SCONES

Makes about 6 large or 8 small scones

225g plain flour

1 level tsp baking powder

85g butter (I used salted butter, but if you use unsalted then add a pinch of salt to the dry mix)

85g sugar (optional)

125ml milk (may vary)

Method

1) Preheat oven to 200-220C

2) Sieve flour and baking powder together, mix in sguar

3) Cut butter into cubes and rub into the flour between your fingers, thoroughly, until mix resembles fine breadcrumbs

4) Take the milk and splash a quarter of it into the mixture, then mix with a knife.

The mix will start to clump up slightly, but it will still be crumbly. Keep adding the milk a bit at a time until it starts to get clumpy and there aren't lots of fine crumbs left. Then squeeze the mixture together into one big ball. It will do this, and stay stuck together because of the butter in it. You mustn't add too much milk, or make the mixture wet at all - it needs to be what you call 'short' i.e. still dry and breaks off easily. I don't actually measure the milk, I just add until the mix seems right, so you may need more or less than the recipe says. (Getting this bit right is the secret to good scones)

5) Scatter a handful of flour on a work surface and roll the dough out so that it's approx 2-3cm high. It needs to be thick enough so that when the scones rise they are thick enough to cut easily into two halves. They will approximately double during baking.

6) Take a round biscuit cutter and start cutting out the scones.
Lump the left over scraps of dough into a ball and roll out again, keep doing that till you have all the dough cut into scone rounds. If you don't have a pastry cutter you could just cut the dough into squares or triangles - however, a cutter gives them the right shape and makes them easier to cut in half after they are cooked.

7) Brush any remaining milk mixture over the top of the scones (this makes them brown on top during cooking). Alternatively, you can brush them with an egg/milk mixture and they will get a shinier finish.

8) Put the scone rounds on a baking tray - you can put them fairly close together as they will rise up, not spread out. Put in the oven for 12 minutes.

9) Remove from oven and put on cooling rack. You can eat them straightaway, and they are best fresh from the oven. They don't keep, so you will normally want to eat them that same day. If you want to save them for later you can freeze them as soon as they are cool.