Drain the orange juice from the currants into your measuring cup, add the currants to the flour mixture. Stir to distribute currants well.
  
• Top up the orange juice with milk to make one cup of liquid. Add approximately half to the flour and mix with a knife or a spatula. Keep adding liquid and mixing until you have a slightly sticky dough that holds together in a casual kind of way.
• Turn out onto a well floured bench top and bring the mixture together with your hands. Pat it into a evenly thick flat shape that's around 3cm deep.
  
• Cut out rounds with a glass or squares with a knife. Arrange close together on the baking sheet and brush the tops with remaining liquid.
• Place in oven and turn temperature down to 220C - they should take 12 minutes. Turn the baking sheet once during cooking.
• Once cooked, tip the scones onto a clean tea towel and bundle them up until ready to serve.
  

These are good with butter only, and a cup of tea.

I'm fond of a cheese scone - use grated parmesan, finely chopped spring onion & parsley, and a generous pinch of paprika or cayenne. These are good with a glass of medium sherry.

Plain scones would be good to serve with that plum jam I made a while ago.