Scones

[Dex Sawash]

Feel like pure shit just wanna go to Bojangles for a bo-berry biscuit.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Scoan or scon?

Rock cake.

"Scoan" ruins the joke about them being the fastest cake. Also, Paul Hollywood says scoans and he sounds like an utter cock, so scon it is.

The real question is what order do you put the cream and jam on? The real answer is, people who put the jam on first are contemptible perverts.

[Glebe]

The Scone Ranger.

[Zero Gravitas]

Are they not ensconced fruit, meaning they're pronounced scone to rhyme with scone?

Regardless, this is all about childhood exposure so I pronounce it scone.

[popcorn]

At school everyone got into an argument about which pronunciation sounded more posh and both sides felt the other side was more posh.

[Galeee]

Scorn.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

A bit of research establishes that the word derives ultimately from Middle Dutch 'schoonbrot', via Scots 'skonn', and ultimately into the English language as scone, which the OED notes is "originally Scottish": https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?scope=Entries&q=scone

O.Sc. skonn, a four-cornered cake, 1513, shortened from Mid.Du. schoonbrot, fine bread, a kind of flat angular loaf. Cf. M.L.Ger. schönbrot, wheaten bread as opposed to rye bread.

Given that the Scottish pronunciation is overwhelmingly 'scon', I rest my case.

[Beagle 2]

They're fucking amazing though, at least we can agree on that. I get a full cream tea £3.50 at work. Often will have one for lunch.

I have high cholesterol.

[Glebe]

I haven't got the stones for eating scones! :(

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

If you won't eat a scone, begone!

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Scones scones scones
I'm looking for a good time
Scones scones scones
Get ready for my scones

[Glebe]

I'd buy a scone but I'm 'sconey' broke!

[jobotic]

I say scoan here in Kent, which according to S. Dent makes me a FREAK.

Mind you, I do have

plastic swords above my mantelpiece and crocheted doilies on my loo roll

Also mother is from Lincolnshire so could be that. At least I know what a woman haslet is.

[Gurke and Hare]

"Scoan" ruins the joke about them being the fastest cake.

No, what ruins that joke is scones not being cakes.

[popcorn]

They're fucking amazing though, at least we can agree on that. I get a full cream tea £3.50 at work. Often will have one for lunch.

I have high cholesterol.

This post triggered an insatiable craving. I'm now in the M&S canteen with a cream tea. Thanks for the 750 calories asshole.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Every time I see a cheese scone, I get a bit of the Suede song 'He's Gone', with amended lyrics in my head:

"Cheese scone/And it feels like the words to a song."

The 'scoan' pronunciation would ruin this bit of 'fun' too.

[shiftwork2]

With Clatty's historical evidence for scon and every person without a bumbling lower middle class affectation saying scon I think we can finally bring this thread to a close. Thank you for your participation.  Bye

[dontpaintyourteeth]

They're pretty miserable things to eat

[Underturd]

With Clatty's historical evidence for scon and every person without a bumbling lower middle class affectation saying scon I think we can finally bring this thread to a close. Thank you for your participation.  Bye

Only if you brought enough scones for the afterthread party.

[Beagle 2]

They're pretty miserable things to eat

Get out

a bumbling lower middle class affectation

Mmmmmm bumbling middle class affectation 🤤

[Berries]

thanks for the recipe, just wondering why you prefer plain+bicarb as opposed to self-raising?

It was simply a recipe I got from a book once which is dead easy and works every time. If they had SR flour in the recipe I would have used that instead.

Actual recipe asks you to caramelise some onions and sandwich them between two scones before baking but that doesn't appeal to me.

[the hum]

I usually bake a couple of batches a week for the kitchen I work in. Re sour milk, yes it definitely aids the rising process. If you don't have any add a dollop of lemon juice to fresh milk and nuke until it's tepid/warm and looks kind of ruined, and you're on to a winner.

Don't go overboard with the baking powder. I find a lot of recipes ask for too much and you end up with that claggy roof-of-the-mouth experience, which befalls a lot of corporate bakery/supermarket ones. One teaspoon per 225g of flour is about right.

Double Zero/All-purpose flour also works well for getting them nice and light.

[L. Bizarglow]

With Clatty's historical evidence for scon and every person without a bumbling lower middle class affectation saying scon I think we can finally bring this thread to a close. Thank you for your participation.  Bye

By typing 'scon' to let everyone know how you're pronouncing it the correct way is clearly scone. Now this really is the end.

[Brian Freeze]

Thankyou @the hum I'm going to leave out some milk until the weekend but our house is only marginally warmer than the fridge so might need the lemon juice.

Interesting that you eschew the self raising route too?

[Brian Freeze]

Supplementary question about shape.

Traditional scone shape is scone shaped, but if I cut squares out of my rolled out mix with a pizza cutter then the corners will burn/cook too quickly?

[pancreas]

They need eating pretty soon out of the oven if they've got a chance. And a baker who knows exactly when they're cooked so as not to dry them of the small amount of moisture they have. But when they're good, they're very good. Clotted cream is a glorious substance.

[Buelligan]

I usually bake a couple of batches a week for the kitchen I work in. Re sour milk, yes it definitely aids the rising process. If you don't have any add a dollop of lemon juice to fresh milk and nuke until it's tepid/warm and looks kind of ruined, and you're on to a winner.

Don't go overboard with the baking powder. I find a lot of recipes ask for too much and you end up with that claggy roof-of-the-mouth experience, which befalls a lot of corporate bakery/supermarket ones. One teaspoon per 225g of flour is about right.

Double Zero/All-purpose flour also works well for getting them nice and light.

This.  Know an Italian chef who trained - her scon-making - in some famous patisserie in Kensington, she never fails to mention it but I cannot remember the name for the life.  Anyway, her scons are like that, not like scons really.  Always forces them on me because I must know (for racial reasons) how very good they are.

[the hum]

Thankyou @the hum I'm going to leave out some milk until the weekend but our house is only marginally warmer than the fridge so might need the lemon juice.

Interesting that you eschew the self raising route too?

Yup, you'll probably notice that recipes generally call for minimal kneading, lest the raising agent loses its effectiveness. That's particularly a problem with SR flour, but I find there's a bit more leeway with the plain/all-purpose + baking powder approach. SR, ironically, just always leaves me worried they're not going to rise.

[the hum]

They need eating pretty soon out of the oven if they've got a chance. And a baker who knows exactly when they're cooked so as not to dry them of the small amount of moisture they have. But when they're good, they're very good. Clotted cream is a glorious substance.

Definitely. After a few years practice I've found a general good rule of thumb is that their sides should be firm to the touch but not yet browning... a description that somehow makes me feel like a right scone perv.

[the hum]

This.  Know an Italian chef who trained - her scon-making - in some famous patisserie in Kensington, she never fails to mention it but I cannot remember the name for the life.  Anyway, her scons are like that, not like scons really.  Always forces them on me because I must know (for racial reasons) how very good they are.

Blech, my sympathies. However if anyone likes that sort of thing (for some reason) then look up a recipe for soda scones. Don't be calling them actual proper scons though.