Baking: Scones Attempt #2

In my first ever post for this new blogsphere environment, I attempted to make scones from scratch after experiencing disappointing crumbling ones at a cafe in Olinda. Due to the touristy atmosphere, scones were also charged a fortune for these flour and milk delights. Surprisingly, scones are not too difficult to create at home using ingredients that you should have around the kitchen.

The second scone attempt was made using buttermilk instead, crumbling butter with chilled butter and less oil. The result? A heavier scone that I wouldn't eat too much of. I thought the buttermilk and butter would add more flavour however that proved not to be the case. It just made it denser...and more calorie loaded! The tops of my scone got burnt due to brushing the buttermilk on top :( the recipe called for 230 degrees...I found that too hot and my scones didn't look appealing in the end.

What you will need:

• 3 cups (450g) self-raising flour
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 60g chilled butter, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups (375ml) buttermilk, plus extra to brush
• Raspberry jam, to serve
• Double cream or clotted cream, to serve

Step by Step:

1. Sift & rub

Preheat oven to 230°C. Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a large bowl. Add the butter and use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

2. Stir

Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture. Pour in the buttermilk and use a butter knife in a cutting action to stir until a soft but sticky dough forms (add more milk if necessary to make the dough soft).

3. Knead & pat

Turn dough out on to a lightly-floured surface and gently knead until dough just comes together (it is important to knead very lightly, as heavy, long kneading develops the gluten in the flour and creates denser scones). Use your fingertips to gently pat the dough into a 2cm-thick disc. (Do not use a rolling pin, as it can be too heavy-handed.)

4. Cut & brush

Lightly flour a 23cm-square cake pan. Use a 5cm-diameter round pastry cutter dipped in flour to cut out scones. Arrange scones side by side in the prepared pan. Gently brush the top of each scone with a little extra buttermilk to glaze (alternatively, dust the scones with flour for a softer finish, if desired.)

5. Bake & serve

Bake scones on the top shelf of preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown and scones sound hollow when gently tapped. Turn scones out on to a clean tea towel and cover lightly with another tea towel. Serve scones warm or at room temperature, with jam and cream, or butter, if desired.

Recipe: http://www.homelife.com.au/homes/food/scones+recipe,4620

I will stick with the first recipe until there's another fail-proof recipe floating around :)

Baking: Red Velvet Cupcakes

Red Velvet Cupcakes are one of my favourite cupcake flavours. I guess the hint of cocoa and the cream cheese frosting makes for a wonderful marriage in heaven :)

The following recipe is from popular Hummingbird Bakery in the US. Despite forgetting to add the egg to the recipe until most of the batter has been mixed through, the cupcakes still turned out moist and fluffy *phew* I used mini cupcake tins instead so guests would still have room for sweets after a heavy lunch. One full sized cupcake would have been a massive sugar hit!

For the red velvet cupcakes:

• 60g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 150g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 10g cocoa powder
• 20ml red food colouring 
• ½tsp vanilla extract
• 120ml buttermilk
• 150g plain flour
• ½tsp salt
• ½tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1½tsp white wine vinegar

For the cream cheese frosting:

• 300g icing sugar, sifted
• 50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 125g cream cheese, cold

You'll also need:
12-hole cupcake tray, lined with large cupcake cases

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/gas mark 3.
2. Put the butter and the sugar in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy and well mixed. Turn the mixer up to high speed, slowly add the egg and beat until everything is well incorporated.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, red food colouring and vanilla extract to make a thick, dark paste. Add to the butter mixture and mix thoroughly until evenly combined and coloured (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula). Turn the mixer down to slow speed and slowly pour in half the buttermilk. Beat until well mixed, then add half the flour, and beat until everything is well incorporated. Repeat this process until all the buttermilk and flour have been added. Scrape down the side of the bowl again. Turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until you have a smooth, even mixture. Turn the mixer down to low speed and add the salt, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. Beat until well mixed, then turn up the speed again and beat for a couple more minutes.
4. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20–25 mins, or until the sponge bounces back when touched. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
5. Meanwhile for the cream cheese frosting: Beat the icing sugar and butter together in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed. Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 mins. Do not overbeat, as it can quickly become runny.
6. When the cupcakes are cold, spoon over the cream cheese frosting on top.
7. 
   

