The Great British Baking Show aired on PBS (via BBC) this winter and alas, is now a thing of the past. Those Brits did leave us with a trove of great recipes though – Including the Tea Time Scone, 1 of 3 classics featured for the technical challenge in the finale show.
Day after the finale, I of course needed to try this recipe for myself. The results: meh, in my opinion. But then, I’m nearly as critical as Paul Hollywood. The recipe as posted is in British, that is grams and ounces. Here I’ve translated it into plain English…oh, or maybe just plain American.
This is a very plain and basic scone – definitely the kind that benefits from jam & clotted cream. I added currants and topped with sanding sugar, though that is wholly uncalled for by the recipe.
The scones in the photo are on the brownish side – I used King Arthur Unbleached Flour but it looked nearly whole wheat in color. Twas fine with me, but it did take them another degree further from their true Britishness.
Ingredients
- *this is the American version of a recipe featured on the Great British Baking Show
- 2 cups flour
- 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3T butter
- 2T sugar
- 1 egg
- scant 1/2 cup milk (recipe calls for 3.5 oz, 1/2 cup is 4 oz) - reserve 1-2 T to glaze scones before baking
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
- Rub the butter into the flour with your fingers.
- Stir the sugar into the sandy flour/butter mixture.
- Beat egg and not-quite 1/2 cup milk (reserving 1-2T to glaze the scones with).
- Add egg/milk to bowl and stir just enough to bring it together.
- Flop the dough out and pat it together into a 3/4" tall disc.
- Stamp out scone shapes with a biscuit cutter (fluted or otherwise).
- Brush the tops with milk to glaze.
- Bake 8-10 minutes until golden brown.
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