Your foolproof recipe for tall, fluffy scones, please! Mine always come out flat and disappointing.

[sprigatito]

We are having an afternoon tea-themed feast (yes, there will be wanton gluttony ) on election night and I want to do a cream tea as part of it. Have already obtained lovely strawberry jam and clotted cream from the famous Gay's Creamery in Dawlish, but I never seem to manage to get my scones to grow tall and fluffy. Does anyone have a good recipe?

Delia's recipe never fails for me. The trick is not to roll them too thin. The dough needs to be two thirds or your target height at least.

https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/occasions/mothers-day/mothers-day-afternoon-tea/plain-scones

I find this quantity makes 6 rather than 8

Don't overwork them too. Do the minimum to blend the ingredients as they don't like to be overmixed.

This recipe is really good. The various tips about souring the milk and pre-heating the baking sheet all work. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/classic-scones-jam-clotted-cream

I use a BBC Good Food recipe. Don't twist the cutter when you are cutting them (I don't think 'cut' is the right word, but can't think what is the right word 😂). This recipe rises beautifully.

Nigella's recipe https://www.nigella.com/recipes/lily-s-scones

These always rise- in fact you have to be careful not to make them too thick or they get too tall and fall over.

Have your oven on, so it is hot when you mix your scones.
Work quickly the raising agent starts to work as soo as you add the liquid to the flour.
Be very gentle as scones are delicate.
Don’t twist the cutter, just push it down and then pull straight back up
Work very quickly as the scones will be rising from the moment you add fluid to flour, and top you want to get the rise set by the heat of the oven.
Work quickly
Roll out gently and make sure the mix is nice and thick.
Work quickly

Enjoy

don't flatten too much, pat down with your hand rather than rolling pin, too easy overdo the rolling pin! They nearly need to be the height of the scone cutter so about 1.5" high to start. You will not get big tall scones from something rolled out not much thicker than biscuits. Most recipes are similar, it's all in the thickness they start out as.

My top tips: handle the dough as little as possible: barely bring it together and try not to re-roll much if at all. When cutting out, don't twist the cutter as it 'ties' the edges down. Nestle the scones shoulder to shoulder on the baking tray. The inside ones are the best ones.
I usually make soda scones with buttermilk but you'll probably want a sweet scone recipe.

Mary Berry all the way!!

Delia's method and recipe. Do not roll too thin and never twist the rolling pin, as that twists the dough.

I learned this tip from Mary Berry and my scones now turn out perfect!

Also, don't use a fluted cutter. Just a plain one. That way, there's less catches around the edge to stop it rising.
But I also concur that you mustn't roll them out too thin and pat them down, not roll.

I've tried Mary Berry and Delia, they never rise much...maybe it's my oven? I'm going to try the Nigella one with cream of tartar and will report back! Will also heed all the tips about not overmixing or twisting, and preheating the baking sheet.

Ooh, I will do this too! Thanks ☺️

My go to-
charlotteslivelykitchen.com/scones/

This. I've used loads of different recipes, I don't think there's that much between them, they all 'work' as long as you're not rolling them out too thinly.

I don't roll them at all, just barely mix (you can have visible specks of butter) and use a scraper to nudge the mixture into a tall, thick layer, then cut without twisting. Try to touch them as little as possible with your hands.
I sometimes add some aluminium-free baking powder as well as soda, it doesn't taste metallic or do that weird thing to your teeth so you can be more generous than with soda.

This is the one I use. Bombproof.

Grate the butter and barely work the dough, make sure your hands are cold.
Don’t roll it out, just gently flatten it with your cold hands, not too thin as pp’s said.
Use a metal, not plastic, plain cutter, no twisting at all.
Be careful if you egg wash the tops (you don’t have to) that it doesn’t run down the sides.
Put your tray into the oven to heat up and get the scones in as quickly as possible.
Ensure the oven is up to correct temperature, you might need to put it on way before you start making your scones, if it takes a while to heat up.

Things I have found that help are...

don't expect as many out of the dough as the recipe states

don't use a rolling pin. Just gather the dough together gently and pat out into a round

dip the cutter in flour before cutting out each scone

don't twist the cutter

heat the tray up in the oven whilst making the dough

I bring the dough together and roughly shape, they need to be much taller raw than you imagine to get massive ones!
I’ve found bbc recipe linked above excellent but this is also good. https://www.devonheaven.co.uk/blogs/news/34692037-how-to-make-a-perfect-scone-by-the-devon-scone-company

See pic for fantastic cheese scone round (can make as individual scones as well)

No pressure! I felt little stressed reading this ;)

Nigella Lily's scones - but I use less salt than the recipe.

I agree with all of the above.
Also I don’t have a great oven, so I do them in the airfryer (mine has a bake setting). They rise beautifully