Back to the beginning: Bread & buttermilk.
Categories: Uncategorized
My childhood was filled with cookbooks and their delectable pictures. I remember spending hours scanning the pages of my mother’s recipe cards and watching her bake brown bread, scones and sponge cakes. I grew up in Ireland, you ate brown bread that was heavy and hearty, with lashings of butter and marmalade, just to make it even heavier and heartier!
My mother always made our bread. Running out of buttermilk could have been a catastrophe, but, we had our own milk from our own cows so we were always stocked in that department. Talk about livin’ off the fat o’ the land.
Tea, a cozy blanket, and a cookbook were all I needed for an ideal evening in, and I had many of those. I should have been studying something or other, but instead I was whisking eggs until ribbony, or beating butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then I devoured the glorious and sweet efforts of all that hard work! (Algebra didn’t stand a chance against a slice of bakewell tart and custard.)
My first wedding cake was a Chocolate Guinness cake. Why not? It’s rich, complex and gets people talking. Recipe coming soon in another post! Promise. All it ever needs is a good dollop of whipped cream.
I learned at an early age that food brings friends and family together. There was always something on the stove in our house! We had one of those old cookers, fueled by firewood and you played with the hottest part to get a rolling boil or a mere simmer. I remember my father frying leftover potatoes in lashings of lard in a big iron skillet on that stove – they were sublime – and I cooked many a curry on there myself when I started getting adventurous with recipes. Nobody came to our house without being fed and watered. (By watered I mean given mugs of tea or what is called “water of life” in Ireland – uisce beatha – and I am of course referring to whiskey; a staple found in many pantries for dousing on Christmas cakes and late night visitors.) Dinner and desserts didn’t have to be fancy in our house, but they were good, homemade and simple, and that is something I have never strayed from with my own family.
“Laughter is brightest in the place where the food is.” Irish proverb
And now to put that buttermilk to good use. Lets make scones!
Scones were one of the first things I learned to make along with sponge cake. If an eight year old can master both then the possibilities are endless. They are simple and delicious and with winter on the horizon they are great for a supper snack with a cuppa. I love a sharp jam to go with mine and my favorite is a strawberry and rhubarb or raspberry concoction. I don’t make thick and sticky jams, I would almost call them a compote. They are runny, not too sugary and the fruit is not cooked down to mushy paste; I want to bite into a piece of rhubarb and feel the seeds in a raspberry. Don’t worry if the “jam” or compote is too runny. I highly recommend a fluffy bed of butter to nestle it, or even better, a cloud of whipped cream for it to float upon! Below is my recipe for scones and I’m putting the tips at the top so they don’t get overlooked.
TIPS
Butter should be cubed and cold.
Sift flour and when I rub the butter in by hand I draw the flour high up out of the bowl with my fingertips as I am doing so. The butter and flour is becoming one as you do this, but as you rub the mix consider that you are aerating it also to create a lighter scone.
Some recipes call for rubbing the butter and flour until “sandy” in texture. You don’t want to do this. You want little clumps of butter not completely amalgamated, so like pea-size clumps. Makes for a flaky dough.
I love buttermilk in my scones. Just saying. You can use milk and some recipes call for cream but, buttermilk is bliss as far as I’m concerned.
As I mentioned above serve with a light runny compote of stewed fruits and spices, if you like. Ginger and rhubarb are a marriage made in heaven so just grate some fresh organic ginger as you stew the fruits, or add the zest of a lemon or orange from an unwaxed and organic citrus. Cloves are another great complementing zing to an apple butter, as is cinnamon and cardamon. If you don’t have time to make one of the recipes to follow then I do suggest any of those jams that say 50% fruit. In Canada I love the Presidents Choice Blue Menu Raspberry jam or Strawberry & Rhubarb. (Tip: Doctor a store-bought jam with fresh ground nutmeg, a dash of Grand Marnier, chopped crystallized ginger and so forth.)
I have always taken a short cut when forming my scones. I form the dough gently into a round shape and then I cut in 8 or 12 triangles. No messing with round cutters and working leftover dough for me. I form my scone “cake” on my floured baking sheet, and then just simply pull the triangles apart on the same baking sheet to avoid dirtying my counter top. Think outside the circle!
Additions:
White Chocolate and Raspberry or Blueberry
60 g of white chocolate chips, 1/3 cup fresh blueberries or raspberries. An optional extra that I love is the zest of a lemon here. Add this along with the milk and eggs before forming the dough.
Dark Chocolate, orange and ginger
1/4 cup finely chopped organic Australian crystallized ginger, zest of 1 orange and 60 g dark chocolate chips. Use 60% or more here to balance out the sweetness of the ginger and also because you don’t want to ruin a scone with lousy chocolate. Add with the eggs and milk, or after the butter has been rubbed in.
Raisin and spices
1/3 cup good quality raisins. 1/4 tsp each of cardamon, clove, cinnamon and nutmeg. A zest of an orange would go great here too. Raisins and spices can be added after the butter has been incorporated.
Now for the recipe.
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp baking power
1/4 cup cold and cubed butter
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 beaten egg for wash
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and dust with flour. Preheat the oven to 400F.
Sift the flour, salt and sugar. Using the tips of your fingers, rub the cold butter into the flour mix until it resembles short grain rice kernels. Pea-sized lumps are fine here too.
Make a well in the center of the mix and ad the lightly beaten eggs and buttermilk. Mix with a wooden spoon to create a soft dough until it all comes together. I like to finish forming the cake with my hands.
Then simply mound the dough on the parchment lined baking sheet, which has been dusted with some flour and form the unruly mess into a cake, about 1″ high. Do this gently and without kneading.
As I said, I like to get a serrated bread knife and cut the round “cake” into 8 or 12 triangles. Space them evenly apart on the baking sheet, brush with the eggwash and pop the tray into the preheated oven.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until light golden brown.
Cool on a wire rack before splitting or cutting open and lavishing with raspberry, cherry, cranberry, strawberry or rhubarb compote.
Recipe for non-sticky jam or Compote.
In a medium saucepan simmer any fruit of choice with about 2-3 tbsp. sugar until the berries have softened but not disintegrated. The amount of sugar will depend on your taste, the ripeness and also the type of fruit. Play with it. I like to put in a splash of Grand Marnier with my cherries, or port with my cranberries and spice things up with my favorite liqueur. Whip up some cream or unsalted butter and spread that goodness all over. Enjoy!
COMMENTS