Making scones: cold butter and minimal mixing

Scones are bread without a rise

Scones are made from flour, butter, milk or cream, a little sugar and salt, and baking powder. With no yeast there is no waiting for dough to rise, and you can go from mixing to baking in under an hour. Muffins use the same kind of leavener but are a loose batter poured into a pan; scones are a firm dough you can press together by hand and cut. A good scone has a crisp outside and an inside that pulls apart along flaky layers, and those layers come from cold butter.

Cold butter makes the layers

Use butter straight from the fridge, firm and cut into cubes. Work it into the dry ingredients with your fingertips or a scraper, breaking it up as you go. It should not melt into the flour; small pieces need to remain. In the oven those pieces melt, their water turns to steam, and the gaps left behind become flaky layers. Even the warmth of your hands softens butter, so work quickly. If your kitchen is warm, chill the butter and flour mixture for a while before carrying on.

• Cut the butter while it is firm and cold
• Leave pieces from rice grain to pea size
• If the butter softens, chill the whole mixture briefly

Add the liquid and stop

Pour in the recipe's liquid, whether milk, cream or thinned yogurt, all at once and toss gently with a spatula or fork. Stop when you can hardly see dry flour and the dough roughly holds together. Mixing or kneading longer develops gluten, so scones turn tough and hard, and the butter pieces melt away. A dough that looks shaggy rather than smooth is normal. Holding back a little liquid and adding it only where flour remains keeps the dough from getting too wet.

Fold for layers and set the thickness

Turn the dough out, press it flat by hand, fold it in half and press again. Doing this two or three times makes the layers more distinct. Think of it as gently stacking, not kneading. Finish by pressing the dough to an even thickness. Thin dough spreads sideways and bakes flat, so do not go thinner than the recipe says. If you use a rolling pin, set the thickness in one or two passes rather than rolling hard again and again, which squashes the butter pieces.

How you cut changes the height

With a round cutter, dip it in flour, press straight down and lift without twisting. Twisting presses the cut edge closed, so that side rises less and the scone leans. Cutting squares or wedges with a knife leaves no scraps, which is handy. Scraps pressed together and recut are handled more and turn out less tender, so bake them separately and compare. Chilling the cut scones on the tray for a while firms the butter again so they spread less.

• Dust the cutter or knife with flour
• Press straight down and do not twist
• Chill the cut dough briefly before baking

Baking and signs of doneness

Scones are usually baked briefly in a fully preheated hot oven. The water in the butter needs to turn to steam quickly in that first heat for the layers to open up. If you brush the tops with milk or egg wash, keep it thin and on top only, without letting it run down the sides. Wash on the sides sets them early and holds back the rise. Placing scones a little closer together lets them lean on each other and climb; spacing them apart makes the sides crisp too. They are done when the top and bottom are evenly golden and the split along the side is not damp when pressed.

Common failures and causes

Flat, spread scones usually mean warm butter, dough pressed too thin, or old baking powder that has lost strength. Hard, tough scones point to too much mixing and kneading, or too much flour used for dusting. Dry, crumbly ones are often overbaked, and a bitter or metallic taste suggests more leavener than the recipe called for. If they lean to one side, the cutter was twisted or the oven heats unevenly, so try turning the tray partway through next time.

Storage and safety

Scones are best the day they are baked and dry out quickly after that. Let leftovers cool completely, seal them, and warm them briefly in the oven before eating to crisp the outside again. For longer storage, it is easier to freeze the cut, unbaked dough on a tray, move it to a bag, and bake it straight from frozen with a little extra time. Raw dough contains uncooked flour and egg, so do not taste it. Handle hot trays with dry oven mitts, and since wheat, dairy and eggs are common allergens, tell people what is in them when you share.