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Scones No. 1
2 cups of flour 2 ounces of butter 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 pint of milk Rub the butter and flour together, mix in the baking powder thoroughly, then add the milk. Make into a smooth dough, and roll out about three-quarters of an inch thick-make any shape or size required-put them immediately into a moderate oven, and bake for twenty minutes.
A plain, unsweetened scone of the older British type, meant to be split and buttered rather than eaten as a sweet. The proportions are workable, but two of the numbers need attention before you start.
- Measurements in modern terms2 ounces of butter is 4 tablespoons (half a stick). A half pint of milk in an American book of this period is 1 cup; if you are working from British habit, a half pint would be 10 fluid ounces, which will give a batter rather than a dough. Start with three-quarters of a cup and add the rest only as needed.
- The dough should be soft, not wetTwo cups of flour will absorb noticeably different amounts of liquid depending on how it is measured and how humid the day is. Hold back some milk and stop when the dough just comes together and leaves the bowl clean.
- Leavening is light by current standardsOne teaspoon of baking powder for two cups of flour is roughly half to a third what a modern scone recipe uses. Period baking powders were single-acting; with a current double-acting powder, 2 teaspoons gives a better rise.
- No salt, no sugarThe recipe as written contains neither. A half teaspoon of salt is worth adding for flavour; leave the sugar out if you want the plain scone the book intends.
- Oven temperatureA moderate oven is generally taken as 350 to 375F. Modern practice bakes scones hotter, at 400 to 425F, for a stronger initial lift and a browner top; at the lower temperature expect closer to the full twenty minutes and a paler crust.
- Work quickly and bake at onceThe instruction to put them immediately into the oven is the hinge. Chemical leavening begins working as soon as the milk goes in, and a dough left standing on the board loses much of its rise.
- HandlingRub the butter in until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs, and knead only enough to smooth the dough. Overworking develops gluten and gives a tough, bready scone.
- YieldRolled three-quarters of an inch thick and cut into 2-inch rounds, this makes roughly ten to twelve scones, depending on how thin you re-roll. Re-roll scraps once at most.
Scones belong to the British and especially Scottish baking tradition, where they were originally cooked on a griddle rather than in an oven; the shift to baked scones followed the spread of reliable domestic ovens and chemical leavening through the nineteenth century. The name is generally traced to Scots usage, though its further origin is disputed. A quick bread of flour, butter, milk and baking powder needed no suet, no lard and no meat stock.