The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook, Recipe text ©

All About Sourdough Bread

Source: Meet me at the Sourdough Hotel - full post below. Informative and interesting post to share ^_^

Sourdough breadmaking has seen a real revival in recent years; so popular, in fact, that in Sweden you can now check your Sourdough starter into the Sourdough Hotel to keep it alive while you’re on holidays.

In a previous interview with Malin Elmid from Berlin Bread Exchange, Malin told me that a good sourdough bread only needs three ingredients: flour, water and salt. But I never got to the bottom of how you actually make a sourdough bread.

How is the sourdough bread made?
Dench Bakery in Melbourne, describes their process as “starting the day before with the mixing of the leaven (sourdough culture) which ferments for almost nine hours. Then it is at least another six hours from mixing everything together to the first hot loaf of bread; most of that time is resting, allowing the yeast cells to do their work and to develop as much flavour as possible. The time invested in the process is the only way to achieve a loaf with body, flavour and a crust that acts as its own preservative.” 

Key Steps in the Sourdough Process
How to start?
The starter is simply flour and water which is left to ferment and used as an agent to rise the bread.  There are several methods to create a sourdough starter - here are a few: Sourdough Campion, Pinch My Salt, Sourdough Baker and The Fresh Loaf

When making your dough, remember to keep a little starter so that you don’t have to make more. A starter will respond best to a bit of regular attention (food) and will have the most activity if it is fed every day. A starter will survive in the fridge for days or even weeks without feeding but you can keep it lively by feeding it once a week. Here are a tips on how to feed your starter.

I knead you
Bread dough when fully developed is malleable, stretchy and smooth but to get it there, you need to knead it to maximise gluten formation and create air pockets in the dough.  Traditionally dough is kneaded by hand for maybe 10-12 minutes or more, however Dan Lepard popularised a short knead approach: kneading for no more than 10 secs, interspersed with resting the dough

Kneading is simply repeating folding and compressing of a dough. Sourdough Companion recommeds that the “simplest way of doing this is to push with the heel of your hand in the middle of the dough, stretching the far side of the dough away from you. Grab hold of the far (stretched) side of the dough, and fold it back towards you. Turn the whole dough by 90 degrees. Repeat this process about 10 times”. See their pictorial lesson on how to knead.

Show me the proof
The proving process is extremly important for the creation of a great sourdough. During the process the yeast multiply by feeding on the tiny amount of sugar present and carbon dioxide is produced which fills up the tiny gas pockets generated during the kneading of the dough. The sourdough flavour develops during the proving and you can actually intensify the flavour by manipulating the time and temperature during this process.

Shape Me
For a variety of shaping techniques, go no further than this beautiful video by Madison Sourdough.

After shaping, certain types of sourdough are slashed before baking. The pattern of slashes where previously used to identify a person’s bread in the communal ovens, however, the slashing is important in allowing the dough to rise in a defined way and lessen the resistance to expansion by making weak points in the crust. When slashing, slash the top firmly, quickly and decisively with a very sharp knife – it is a slash not a cut.

And now to see all this in action watch master artisan baker Dan DeGustibus’s abriged Sourdough lesson here. 

Baking: Scones Attempt #1

This first post was inspired by a recent trip to the Mount Dandenongs last weekend for the annual Tesselaar Tulip Festival and Hanami Japanese Festival.

Hanami Day @ Rhododendron Gardens

In full bloom :) *ahchoo*

Mount Dandenong is home to a few tea houses which offer Devonshire tea. We revisited the popular Miss Marples Tea Rooms and ordered their "scones" (2 pieces for $9). We were lucky to be seated straight away upon arrival just after 11am. We think the rain gods kept the queues away that morning. We would have happily ventured down the road to another cafe if there was a wait time imposed. We weren't that crazy about dining at Miss Marples specifically but anyway I digress. The word scones is highlighted because it arrives at the table in a sliced cake-like manner rather than the usual circular form you can pull apart.  Nonetheless, that is their interpretation of scones and it does pass the taste test with ease. Their signature house tea was a disappointment - you could not differentiate it between sipping a normal English Breakfast (it had a great marketing name though!)

