Lighthearted comment on scone making.

[valder]

First of all I use the three ingredient method every time for sweet scones (Flour, cream and lemonade) and just cream and flour + salt and grated cheese for savoury.

Anyway, I was just wondering WHY are scones usually cut into rounds? There is so much faff and bits left over and remodelling the bits (that never turn out well). Is it a traditional thing or what?

I just shape the dough into a rectangle and use a scraper/cutter to make squares. So easy and no faff.

What do you do?

Obviously it's "full fat" lemonade and the bubbles in it could help with lightness. I don't understand the horror at using lemonade instead of sugar. There is no lemony taste, just sweetness. Anyway each to their own. My OP was about Squares v Rounds 😉

OMG. That's genius! Thanks - but now I need scones - damn you all!

I think it's the cutting edge on a cookie cutter that allows for more rise. It's like layers in puff pastry. That's why the last bit made of the scraps is always a malformed pebble next to it's majestic siblings. I don't think you can get quite the same effect with a knife because it will squish as you cut it but probably better then nothing.

You could experiment by using a square cutter and overlapping the cutting so there are no scrappes. Might be best of both worlds...

That's what j was going to say. Surely this is why most cakes and biscuits are also traditionally round.

I've not had burnt corners on the squares (yet!), I don't put them on a baking sheet, I use a shallow baking tin and keep them close together, I don't know if that's a factor, it's just what I do. I use a steel scraper/pastry cutter.

I really want a cheese scone now.

I've just googled a recipe and off to make the Mary Berry ones that kids can do! Haha

I can't see how a knife results in any more squish than a shaped cutter. My rustic rounds cut off a log with a knife or sometimes a steel dough scraper/cutter rise just fine.

Why do some recipes say use an egg and others don't?

Just to make it clear the advantage of my log slice method is zero scraps and therefore no Runty Scone of Doom.

I'm going to swerve the lemonade debate. Maybe it works but so does my traditional recipe. And at least I know sugar is just sugar.

I only really make cheese scones, but I make them often. SR flour, mustard powder, cheese, buttermilk, egg. Shaped into a fat disc. Cut into wedges.

Maybe for painting on the top.

Egg makes the scones richer and maybe extend the life a little although scones are really only edible for a day or two.

You're right about the shape OP, square is fine and for those of us who CBA to make their own it's worth knowing that the only shop bought ones that are actually nice are Morrisons Best clotted cream scones, which are also square.

Does anyone have a good recipe for cheese scones, please? I use the BBC Good Food one for sweet scones and it's great.

I've never made round scones, and neither did my DM.

Laughing at all this horror over lemonade. Scones made with lemonade are declicious, and quite common.

For most of my life, scones have just been "what you make when the milk goes off"! The idea of using cream and lemonade seems really bizarre to me, though I get the science of why it would work and I might give it a go.

I actually had a thread the other day about using off milk for baking. I suspect it's not a thing these days!

That’s such a good idea!

My grandmother used to make biscuits like this and the thought of her slightly flat on one side biscuits has taken me right back.