Raisin Scones - Daring Baker's Challenge, January 2012

Its been a long time since i attempted Daring Baker's Challenge. This New year onwards i m planning to try it every month. This Month in DB we were Challenged by Audax from Audax Artifex to Bake Basic Scones She gave us a whole lot of information on Scones, and a number of choices to bake from. I chose to bake a Raisin Scones with a Combination of Wheat and All Purpose Flour. They Came out so Beautifully, We enjoyed them warm with a blob of Cherry Jam.

Ingredients

1/2 cup All Purpose flour

½ Cup Whole Wheat Flour

¼ Cup Raisins

1 tbsp Sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons frozen grated butter

Approximately ½ cup cold milk

Optional 1 tablespoon milk, for glazing the tops of the scones

Method

• Preheat oven to very hot 240°C
• Triple sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl.
• Rub the frozen grated butter  into the dry ingredients until it resembles very coarse bread crumbs
• Add Raisins and Sugar and Combine well.
• Add nearly all of the milk at once into the flour mixture and mix until it just forms a sticky dough The wetter the dough the lighter the scones (biscuits) will be!

• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, lightly flour the top of the dough and knead very gently about 4 or 5 times (do not press too firmly) the dough until it is smooth
• Pat or roll out the dough to form squares or wedges as you desire. I rolled it out as a ½ inch thick Circle and cut out 8 wedges using a biscuit cutter.
• Place the rounds just touching on a baking dish if you wish to have soft-sided scones or place the rounds spaced widely apart on the baking dish if you wish to have crisp-sided scones. Glaze the tops with milk if you want a golden color 
• Bake in the preheated very hot oven for about 10 minutes until the scones are well risen and are lightly colored on the tops. The scones are ready when the sides are set.
• Immediately place onto cooling rack to stop the cooking process, serve while still warm with Some Jam Preserve.