French Tarte Faves (FTF) No. 6: Scones

It’s been awhile since my last FAVE post - life happens, doesn’t it. This is certainly not a new topic for this blog. Over the years I’ve shared pumpkin, lemon, ginger, cheddar and blueberry scones to name just a few. In the lead image - raspberry glazed vanilla scones - yum.

I’ve been working on this particular post now for several months - whoa! It’s about time to finish it. Having taught a scone and teacakes class last week and another one coming up next week, I’m definitely in the mood.

Fair warning - it’s a lengthy one! I completely understand if you simply scroll through, check out the images, click on some of the recipe links and create your own tasty version of scones. Just have fun with it.

Pumpkin scone with blackberry jam

First let’s take a look at basic ingredients: flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, butter, dairy and sometimes egg.

Flour is usually all purpose but you can create your own combos. For example - create a mix using all purpose, whole wheat, spelt or rye, particularly for a cheesy savory scone. Or replace 1/4 of the flour with a nut flour like almond or hazelnut especially when adding dried fruit and/or chopped nuts. Even “00” pizza flour subbed in for 1/4 to 1/3 of the all purpose lends a lovely texture.

Just a few flour choices

Butter is typically unsalted in the majority of baking recipes, and, while I generally stick with that, I’ve used European style salted butters for different bakes (particularly shortbread cookies) with delicious results.

Some favorite butters at our local grocery

Not all scone recipes contain egg. Without it I generally find the end result to have a drier biscuit like texture and I do prefer the moisture provided by adding the egg (except Rose Levy Beranaum’s ginger scones! made with whipped cream!).

Here’s Rose’s ginger scone with fresh strawberries and homemade strawberry ice cream - delish!

The form of dairy can vary from heavy cream or crème fraîche to buttermilk to yogurt or even cottage cheese or ricotta. I’ve used combos of cream+yogurt or buttermilk+ ricotta to create slightly different textures and flavors. Play around with it.

Then consider chunky or crunchy add-ins like dried fruits (cranberry, cherry, apricot, currants are all fair game), lightly toasted-then-chopped nuts and/or chopped or grated chocolate/chips/pearls; or savory versions with grated cheddar cheese, sun dried tomato or bacon bits. So many possibilities!

Be careful with “wet” add-ins which are likely to affect the scone’s texture. I generally don’t use fresh raspberries or strawberries due to their water content as well as difficulty incorporating them into the dough without squishing them a lot. I have however had pretty good luck with blueberries in this Joanne Chang recipe.

I utilize two base recipes for the most part. Here’s the one for a classic simple lemon or vanilla scone with some suggested flavor variations and different glazes you might like. And here’s the one with add-ins - same ingredients with adjusted quantities to allow for add-ins and yield the same batch weight as the classic version.

Example - if I’m making both lemon and cranberry nut scones, I’ll have essentially equal weights of each dough and can shape and cut the same number and size of scones from each batch. Yeah, I know - a bit over the top on the uniformity end of things, eh?

With a slight variation for savory scones I use this base.

I usually shape my dough either into circles from which I cut larger triangles OR a rectangle from which I cut squares then divide those into smaller triangles. It’s not so much the exact dimensions but that you shape your dough at least 3/4” - 1” thick for a nicely risen scone.

Here are a couple of templates that help me determine shapes/sizes that I might choose to cut. Note different colored lines to indicate different sizes/yields/approximate weights of each scone. Yes I know - I’m kinda of a nut case!

I came across an approach recently for a slightly different take on things. For my basic lemon scone recipe I use exactly the same ingredients but incorporate melted/cooled (yet still “fluid”) butter into the mix rather than the usual cold, diced butter that’s briefly worked into the dough with the fingertips. This one requires some planning ahead since the dough has to chill in the fridge for 4-ish hours or overnight before you portion and bake.

Let’s take a look. Below are the ingredients for the basic dough - note the melted/cooled butter on the left.

Blend the dry ingredients in the bowl, pour the butter in and gently mix it by hand or gently with a bowl scraper. Note the curd like consistency in the bowl on the left.

Then add the egg/cream . . . . . .

. . . . .and blend with a fork/bowl scraper to bring it all together.

Note the more moist cottage cheese like consistency below.

Now wrap it up . . . .

. . . . . and refrigerate at least several hours or overnight. This allows the flour to absorb the liquid.

When ready to bake, heat the oven to 425º. I keep a baking stone in my oven and will heat it as the oven is heating. I place my pan of scones directly on the heated stone for a bit more even heat while they’re baking. An option is to use a second sheet pan as your “stone”.

Scoop dough portions (I prefer mine on the smaller side) onto a parchment lined sheet pan, lightly press them down and sprinkle with raw sugar if you like. Option is to glaze after baking with lemon glaze (lemon juice and confectioner’s sugar blended to your chosen consistency) or a lemon simple syrup.

Bake 10 minutes, rotate pan 180º, reduce oven to 400º and continue baking 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Remember every oven is different - pay attention!

Brush glaze on while warm, let cool a bit and enjoy.

