blueberry-vanilla scones (in pictures)

Submitted by portlandpiper on Sun, 2007-01-07 23:36.

You can find the original recipe at:

Recipe in Pictures

"These are the best scones I have ever tasted!" I hear this every time I serve these scones. The original, and unmodified, recipe can be found in "The Professional Pastry Chef". (If you seriously want to learn to bake, then you should get this book.)

I have reduced the amount of creame a bit, replaced the 6 oz. of candied orange peel w/ 2 oz. of dried fruit (though I do sometimes add 2 T. of sugared orange or lemon zest), and clarified (I think) the steps of mixing and shaping the dough.

First, the finished product. As you can see I am not much for presentation.
Measure and set aside 3 1/4 c. of creame and 1/3 c. of honey. Do this first to give the creame time to warm up to room temperature. The warmer the creame gets the more it will absorb into the flour.
Place baking racks in the centre and bottom third of the oven and preheat oven to 425F. Wait for at least 15 minutes after the oven comes up to temperature before putting anything into the oven to give the oven a chance to heat the walls of the oven and not just the air in the oven. (Sorry, you do not get to see my dirty oven. :-)
Add 1 lb. 12 oz. unbleached white bread flour and 3 oz. sugar to the mixing bowl.
Add 3 T. baking powder, 1 t. kosher salt, and 1 t. vanilla powder to the mixing bowl.
Add 8 oz. dried fruit to the mixing bowl.
Mix thoroughly with a baloon whisk making sure that all of the fruit is evenly distributed when done. You can not over mix at this point but you can easily under mix. The large whisk makes it easy to incorporate everything into the flour.
Gently pour all but 2 T. of creame over flour mixture and drizzle the honey over the creame. You want the creame to sit on top of the flour so the honey will not stick to the flour when it is drizzled into the bowl.
Using the wooden spoon, carefully scrape down from the edge of the bowl to the bottom and bring up the dry flour from the bottom of the bowl. Do this all around the bowl until all of the creame has been absorbed by the flour. Working fast at this point will build up gluten which will result in tough scones. There will still be some dry flour visible in the bowl after all of the creame is absorbed.
Set your kitchen timer for 5 minutes. Do not touch the dough until the timer goes off. (Oops. Forgot to get a picture. How about this? "5:00")
Place parchment or silicon mats on the baking sheets. You do not want to use cooking spray (except maybe to stick the parchment to the baking sheets) because it will make the bottom of the scones soggy.
Scrape the mass of dough onto a very lightly floured work surface and gently press it down the high spots until it is all about 2" thick. (Sorry, no photos on these next couple of steps because I got tired of washing my hands to take them.)
Collect up and spread any large pockets of dry flour and evenly distribute over the top of the dough.
Gently fold dough in half and press down until it is 2" thick again. You can do this two or three times. Do not work fast. There may still be some traces of dry flour in the dough.
Gently shape the dough into an 8" x 2" disk, cover with cling film, set your timer for 10 minutes, and wait.
Cut the disk into four even triangles and then gently shape triangles into balls. You may need to add a little more flour to the work surface at this point.
Starting with the first ball that you made, gently press each ball into a 6" x 1" disk.
After all of the disks are made, cut each disk in half and each half into three even triangles.
Arrange all of the triangles on the baking sheets.
Brush with remainder of creame and sprinkle lightly with granulated sugar.
Bake for 8 minutes. Rotate pans. Bake for 8 more minutes.
Remove the scones carefully to a cooling rack as soon as the pans come out of the oven.
Allow to cool completely before consuming or storing. The baking process is not complete until the scones have cooled to room temperature.