Sweet Barley Scones

[BakerAunt]

I adapted this recipe from Biscuits and Scones, by Elizabeth Alston.

1 1/2 cups barley flour
1 cup all purpose flour (used KAF)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar
8 Tbs. (one stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup buttermilk

I mixed all the dry ingredients together the night before in a wide metal bowl. (Unlike the recipe, I add the sugar as well.) I refrigerated the bowl, with my pastry cutter inside it, in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat oven to 375F.

Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until mixture resembles fine granules. (At this point, the original recipe adds the sugar.) Add the buttermilk and toss with a pastry fork. I usually switch to a hand scraper in order to get the dough together. On parchment-lined baking sheet, pat dough into a 6-inch circle. Use a bench knife to cut into 8 wedges. I like to separate these completely and bake in rows.

Bake for 375F for 20 minutes. Put on rack to cool.

These were very good warm, and I did not feel the need for butter or jam on them. They are wonderfully tender. I'll come back tomorrow and say how they are cold. Note from next day: These scones are at their very best when warm. However, the taste and texture are still fine when cold with the buttery taste still there, although then they seem a little plain when cold.

I altered the recipe to use buttermilk rather than regular milk. If you don't use buttermilk, omit the baking soda and use 3 tsp. of baking powder. I also reduced the salt from 1/2 to 1/4 tsp, since baking soda has sodium. These were supposed to be drop scones, but since the dough was so solid, I went ahead and made them as wedges. I used KAF All-purpose since I knew the barley flour would have less gluten.

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• This topic was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This topic was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by BakerAunt.

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