May 15, June 12, August 13, 2010: Buttermilk (& 'buttermilk') scones

The absence of a May calendar recipe on this blog may have escaped your attention.  I did make it; it's just taken me several more months to make vegan and gluten-free analogues of those buttermilk scones.  If anything, this scone recipe is a little more adaptable than your standard batch.  The fat comes from buttermilk rather than butter, and it's just stirred into the dry ingredients instead of all that pesky rubbing.  I didn't particularly notice the buttermilk in the final product but some maple syrup adds a distinctive sweet note.

I baked the first batch to team with a pot of savoury harira soup.  These did not top the traditional approach and technical skill employed by my friends D and Lissy, who are famed in some circles for their particularly fine scones, but it's an easy and quick recipe that still tastes very good fresh from the oven.

Almost a month later I prepared a vegan version and teamed them with the June calendar recipe for carrot-maple soup (this was Robyn's original intention).  The trick here is to replace the buttermilk with a mixture of soy milk and white vinegar.  It doesn't taste the same straight up but it sure does the job in a dough like this. I did find, though, that this scone dough was more wet than the original.  I had no hope of flouring and kneading it, and instead I just dropped scoops of it directly onto the baking tray.

Then more recently I went the full vegan/gluten-free monty, replacing the plain wheat flour with Orgran's gluten-free mix.  This dough was sloppier and lumpier still and I didn't hold much hope for its taste.  Actually these unconventional scones tasted very nearly as good as the other versions, with only the faintest chalkiness in their texture.  Slathered with your favourite topping, you'd barely notice the difference.

Buttermilk scones

2 cups plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat an oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with paper.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. In a separate, smaller bowl whisk together the buttermilk and maple syrup.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until they're just combined. Divide the dough into half a dozen blobs and place them on the baking tray. Bake the scones until they're cooked through, up to 20 minutes.

'Buttermilk' scones

1 cup soy milk
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 cups plain flour (optionally a gluten-free mix)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Preheat an oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with paper.

In a small bowl stir together the soy milk and vinegar, allowing them to sit for 10 minutes.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.

Whisk the maple syrup into the soy milk mixture.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until they're just combined. Divide the dough into half a dozen blobs and place them on the baking tray. Bake the scones until they're cooked through, up to 20 minutes.