Recipe review - Buttermilk scones (EDC)

[KarenH]

I have made this recipe twice - the first time I used store-bought buttermilk and although the mixture was quite wet and sticky, the scones were perfect and delicious!  The second time I used homemade buttermilk left over from making my own butter.  But I think I made a mistake and added the 500ml cold water used to "rinse" the butter to the buttermilk that came from the initial churning of the cream (there didnt seem to be very much buttermilk there - nowhere near enough to make a batch of scones, so I thought I was supposed to use the water too).  The resulting buttermilk was very watery and thin, and the scones were flat and hard - although the ducks around our dam didnt complain

In future I will stick to bought buttermilk - because that recipe was a winner!

[judydawn]

The original recipe was very moist but I agree with you KJH, they turned out perfect.  Then the powers to be reduced the amount of buttermilk and I was disappointed with the results.  I'm going back to the original recipe if I ever make them again.

[JulieO]

Judy, can I ask the original amount of buttermilk please? 

[*jo*]

I have substituted low fat sour cream for the buttermilk = perfect

[judydawn]

Julie, the original quantity was 380g buttermilk and then they changed it to 220-250g - a big difference.

[wapred]

I have made this recipe twice - the first time I used store-bought buttermilk and although the mixture was quite wet and sticky, the scones were perfect and delicious!  The second time I used homemade buttermilk left over from making my own butter.  But I think I made a mistake and added the 500ml cold water used to "rinse" the butter to the buttermilk that came from the initial churning of the cream (there didnt seem to be very much buttermilk there - nowhere near enough to make a batch of scones, so I thought I was supposed to use the water too).  The resulting buttermilk was very watery and thin, and the scones were flat and hard - although the ducks around our dam didnt complain

In future I will stick to bought buttermilk - because that recipe was a winner!

I make the butter milk scones quite frequently with the butter milk from the home made butter and have no problem.  You usually get enough buttermilk from a large I think it is 600ml carton of cream to make the scones with.

[KarenH]

Mmmmm -  not sure what I am doing wrong when I made the butter then - I used 500ml pure cream, and only got about 50ml of buttermilk out of it.

Will have to try it again, and maybe beat the cream for longer.

Thanks too for the hint about the sour cream jo - might give that a try too!

[JulieO]

thanks Judy, that is a big difference.  Will try the 'old' amount. 

[Rosie]

I have made these scones a few times, well quite a few times, with varying results.  I thought the old recipe with the 380g liquid was much closer to the mark for a good result.  I use unbleached organic flour and find that I usually need more liquid than 380g.  Not sure why the liquid amount was reduced, would be good to have an explanation and demo of the results from the author.  Bit of an Aussie icon the Scone and it would be good to get a reliable recipe.  I used to us a kitchen wizz to blend the butter and flour then tip the blend into a large basin which had the buttermilk and any fruit or flavouring I maybe using and fold the whole lot into a moist dough...  I have seen a recipe that uses cream rather than buttermilk and butter, beat the cream to soft peak and fold in the rest of ingredients...

[cookie1]

Rosie my Mother always used that idea and she made beautiful scones. It was 3 cups SR flour and then whipped cream, even if it had soured a little. If she needed any more liquid she used water. She broke all the rules for scone making but they were always light and fluffy. I did not inherit her gift.

[johnro]

These were delicious following the EDC  recipe (my book printed Jan 2010, which I assume is the 'new' book uses 380ml buttermilk, but I used the commericial buttermilk).  Hope this helps otherwise continues to confuse all'
Cheers 

[Thermo Jo (aka Jodi)]

Jo how much sour cream did you use?  Did you use the same weight amount? I've got heaps of sour cream in the fridge but no buttermilk at the moment.  Wouldn't mind giving them a go today?

[*jo*]

Hi Jodi sorry two days too late, however better late than not at all.  I substitute the same quantity ie weight of sour cream for the buttermilk and I use low fat sour cream.  Hope you still use up your sour cream...it's already sour, it will keep 

[Thermo Jo (aka Jodi)]

Thanks so much Jo, I didn't get a chance to make them anyway.  I've always got sour cream in the fridge so I might give them a go on the weekend.  Thanks so much! 

[KerrynN]

I have some Buttermilk scones in the oven now.

We used normal milk, soured with vinegar (as per someone helpful's post??) and added in an MC full (70g) of choc chips at the breadcrumb stage, then another 45g at the kneading stage. Definitely very wet mixture.

These are the first scones we have made and DH is very strict on the instructions so ended up finding one of the kids old cups and drilling a hole in the top to use as the scone cutter (having measured it and a host of other cups/glasses to find one that was 5cm wide), and then measuring the height of the mixture to check it was 3cm before cutting. LOL!

Hopefully the taste is as precisely delicious as the effort used in making them. Will report back and even take photos (the kids are in bed and can fight DH off long enough to get a photo).

Kerryn