5 Mistakes to Avoid When Baking Scones (2024)

FAQs

5 Mistakes to Avoid When Baking Scones? ›

My scones have spread and lost their shape

The mixture may have been too wet or the baking tray might have been too heavily greased. Twisting the cutter when cutting the scones can also have this effect.

My scones have spread and lost their shape

The mixture may have been too wet or the baking tray might have been too heavily greased. Twisting the cutter when cutting the scones can also have this effect.

Many of you eager bakers will already know that using super cold, chilled butter means a much better resulting scone texture, (cold butter prevents the butter from melting before the scones are baked, and will help you achieve a lighter crumb), But, Elisa suggests you can even use frozen butter, grated into your flour.

Not using enough leavening agent. Placing scones far away from each other on the baking tray. Not preheating the oven before putting in the scones. Low-quality ingredients.

This short rest relaxes the gluten, making scones more tender; and cold chills the fat, increasing flakiness.

First, make sure you're using fresh baking powder, one that has been opened less than 6 months ago. Also, if you knead the dough too much, the scones won't rise as tall. Knead gently, and just enough to bring the dough together. Adding more flour also prevents the dough from rising as high, so only dust lightly.

Recipes for scones sometimes provide a make-ahead option that involves refrigerating the dough overnight so it can simply be shaped and then popped into the oven the next day. But now we've found that resting the dough overnight has another benefit: It makes for more symmetrical and attractive pastries.

The first batch into the oven was 'plain' Original Recipe. I preheated the oven to 405 degrees (it runs hot so this is the setting that gives me 425 degrees). The scones came out of the freezer, were set onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, placed into the oven. I set timer for 18 minutes and moved on.

Not chilling the dough before baking: to really ace your scones, it helps to chill your dough again before it's baked. Using cold ingredients does help, but your hands will warm up the dough when you're working with it and the extra step of chilling will help you get the best result.

We recommend using all-purpose flour. There is some debate as to what flour one should use to go around achieving the perfect scone. This is because within different flours comes different levels of protein.

How do I get my scones to rise more? ›

To ensure taller scones, start with a thicker dough disc and place the scones on a tray with sides, allowing them to slightly touch one another. This arrangement encourages the scones to push against the pan and each other, promoting height.

Scones with fruit and wheat-free scones may take longer than others Increase baking times in 3 minute increments to test. Higher elevation will need less cooking time. To check if they are ready, press down on the top to check if firm to touch, they are READY. If it indents down, bake for another 3-5 min.

Scones like to cosy up to one another in the baking tray. This helps them to rise evenly in the cooking process. When placing the scones in the baking tray they need to be touching.

Why? When cold butter is rubbed into the flour, it creates flaky pockets of flavour (which soft, room temperature butter can't do). Once the cold butter and liquid (e.g milk) hits the oven, the water in the butter and cold liquid begins evaporating.

Placing a dough in a cool oven that then slowly heats up actually affects the rising agent. Make sure your oven is at the right temperature you will be baking the scones at before you put them in. Also having an oven that is too hot or too cold will affect the baking of your scones immensely.

Keep scone dough as cold as possible. To avoid over-spreading, I recommend chilling the shaped scones for at least 15 minutes in the refrigerator before baking. In fact, you can even refrigerate overnight for a quick breakfast in the morning! Bake until golden brown.

Over-kneading your dough will result in scones and biscuits that are tough, dense, or rubbery. The longer you knead the dough, the stronger the gluten network will be. We want just enough gluten for the scones to hold their shape, but not so much that we sacrifice the light and flaky texture.

Typically, if there is a higher protein level within a flour, the more dense the scone would come out. So what would you prefer? A thicker and denser scone or a lighter and fluffier one? If you'd prefer a thicker one, go for a self-raising flour or a bread flour.

However, you will need to add the raising agents that you would usually find in self-raising flour – without any raising agents your scones will be like rocks. And not in a nice Rock Buns kind of way! The general rule of thumb is to add 2 teaspoons of baking powder for every 150g of plain flour.