making sense of scone recipe

possibly 2 dozen eggs

Hi

what is #? is it lb for dry weight and pints for liquid?  If it is, it seems to me there is double the butter than usual, and missing about 4 large eggs and about .75 pint  liquid.  or maybe  my calculations are off... or maybe its a different type of scone than I'm used to because it seems very rich being made with all that butter and cream, usually its made with milk and maybe a little cream or made with buttermilk.  THis would be one expensive scone recipe to make in a bakery.  

 

 

 

 

It seems more like a reallly rich pastry or  a biscuit recipe than a traditional scone recipe

 

 

 

 

Buttermilk produces the most tender scone.

 

 

Edited by cakeface - 3/17/12 at 12:58pm

Hm, never used eggs in what I call scones, then again, maybe I didn't know what I was doing all these years

 

I think the  # refers to pounds, most bakers I know use weights rather than volume for measurements, BTA, WTHDIK.
 

 

Hi Pete, 

We use weights here and never volume too, but we use metric measurements- kilograms and litres so was just double checking because am not 100% sure about measurements in US.

I have suspicion that maybe scones in Ireland are totally different to scones in the US.  Over here in scones, eggs make up a large part of the recipe, yet they are not spongey like a cake, and they are not very sweet-looking at the recipe above, an Irish scone would not have that much sugar.either.  So I'm gonna shut up now because I don't think my input is relevant to the conversation.   and because it is Saint Patrick's Day!

Perhaps the eggs are for brushing the tops? ; )

boy I'm stumped. I didn't recognize what the # was for either but did wonder if it meant pounds.
weird way to write then read a recipe.
I've informed my husband we're going back to Edinburgh Scotland and redoing the tour on High street where the bus stopped in a small community for a break in the drive and scones. Ah the memories

It has me stumped, too - and I'm a Scot!

I wonder where you stopped for scones and a pot of tea, LuvPie?

One of the bakeries I worked for used to make up several hundred kilos of dry scone mix at a time - flour, sugar, salt, leavening agents, and fat (shortening).  Then we'd just take how much we'd need for the numbers for the day, eyeball eggs and buttermilk to add, and then throw in a handful or two of fruit or cheese.  If your friend works in a similar way, the '2 eggs' and cream might be an 'add as you go' part of the recipe, for small batched of the larger dry mix.  Alternatively, it could be 2# of eggs if they're using the massive pails of broken frozen eggs, which commercial kitchens often have.

 

Ask a silly question, but is your friend able to explain the discrepancy?

Here's an old scone recipe from Scotland - my father was from Kilmarnoch and I spent some time there - lived on a farm near Irvine, Ayrshire.

 

We had an Aga cooker (is always on) and we used a Girdle to cook scones, pancakes etc. This is cast iron - is round and has a huge handle that goes over top.

 

Here goes: as it is written

 

1 lb. flour (that is 1 pound)

2 teaspoon cream of tartar

3 oz. butter

 

1 small teaspoon bicarbonate of soda  (baking soda)

1/2 pint tepid milk

 

Sift flour & cream of tarter into bowl - then rub in butter

 

Dissolve soda in milk & then stir into dry ingredients.  Knead to a stiff paste.

 

Roll on lightly floured surface into a round 1/2 - 3/4 inch thick.

 

Cut into rounds 2 - 21/2 inches across

 

Bake on lightly greased sheet a little apart from each other at 450 F for 10 - 15 min.

 

When done brush tops lightly with milk.  Serve split and buttered hot.   Makes about 2 dozen

 

 

I make a round or two - pick with a fork and bake whole in oven  - also do this in cast iron pan over campfire

 

 

 

I also always use # to represent pounds - it's just quicker when writing out recipes.  I don't actually see anything wrong with the recipe as I have many scone recipes that don't use any eggs, so just having 2 doesn't mean it is wrong.  The amount of butter and flour are plenty to provide a good texture.