Simple syrup glazed

I recently did a side-by-side test of my classic version and the melted butter one. Both tasty with a similar crumb - I think I still like the original method (cold, diced butter sanded in) a tad better. Try them both and you decide!.

Eyeball the classic on left, scooped melted butter version on right.

Pretty similar crumb and moistness

We’ll be finished soon! Let’s take a look at the add-ins version with similar steps outlined below. Nothing like repetition to get things to sink in.

Below is a basic lay out of ingredients for a batch with tart cherry/chocolate/pecan.

Flour, sugar, baking powder and salt go in the bowl; cold diced butter on top of dry, ready to sand in; cream and egg blended and ready to add (I keep it in the fridge until I’m ready); chopped chocolate (or chocolate pearls), lightly toasted/chopped pecans and plumped, chopped dry cherries at the ready.

Sand in butter, distribute the chopped add-ins around the periphery of the bowl then pour the cream/egg over it all.

Toss everything with a fork to moisten. I then use my bowl scraper to continue blending and bring things together. Don’t overwork! Turn the roughly mixed dough out onto a work surface and quickly pat it into either a round or a rectangle depending on your end point.

When making smaller triangles, shape the dough into a 5”x10” rectangle, cut eight 2.5” squares and then cut each of those into two triangles. Remember that template?

Place scones on a parchment lined sheet pan, brush with a bit of milk and sprinkle with raw sugar. Hold in the freezer while heating the oven to 425ºF. I typically have a second empty sheet pan or my baking stone heating up as well. I find that helps maintain even heat as the scones are baking.

Bake for 5 minutes then decrease temp to 400º and bake an additional 10-15 minutes until nicely browned and set, rotating the pan half way through the bake. Keep an eye on them - if they seem to be browning too quickly, decrease temp to 375º.

In this case I drizzled caramel over the baked scones, popped them back in for a few minutes to set the caramel. Delicious.

chocolate cherry pecan scones

Wow! What a scone ride that was! I hope you learned something.

Happy baking and happy autumn to all!

Crème fraiche pound cake à la Melissa Clark

Rum crème fraiche version

After my last post on baguette this one was a piece of cake. Hah! Get it?

Here’s another great contribution to the baking world from NYT food writer Melissa Clark. This one caught my eye partly because of the rum (which I’m starting to appreciate more and more) and crème fraiche (which I’m finally making myself!) in the ingredient list, but also because I’ve made my share of tasty pound cakes over the years and am always up for a new one. If you love pound cake, you MUST try this one.

Pound cake is typically butter, sugar, egg and flour in fairly equal weights, sometimes with cream cheese or sour cream added in. As Melissa notes, pound cake recipes don’t often contain any leavening like baking powder, but it’s the creaming of the butter and sugar to aerate and the eggs to add substance and binding to create the signature texture of these traditional cakes.

I made this recipe twice, the second time swapping the rum for a smooth Kentucky peach bourbon that we recently received from cousin Harve. Just had to try it don’t ya know. I added some orange zest to the batter and used a bourbon butter variant of the crème fraiche glaze, topping it with chopped toasted pecans. Mmmm good.

Bourbon glazed orange pecan version

I’ve become very attached to my mom’s old Mirro brand loaf pan that is a bit longer and narrower than a standard loaf. I love the way the cake comes out in a sleek and less stodgy sort of way. Prep the pan, including the edges, by buttering and sugaring it.

Bake at 350ºF for about an hour until golden and a tester comes out clean.

Mmmmm . . . . doesn’t that look delicious!

The main take home point that Melissa makes is the fact that if you vary the amount of baking powder you add to the batter, you’ll achieve either a lighter (more baking powder) or more dense and creamy texture (less baking powder).

For my first go I used the higher amount of baking powder (1 teaspoon) as well as the rum, crème fraiche (she gives sour cream as an option) and vanilla called for in the recipe. Check out the sliced image - looks like a lovely pound cake to these eyes! And it was deeeeeelicious! Light yet dense if that makes any sense at all. I also loved the slight crunch in the crème fraiche rum glaze - and our neighbors enjoyed it too.

For my second go I used the lower amount of baking powder (1/2 teaspoon) and swapped Kentucky peach bourbon for the rum. I zipped some orange zest into the batter while I was at it. Another lovely crumb experience to be sure.

For the bourbon butter glaze: heat 60 ml/1/4 cup bourbon and 49 g/3.5 tablespoons unsalted butter to melt the butter, then add in 100 g/1/2 cup granulated sugar, stir to dissolve and boil one minute. When the cake comes out of the oven, poke holes in the top with a toothpick, brush on about 1/4 of the glaze, wait 5 minutes then brush on another 1/4 of the glaze. Reserve the remaining glaze.

Once the cake has cooled, run a small offset spatula around the edges and pop it out of the pan. Blend the reserved bourbon butter glaze with 50 g/1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar and two tablespoons crème fraiche and pour it over the top and sides of the cake. In my case I added the pecans as the pièce de resistance but you can leave them off if you prefer.

