Brown butter scones
adapted from Good to the Grain [1]
by Kim Boyce
Boyce’s recipe calls for teff flour, which would be entirely lovely here, except that I couldn’t find it anywhere (even at Whole Foods, who carries it regularly). I substituted whole grain spelt. I also made one slight departure from her preparation instructions: the brown butter must be frozen solid before creating the dough. Boyce instructs us to freeze the butter on a plate, scrape it off and slice up. I simply mixed the liquid butter into the dry ingredients and placed whole the bowl in the freezer. Then, once the butter/flour clumps were frozen, I continued with Boyce’s procedure.
Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter (4 ounces, 8 tablespoons)
3/4 cup whole grain spelt flour
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 granulated sugar (I used raw)
1/4 brown sugar (I used coconut sugar)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons sea salt
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup buttermilk (or use all heavy cream)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
heavy cream for brushing scone tops
turbinado sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
for the brown butter: heat the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. As the butter melts, swirl the pan occasionally to encourage even heating and prevent burning. The simmering butter will go through several stages: foaming (as the milk fats rise to the top), light simmering where brown flecks appear on the bottom of the pan, and finally the toasty, hazel-y, brown-liquid stage. Properly browned butter will be rich and fragrant. Remove the pan from the heat and cool while you prepare the dry ingredients.
for the scones: Measure all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl and give them a quick whisking to mix. Pour the slightly cooled brown butter into the dry ingredients. Use a spatula to lightly fold everything together until the dry ingredients begin to form big clumps. Place the bowl in the freezer for at least 15 minutes – the brown butter clumps should freeze solid.
Working quickly, use a large fork, a pastry cutter or your fingers to work the butter into the flour mixture. The mixture should be coarse and crumbly.
Whisk the cream, buttermilk, egg and vanilla together in a small bowl, then pour into the butter/flour mixture. Stir with a spoon until the dough comes together in a cohesive mass. Turn out the dough onto a floured board and knead a couple of times. Pat into a round disk and place on a piece of parchment paper. If the dough is loose – and it is likely to be – place the disk in the freezer for 15-20 minutes. This will help the dough keep its shape longer in the oven and delay spreading.
Place the chilled dough (and parchment paper) on a baking sheet, and slice into 6 or 8 wedges. (At this point, you can trim off the excess parchment paper and snuggle the dough into a 8-9″ cast iron pan or pie tin. Baking in a low-walled container will help the wet scone dough achieve a high rise). Brush the tops with heavy cream and sprinkle a dash of turbinado. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the edges and tops are golden brown.
(Optional: If you used a walled pan to hold the disk’s shape, remove the scone disk from the pan using a large spatula and place on a baking sheet. Pull the wedges apart slightly (refreshing the slices, if necessary), and bake for another 5 minutes to brown up the edges of the individual scones.)