When people say to me "that's just beautiful, I would not be able to make that".
I say back its just practice. When one reads a recipe, the next taught should be "I can make it" Baking is about positive thinking. If you think you can't…guess what "YOU CAN'T"!
Let me take you on your journey.
THE JOURNEY OF MAKING SCONES
The Recipe:
Pre heat the oven to 220 C/Fan 200C/ Gas 7.
Measure out all your ingredients, have your tray prepared by lightly greasing it. Have your equipment on your work place. Being organised is key. Being relaxed and enjoying what you are doing will help with the end result. Have your mobile phone on silent, this is some ‘me time’!
Sieve the flour and the baking powder into a large bowl. Add the butter and rub it in with your fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the caster sugar and mix.
Beat the eggs in a bowl, make a well in the middle of the dry mixture. Add most of the eggs, keeping back a small amount for glazing the scones later. Gradually add the cream to the mixture, stirring it in until you have a soft dough. Having the scone mixture on the wet side, sticking slightly to your fingers, this will ensure the scones will rise better.
Turn out your dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out to a thickness of 2cm to 3cm, depending on how tall you would like your scones. Using a 5cm (2 in) fluted cutter to stamp out the scones. Don't twist the cutter just push down on the dough. Lift it straight out and this will ensure it keeps its shape. The dough that is left after you have cut out the shapes, bring it together and use up all the dough.
Place the scones on your prepared tray and leave space around each scone. Brush the top of the scones with the remaining egg you kept back earlier. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 15 minutes, until well risen and golden. Every oven has a different speed of cooking. Sometimes you may need to give your scones a couple of extra minutes. When the scones are cooked remove from the oven and place on a wire rack and leave to cool. Cover with a moist tea towel to keep them moist.
Serve your scones cut in half with Strawberry jam and cream.
From experience my advice is that with every recipe you try, you should not judge the end product until you have done it 3 times. Practice makes perfect so don't judge yourself until you have completed 3 times. Then ask yourself the question, can I do that as well as the next person. The answer is "yes I can".
So what is baking? It is wanting to try out a recipe and practicing it until you are happy with the end (and tasty) result and then moving onto something until you master that too. At the core of baking is the passion to create something delicious and be proud to say “I did that!”.
