Scones..eggs, baking powder or not?

[battybird]

I have just made a batch of scones and was thinking about how many different recipes I have come across for this simple cake! My recipe uses baking powder and 2 eggs but I have also been told that one should not use eggs or baking powder...cream of tartar instead? What do other ishers do?? And why,if I get some from a shop do they always leave a dry taste on the roof of my mouth...which is why I dont buy them from shops!!

[Susie]

I don't know, but I've just made a batch of cheese scones and I used self raising flour and 1 egg + a bit of milk. They turned out a tiny bit flat but they were delicious

And yes I find scones give me a dry feeling as well, I actually can't eat them - I don't know why it is because I don't get the same thing with other baked things from shops

[Millymollymandy]

I have never put egg in and use baking powder.

Last year I came across a recipe for griddle scones which work brilliantly and save on putting the oven on and that recipe had an egg in it - don't think it was really necessary but when you have hens/ducks anything that has egg in it gets a thumbs up!!!

So egg for cheesy scones (turns them yellow) and no egg for scones with jam. And no sugar! and god forbid, sultanas. Erk! And no rolling and cutting into rounds either! Just press down lightly and cut into triangular-ish shapes with a knife. Oops I'm turning into a scone grump here. But mine are soooooooo much nicer than those horrid sultana laden round icky things!

[Kezz]

and no egg for scones with jam.

Could you post your recipe for no egg scones please? I've fancied making scones for a couple of days but we've got no eggs in

[Green Aura]

I have no preference re scone recipes - as long as they're freshly baked they all taste good to me!

I think that's the problem with shop-bought - I don't know if they have some sort of preservative in them because they're definitely not freshly baked and that's what makes them clarty (stick to the roof of your mouth).

I was always taught to only make what you can consume in one day. You can, at a pinch, get away with toasting them next morning but after that they're inedible.

[Susie]

Clarty is exactly the right word

[Millymollymandy]

and no egg for scones with jam.

Could you post your recipe for no egg scones please? I've fancied making scones for a couple of days but we've got no eggs in

Er I don't have a specific recipe - all the recipes I come across don't have egg (except the one I mentioned for griddle scones). I assumed the egg was needed for scones cooked on a griddle rather than in the oven. It's just butter rubbed into the flour and baking powder plus a pinch of salt I think then milk. Could you google cos I don't have the time to search through all my cookery books and type a recipe out!

Or just follow any recipe and don't put egg in - might need a tad more milk though.

Green Aura I freeze scones and mine are also perfectly good the next day cold too. But there aren't usually a lot left over as we like them hot with the butter melting all over them.

[NaturalBlue]

I don't use eggs or Baking powder But I do make a lot of scones!

Sweet Scones:
200g self raising flour and a pinch of salt and about 25g sugar (adjust to taste!), then rub in 50g butter. Mix in milk with a palete knife until firm dough - but about 150mls - you can also mix in any combination of fruits/nuts/chocolate!
Make your scones however you like then bake at 220degC for about 10-15 mins.

To make them savoury miss out the sugar and add savoury things

hope that helps
Donna x

[battybird]

My recipe (well the one I tried yesterday) had 1lb sr flour ,3.5 oz butter 1oz baking powder, 5.5floz milk and 2 eggs, oh and sultanas (sorry MMM!). They were cooked for 5 mins on gas 7 then 15mins on gas4! They were really nice but just as nice as the ones last week with no baking powder and 1 egg! I think all recipes are good when hot with butter but the ones with egg seem to keep a little longer...if there are any left after a couple of hours! I dont usually use sultanas as i prefer plain or savoury but OH likes them with "dead flies" in!

[Millymollymandy]

When I have a mo I will compare recipes with egg and with no egg, if with egg uses less butter then that's what I'll do in future. I don't think there's much of a difference tastewise, and everyone I reckon has their favourite way of making them. I just wonder what you do when you roll them out and cut out little circles what you do with the left overs, cos it isn't good for scones to be handled and rolled and rerolled and what do you do with the bit that is left like with pastry?

[Kezz]

The one recipie I tried had egg in, can't find it now, but the dough was rediculouskly sticky and I was supposed to be able to roll it out and press out circles ("Do not twist the cutter!") blah blah blah. I couldn't do anything with it so I kept adding more flour till it was useable. The end result was edible but not quite scone-ish enough.

[battybird]

I usually just cut the scones into (sort of) squares/diamonds, UNLESS I think I need to be more "posh" (why?? ) then I cut them into circles using a glass (I lost my cutters and never got round to replacing them). I dont roll the dough and squash any leftover bits into a mound as the "cooks treat" to eat when hot! Of course when they are cut into squares there are not usually any left over bits ...just funny shaped scones!

[jim]

No eggs but baking powder and sour milk or ordinary milk with a little lemon juice makes them rise well. When making cheese scones I find that chopping an apache chilli very fine and adding that to enough flour for a dozen scones is delicious.

A little research into accent? Do you pronounce the word as "sgon" or as "scOne"?

Love and Peace
Jim

[Green Aura]

Scone - with an E not scon or scoon!

[Millymollymandy]

I don't understand either of your phonetic ways of pronouncing it but I was brought up that scone which rhymes with gone is correct and scone which rhymes with moan is what 'common' people say!