some culinary notes

[kaberett]

- any tips on making scones scone-shaped? because this is a thing I am consistently struggling with
- a trick from the Leiths knife skills course that I did not put in my initial write-up: APPARENTLY the way to wrangle mangos is, if you rock them gently side-to-side they'll come to rest with the pit parallel the flat surface they're on, thereby enabling you to judge where to cut for optimum mango-slicing
- turns out I'm really into last year's bergamot marmalade: having finally opened a jar I have... gone through most of it. good idea, worth repeating (if I ever find bergamot in the supermarket again, what even is Waitrose)
- apparently my Tante Berta makes a Ribiselkuchen variant topped with meringue, which definitely sounds Worth Further Investigation
- I really need to get around to experimental Germknödel but hey, I've opened up the appropriate recipe book to the appropriate page and maybe A will actually get to try them one of these days (without first having to go to Austria)

Comments

[madgastronomer]

Do you want round scones or triangle scones or...?

[kaberett]

Round, trad buttermilk. The specific problem I am having is that they tend to sort of turn themselves into small inelegant mounds, rather than Becoming Tall, in spite of using (1) self-raising flour in combination with (2) buttermilk & baking soda.

I am increasingly suspicious of our oven's ability to hold heat, and am wondering if that might be doing it. (Internal thermometer hung on the door end of a rack was showing a temperature of 160degC when the dial was set to 250degC, which... might well be part of the problem.)

[madgastronomer]

Yes, that sounds like your problem.

[ewt]

...what shape do you want the scones to be, and in what way are they non-cooperative?

I have had round ones and vaguely triangular/pie shaped ones. For round ones, roll dough out fairly thick, use round cookie cutter (or whatever cookie cutters are called over here) to make round, transfer to baking tray/sheet/whatever with minimal handling. For triangular/pie shaped, roll out dough fairly thick, use knife to cut into wedges, transfer etc etc.

If this is not a cutting problem but a rising problem, try a different recipe. I found the Nigella Lawson one worked well in the oven here until the oven here lost the ability to do Really Hot unless you put the grill on (the temperature calibration is off by 50ºC so to get 200º you put the dial at 250º etc but this doesn't matter for most things).

[kaberett]

That is a good shout re oven -- I had been noticing that I was getting more of a temperature gradient across it and was increasingly suspicious of its ability to hold heat usefully, and indeed I looked at the internal thermometer and by the door, with a dial setting of 250degC, I was actually achieving (if the thermometer is to be trusted) 160degC. Which... is sub-optimal, especially in an electric fan oven.

Rising problem: yes, they're mostly sort of collapsing into half-hearted little monuds, which I don't object to as such but I would... really like to have them be Tall and Cylindrical, at least a bit. Recipe as currently used employs buttermilk, baking soda, and self-raising flour, and they are fairly light and fluffy, they're just not achieving tall; investigating the oven further was on the to do list but can... get bumped up, I think.

[ewt]

Yeah, that sounds like a "get the oven sorted" problem to me, scones aren't going to scone at 160°C.

[ludy]

I have heard but not yet fully tested it being important to press the cutter straight down rather than twisting it to prevent re-arranging the layers and leavening

(rabdomky Scones are the last thing i need to do in my epic working through Lateral Cooking am trying to persuade parents they want some this afternoon but we are still eating their way through a batch of cheesy choux buns)

[kaberett]

I am trying to be good about that aspect of things!

[shanaqui]

Lisa says she had better results on a black oven tray, as opposed to a light grey baking tray -- a fairly big difference for what seems like a small change to me, but she assures me it is not bananas (and truthfully, I remember the scones in question and agree). She also used more flour than she thought she needed during rolling and cutting, which I have no idea of the significance of.

[untonuggan]

for scones: i use a pastry cutter in a circle shape, roll out the dough and cut it out. in a pinch you can use a clean empty can or jar, it's just harder to get the dough out.