Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!
Until this challenge I didn’t realize that an Australian scone is a baking powder biscuit.
Scones in North American are nearly always triangular in shape have a slightly crisp crust usually covered in sugar and have a soft interior crumb and sometimes are laced with dried fruit (these baked goods in Australia and England are called “rock cakes” since they are usually made to look like “rocky” cakes not wedges), meanwhile biscuits in North American are a round shaped buttery slightly flaky baked good usually eaten with meals (these items in Australia and England are called “scones” and are eaten with butter and jam usually with cups of tea or coffee as a sweet snack).
Hopefully that helps straightens it all out. Scones/biscuits are made from a few simple ingredients they are inexpensive and quick to make, but can be difficult to master.
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Last year I posted a Breakfast Biscuit Sandwich and I used my sweet friend Edna’s Cafe Biscuits delicious recipe. This time around I used the wonderful buttermilk version of the challenge recipe. Audax posted lots of great tips on creating tender, flaky biscuits, including using frozen grated butter, the wetter the dough the lighter the scones, not overworking or underworking the dough, not twisting the cutter, and letting the dough rest before cutting so that it’s easier to handle.
I’ve only made biscuits a couple of times and I have a long way to go before I’ve master biscuits. I had hoped to make several batches of biscuits but ran out of time. Visit the Daring Kitchen to see a slideshow of all the creative scones/biscuits the Daring Bakers created for this challenge and the original challenge recipe with all of the helpful tips on how to make fabulous biscuits.
Do you have a great tip for making biscuits?
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Buttermilk Biscuits aka Australian Scones
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons frozen grated butter
- ¼ cup buttermilk approximately
- 1 tablespoon milk for glazing the tops of the scones, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to very hot 475°F.
- Triple sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. (If your room temperature is very hot refrigerate the sifted ingredients until cold.)
- Rub the frozen grated butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles very coarse bread crumbs with some pea-sized pieces if you want flaky scones or until it resembles coarse beach sand if you want tender scones.
- Add nearly all of the liquid at once into the rubbed-in flour/fat mixture and mix until it just forms a sticky dough (add the remaining liquid if needed). The wetter the dough the lighter the scones (biscuits) will be!
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board, lightly flour the top of the dough. To achieve an even homogeneous crumb to your scones knead very gently about 4 or 5 times (do not press too firmly) the dough until it is smooth. To achieve a layered effect in your scones knead very gently once (do not press too firmly) then fold and turn the kneaded dough about 3 or 4 times until the dough has formed a smooth texture. (Use a floured plastic scraper to help you knead and/or fold and turn the dough if you wish.)
- Pat or roll out the dough into a 6 inch by 4 inch rectangle by about ¾ inch thick (15¼ cm by 10 cm by 2 cm thick). Using a well-floured 2-inch (5 cm) scone cutter (biscuit cutter), stamp out without twisting six 2-inch (5 cm) rounds, gently reform the scraps into another ¾ inch (2 cm) layer and cut two more scones (these two scones will not raise as well as the others since the extra handling will slightly toughen the dough). Or use a well-floured sharp knife to form squares or wedges as you desire.
- Place the rounds just touching on a baking dish if you wish to have soft-sided scones or place the rounds spaced widely apart on the baking dish if you wish to have crisp-sided scones. Glaze the tops with milk if you want a golden colour on your scones or lightly flour if you want a more traditional look to your scones.
- Bake in the preheated very hot oven for about 10 minutes (check at 8 minutes since home ovens at these high temperatures are very unreliable) until the scones are well risen and are lightly coloured on the tops. The scones are ready when the sides are set.
- Immediately place onto cooling rack to stop the cooking process, serve while still warm.
Thanks Audax for all of the hard work you did on this challenge, as well as all the help you so generously give on all of the Daring Bakers and Daring Cooks challenges!
Susan
My husband is Australian and my in laws still live there. I lived there for 3 years and nearly every scone (pronounced “skahn” in Aussie) was made with Self Rising flour and cream. Some friends of ours own a B&B and swears by his version of Scones made with 7 Up, although I haven’t mastered that one yet.