The day before we had a stopover at Olinda and ordered scones from Olinda Cafe. Their scones were crumbly when you cut through the centre to reveal the middle. It seemed like the dough wasn't mixed together properly in the first place. The only way to minimise the crumbling process was to quickly dollop the double cream/jam on (no special technique required!). Once it resembled a bonding agent for a few seconds then you would have to quickly aim the falling pieces into your mouth. Hopefully you are not wearing white clothing while this quick vanishing act of scones to the floor occurs. Not worth the hassle to order it again. Avoid.

 

The following weekend I thought to give baking scones a go. The recipes seem simple enough, right? Are the scones you order outside worth the price you pay? I thought to try two recipes - one using buttermilk/butter and the other plain version with flour and milk mainly.

(1) The plain recipe is a country version (Gloria Hyatt) from an SMH article: 

Beat the egg, oil and milk until combined. Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a bowl. Add the egg mixture to the flour. Knead until just combined and then turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Pat into a flat shape of the thickness you'd like your scones. Hyatt prefers ¾ inch. Cut with a floured scone cutter and then place on a greased tray. Cook at 220 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.

Makes 12-18 (depending in the size of your scone cutter)

1 egg
4 tablespoons of oil (she uses vegetable oil)
2 cups of milk (or 1½ cups milk and half a cup of sour cream or thickened cream)
4 cups of self raising flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
The writer claimed that the dough did not stick to everything. Although I halved the recipe, I did not find that to be the case. I even had excess milk mixture leftover and the dough appeared too runny to receive more! 

Tips provided by Gloria Hyatt:

• Use a light touch when mixing the ingredients together – don’t over knead. Just mix until the ingredients are combined. Gloria uses a knife to cut in the ingredients but a spoon (or your hands) will work just as well. 
• Make sure the dough is sticky and not too dry. 
• Rest the dough for 10 minutes before cutting it into scone shapes. Cover this with a tea towel or a sprinkling of flour to stop it from drying out as it rests. 
• Place the scones close together on the baking tray so they rise upwards, not outwards. Cook them in the hottest part of the oven. 
• If you want to make fruit scones, add some chopped up dates or sultanas with a tablespoon of sugar.

The great thing about scones is that you should already have most of the ingredients in your pantry/fridge. I misread the recipe and rested the dough after cutting it into shapes. Bad idea. Hence the result is lopsided and...ugly looking lol. I prefer a crispy exterior so did not cover it with a teatowel. 

Ugly but edible!

But will the taste save the day? I baked the scones one minute too long in the oven. Upon transferring the scones to a cooling rack, the exterior appeared rock hard and it made a solid noise when you tapped it with a spoon or with your fingers. I was starting to get worried on whether it was edible at this point or the fact that the person devouring their first bite might chip their tooth! Slightly disheartened, I proceeded to pull it in half. *Sigh of relief* the internals were soft, cooked through and not too dense. The addition of a slightly crispy skin was a great texture combination in the end.  

What I would do differently next time:

Finish with fresh double cream and strawberry jam *drools*

• Use actual self-raising flour instead of mixing plain flour with baking powder (I realised too late that my sister had used up all the SF flour T_T). Unless you can ensure that both are evenly mixed together than that is ok. 
• Rest the dough for 10 minutes before cutting it into shapes
• I was careful not to over-knead the dough - felt this recipe was somewhat fail proof?
• Do not overbake and keep an eye out for the golden change in colour
• Try the teatowel cover next time to achieve a soft top

Next scone attempt on the agenda: http://www.homelife.com.au/homes/food/scones+recipe,4620

Warning: does more damage to your waistline :P

What's the best scone recipe that you have attempted?