Best Basic Scone Recipe - 4 Ingredients Only! {Egg-free}

I love scones. Like freaking love them.

If they weren't so calorie-dense, and if I didn't gain weight as easily as I do, I would probably eat them every day haha. My fave ones are raisin scones from our country club. I reckon I would cry the day they take them off the menu.

Anyway, most of the recipes I've come across seem rather complicated and needed quite a number of ingredients. So, I was really thrilled when my friend's mum shared with me her scones recipe.

The problem is that her recipe calls for caster sugar. I, however, prefer savoury scones but since I don't usually eat salt {unless with tempura} or add salt to my cooking {I didn't even have salt at home before I tried baking the scones heh}, I wasn't too sure how to tweak the recipe and substitute the sugar properly with salt.

For my first batch, silly me actually thought that I should substitute the sugar {50g} with just slightly less amount of salt {35g} and salted butter! Woah!! Big mistake!!! It was waaaaayyyyyyy too salty for my liking but hmmm, kinda passable when eaten with honey butter {my favourite scone topping if I'm eating at home}.

For my second batch, I tried using 10g salt, raisins and unsalted butter, and although it was much less salty, I still found it too salty for my liking. The boy liked it though.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by アイ・サクラ  (@aisakuraharuka) on Feb 17, 2019 at 4:58am PST

I tried a few more times and then last week, I baked the scones with Bak Kwa {a mixture from Lim Chee Guan, Kim Choo Guan & Fragrance} and just sprinkled pinches of salt over the dough. OMFG!!! This batch turned out really, really good in my honest opinion hehe #selfpraise

A number of people asked me for my Bak Kwa Scones recipe but that really is a random, DIY experiment and I didn't measure some of the ingredients so wasn't confident of sharing. However, I am happy to share this Basic Scone Recipe which requires only 4 ingredients!!

No need baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, buttermilk and so on. 

Using this basic scone recipe, feel free to add in your own extras if you like e.g. sultanas, cheese, cranberries, lemon, chocolate chips etc. and yes, even Bak Kwa hehe.

Super easy to do and you can whip up a fresh batch of scones in less than an hour.

Prep time:
40 mins

Ingredients:
500g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
125g salted butter {take it out from fridge for 5-10mins}
300ml full cream milk
6-7 x pinches of salt
1 egg for glazing {optional, alternatively use milk}

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 200°C.
2. Put the flour into a big bowl.
3. Add the slightly-soft {not melted} butter and pinches of salt.
4. With clean hands, rub the butter into into the mixture so that it has a fine, breadcrumb texture. 
5. Use a wooden spoon to make a well in the mixture. 
6. Pour the milk into the well.
7. Mix gently, keeping it light and fluffy. Do not overwork it or you'll squash out all the air.
8. Scrape at the edges to form mixture into a ball in the bowl.
9. Dust flour onto the work surface and tip the ball of dough onto this.
10. Dust flour onto the dough so that it's not sticky.
11. Knead very gently and brush away excess flour.
12. Gently pat it flat to about 1 inch thick. Remember not to squash out the excess air.
13. Dip a 5-6cm round cutter in flour, tap the excess, cut the dough starting from the outside, then lift the scone onto the lined baking tray.
14. Gently glaze the scones with a pastry brush using a beaten egg or milk wash.
15. Bake for 10 minutes, open the oven and glaze the scones again. Turn the trays around, if needed, to bake all the scones evenly. 
16. Bake for another 5-10 minutes, until you can smell the scones and they are well-risen {note: the original recipe calls for about 12 mins baking time but I usually like my scone tops a bit more golden}.
17. Cool on a wire rack to prevent a soggy bottom.
18. Serve warm.

Using a round cutter about 6cm in diameter, I can usually get around 14-16 pieces of scones. For scone toppings, I recommend eating with butter, honey butter, jam and/or clotted cream.

While there's debate whether to put cream or jam first, if I am eating my scones with these 2 toppings, I prefer to put the clotted cream first, then the jam {Devon-style}. However, the Queen of England herself is said to prefer jam first before a dollop of clotted cream {Cornish tradition}... so you decide. *grins* 

Tweet

Pin It