Both of these cakes are buttery, luscious and dense as pound cake should be. Could I tell a lot of difference between the two? Not really, but both were superb in flavor and texture. Go either way with the baking powder and you’ll be happy no matter which one you choose. Thanks Melissa!

Remain calm and stay safe. We’re already deep into the first week of November and even though many of the leaves are now off the trees, here’s a mini photo album of what I’ve been enjoying during my walks this past month. I love autumn.

Brioche feuilletée revisited - chocolate hazelnut braid

I would never have imagined that the most viewed post on this blog would be Brioche feuilletée, written back in November, 2016. I launched that project by tweaking the brioche recipe from a Le Notre Paris class I attended in September of that year. Reducing the butter in the base dough, adding a butter block and putting it through three 3-folds yielded a lovely laminated result.

Since then, as is my wont, I’ve reviewed a number of additional brioche recipes and techniques from the likes of Dorie Greenspan and Jeffrey Hamelman (of King Arthur Flour fame) and developed a new version of the base dough in November, 2018. The dough can be used for any brioche option you wish - Nanterre, brioche à tête, coffee cake, cinnamon buns or brioche rolls topped with pastry cream/jam/fruit. Lots of choices.

In this recipe PDF I go into more details about brioche, adjusting the recipe to yield either a leaner or an even richer dough plus some options for laminating the dough. So many possibilities.

It helps me to assess a brioche recipe by looking at the butter to flour ratio. A medium brioche dough typically contains butter that is about 50% the weight of the flour. Brioche can run from lean (where the butter may be as low as 25% of the flour) or rich where the butter can be all the way up to 100% of the flour.

The full batch of the base brioche dough (before adding any butter block/laminations) yields about 1300 g (2.8 lbs) of dough. So you can make the full batch and then separate out the 600 g for this braided two loaf project. Wrap and freeze the remaining dough for later or use it for other projects you might have up your sleeve.

Using Hamelman’s guidelines for these braided delights, I laminated 600 g of the base dough with an additional 120 g/4.25 ounces of butter which, by my calculations gave the final result a butter to flour ratio of 1:1. Now THAT’S a rich brioche! Remember - this makes TWO braids.

Let’s do a quick review on laminating the dough - it never hurts, since the more you do it, the more it becomes second nature.

Roll the dough out to a 6”x12” rectangle. Have a 6” butter block ready - it should be cool and malleable.

Place the butter on half of the dough . . . . . .

then fold the dough over the butter, pinching the edges closed to fully envelope the dough. This is the beurrage.

If your kitchen is pretty warm or your dough and butter seem warm and starting to squish, wrap it up and refrigerate for 30 minutes before proceeding. Now roll the dough out to about 18” long and 6” wide, always with the short side parallel to the work surface and rolling to and from yourself (not sideways) to achieve the length. Do a 4-fold (book fold) by bringing each short end into the middle with edges meeting . . . . . .

then fold it on itself.

Wrap and chill the dough for 30 minutes to allow it to relax then proceed with a 3-fold (business letter fold). Before rolling remember to turn the dough 90 degrees so the “spine” or fold is on your left then roll out to approximately 18”x6” again, rolling to/from yourself. Don’t get hung up on exact measurements - you’re going for about three times length to width.

Visualizing the dough in thirds, fold one end up . . . . . .

and the other down over it. Congrats! Your laminated dough is complete.

Now wrap it snugly and refrigerate for a good 1-2 hours to let it relax and firm up before rolling it out for your intended purpose.

For this braid project I divided the dough in half - look at those buttery layers!

Each half of the laminated version weighs about 360 g (before filling) and is good for a medium loaf pan size braid.

I created a chocolate hazelnut filling by taking 200 g of a hazelnut remonce mixture I had left from this hazelnut/almond couronne project and adding 50 g / ~2 ounces of Nocciola crema and a bit of egg white and simple syrup to loosen it a bit for piping.

Butter two medium (8”x4”) loaf pans and have the filling ready in a piping bag.

On a lightly floured surface roll one half of the dough into a 10”x10” square and divide it in three strips.

Egg wash (I used egg white since I had some on hand) along one long edge of each strip then pipe a line of filling along the opposite edge.

Roll each strip up into a log and press the edge to seal.

With seam sides down do a classic three strand braid.

As you come to the end of the braid, just tuck the ends under then pop it into a buttered loaf pan.

Repeat the steps with the second half of the dough.

Cover the pans with buttered plastic wrap and let rise for a good 1.5 hours. Toward the end of that proofing time heat the oven to 375ºF.

Brush the loaves with egg wash and bake about 35 minutes until nicely golden.

Remove them from the pans and, if you’d like to gussy them up a bit, brush with either some simple syrup or apricot glaze for a bit of shine and even go another step and drizzle on a confectioner’s sugar/milk/vanilla glaze. I left mine au naturel.

Once cooled, I sliced into one of these babies. Oooooh - buttery with just the right swirl of choco-hazelnut and pretty darn delicious to boot. Nothing like a good brioche, eh?

I love the feel of dough, the shaping, the proofing, the baking, the aromas and, of course, the tasting! Dough reigns!!