Written By Catherine Parrott

Recipe #2 for Scones, this time utilising lard in place of butter to create a rich savoury dough. Honestly sometimes I much prefer a savoury bake to a sweet and these guys fit the bill for me completely.

RECIPE:

TRIPLE CHEESE AND CHIVE SCONE

  • 500g PLAIN FLOUR (You can swap in a ‘fun and exciting’ different flour here, for example Buckwheat or Rye, but never the full amount as we need the softness provided by this plain wheat flour. I would advice perhaps a 30-40% ‘swap in’ if you wanted to mess around.)

  • 25g BAKING POWDER

  • 125g LARD

  • 50g GRATED PARMESAN (Or any other hard cheese you can get your hands on. Percorino or example is a family favourite)

    10g CHOPPED CHIVE (Fresh or fry, your choice!)

  •  2 WHOLE MEDIUM EGGS

  • 50g RICOTTA

  • 125g WHOLE MILK

EGG WASH

  • 1 EGG YOLK

  • 10ml WATER

  • 20g GRATED CHEDDAR

  • PAPRIKA (Optional, but is it?)

BEFORE YOU START…

Preheat your oven to 180^c (180^c fan oven, 190^c for other, less powerful ovens #knowyouroven)

METHODS:

FOR THE SCONE DOUGH…

Sand the lard, flour and baking powder together only very small lumps remain. BIGGER LUMPS WHICH WON’T MIX INTO THE DOUGH WILL MISBEHAVE WHEN BAKED, IF YOU ALSO LOSE A LOT OF THE LARD THIS WAY THE DOUGH WILL BE DRY BECAUSE THE FAT SHOULD BE IN WITHIN THE DOUGH PROVIDING MOISTURE AND SOFTNESS. Stir through the grated parmesan and chopped/dried chives.

Mix the egg, milk and ricotta together until evenly mixed (it won’t look perfectly smooth because of the ricotta). Add to the sanded dry ingredients and mix very slowly until it comes together as a smooth dough.

Tip the dough onto the counter, bringing any lost bits of the dough back into the main ball and cover with the mixing bowl. Leave for rest for 30 minutes. (Make a cup of tea, have a sit down).  Once everyone has rested, roll out the dough to about an inch thick. LIFT THE DOUGH OFF THE COUNTER BEFORE USING A CUTTER TO CUT YOUR SCONES (this helps to prevent misshapen scones)

Re-roll and repeat. (YOU DON’T WANT TO RE-ROLL THE DOUGH MORE THAN TWICE - you’re working that gluten, you’re bothering it and this where scones can get a bad name! Very bothered scones..).

Rest your scones for a further 15-30 minutes on a tray covered with a tea-towel or layer of clingfilm at room temperature (How many cups of tea have we had? time to squeeze in another?)

FOR THE EGG WASH & BAKING…

Once the scones are nicely rested (and you’ve had a bit of a caffeine crisis? Just me?) Mix the water and egg yolk together to create your egg wash and brush the tops of the scones liberally. Top with grated cheese and a pinch of paprika on each. 

Bake for 15-20 minutes until risen and golden.

TO SERVE: Best served slightly warm (10 seconds in the microwave will do the trick!) with lashings of salty butter and zero regrets.

Catherine Parrott
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