Barbara Schieving
Fun – let us know how it turns out when you give it a try!
sut
The texture of the scones looked very good indeed. For 1 cup of flour, you used 21/4 teaspoons of baking powder, isnt that a little bit too much ? I tried out the recipe and the taste of baking powder was there, kind of acidic. I know that baking powder does wonder to the heights but the ratio of flour to the baking powder is not balanced in my opinion.
Barbara Schieving
It may be slightly higher than some recipes, but biscuits tend to use more to get that high rise. It’s important that you use a baking powder without aluminum. That will help the taste. You can reduce it but your rise may not be as high.
Charlie Wilson
Loved your article/recipe on scones (biscuits). I am not a great cook, but my mother was. I make a few things pretty well, Fried chicken is pretty good, I make a killer Chili, just wing it no recipe, and I worked on making baking powder biscuits for a long time before I got it right. As you stated, very simple and fast but not easy to get it just right. Anyone can make a decent biscuit from the recipe on the back of the baking powder can, but after that it takes lots of practice. I finally figured out that the key to great biscuits is learning what the right consistency is , how the dough should look and feel.. Baking temp and time are important too. Also, I now make up a biscuit mix ahead and keep it in the refrigerator, then I scoop out a couple of cups of mix, add buttermilk and mix up the biscuit dough. Really cuts time.
Barbara Schieving
Hi Charlie – sounds like you’ve got it down to a science. You’re so right, the key to baking is repetition and learning what the right consistency is, whether it’s bread, cake or biscuits.
Sara (Belly Rumbles)
Your scones turned out so well. I realised on my last visit to the USA that biscuits are basically scones. Funny how we cook similar things but call them something totally different. In the 80’s I was in a shop near Disneyland in Anaheim and asked if they had any bum bags. She looked at me like I was an alien and then she worked out I was after a fanny bag I was 13 and nearly died. Fanny means something else here in Aus completely!
Susan
Oh my, these look wonderful! I’m still trying to master the ultimate biscuit.
Baltic Maid
These scones (biscuits) look delicious.
Becky at VintageMixer
These look amazing! I’m coming right back here next time I need a good biscuit recipe 🙂
Blond Duck
Look good to me!
Kitchen Belleicious
You haven;t had biscuits until you have had buttermilk biscuits. Its one of the first things my grandmother taught me growing up in the south! Your biscuits look AMAZING! Just like they could melt in my mouth. Give me some butter and I am in heaven!
Cheah
I can indulge in a few of these scones at one go. They look soft and yummy.
Angie@Angie's Recipes
With biscuits like this, I wouldn’t need butter or jam or anything…they are MOUTHWATERING enough!
Becki's Whole Life
Since I moved to the south ( and my husband is from the south,) I have tried to master biscuit making. Not that I have mastered yet, but I am definitely trying:-) These look great – especially with the orange marmalade – that is how I like to eat them. My biggest tip is to laminate the dough like yo do in this recipe. That whole process is what gives you those layers. Yum – I want some biscuits now – I will try this recipe next!
andi
Hi Barbara Just wanted to let you know that I have made and posted your recipe for Snickerdoodle bread. It is very good so thank you for another wonderful recipe. Andi
angela@spinachtiger
Looks great. I took on biscuit making for first time last year. Maryann Byrd lives in my town and she wrote The Rise of the Southern Biscuit. She contacted me and shared her own recipe which I haven’t blogged yet, but tis divine and she has a youtube of it that you can probably find. Very unusual method. Now scones (American scones) I would love to take on next.
Paula
Oh my! Pass the butter and jam please!
teresa
this was fun to learn, i had no idea. they look great, and i love the marmalade, delicious!
Lisa
Barb, your biscuits are straight off the cover of any great food periodical. They look beautiful and so fluffy. I love the photo with the bit of jam. Bring on the clotteed cream, and I’m booking my flight to Utah 😉
Claire @ Claire K Creations
It’s funny how different countries call things by different names. I made my first scones last year using a lemonade (7-up) recipe last year and I fell in love. They’re such a lovely treat!
Coleens Recipes
Biscuit success has eluded me for years. I make yeast bread with no problems and I consider myself a fairly good baker, but biscuits?!?! I’ve never made one that I am truly happy with. Thanks for the tips and the recipe, I’ll keep trying.
Gauri Jayaram
Hey….
They are sooooo delish !!!
Love the browning on them !!
Perfect layers…..
Cheers !!