Wholemeal Scones

The temptation to bake and eat scones started last week when my sisters and I had scones at The Pavilion, Sentosa Resort and Spa. We were still harping over how good the scones tasted.

That prompted me to venture to Bakertan and Happy Home Baking's blog. I recalled they had very detailed write up on their experience with scones. Thanks to them, I don't have to surf further to understand more about scones! Finally, to replicate what I had at Sentosa, I used HHB's Cranberry Oatmeal Scones recipe. The result? Divine!

Recipe for Wholemeal Scones, modified from HHB's Cranberry Oatmeal Scones recipe.

Ingredients:
(makes 12 3" round scones)

300g Top flour
100g Wholemeal wheat flour
4 tsps  Baking powder
4 tbsps Caster sugar
1/8 tsp Salt
130g Unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes
40g Instant oat
180g Whole milk
100g Raisins

Method:
1. Soak raisins in some water for 15mins. Drain well and set it aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together top flour and baking powder. Add in wholemeal flour.
3. Mix in sugar and salt.
4. Using a scraper, mix in the cold butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (I learn this from Rei, so as to prevent the butter from melting.) It is important that the butter should be cold so when it is cut into the flour mixture it becomes small, flour-coated crumbs.
5. Mix in the instant oat and raisins.
6. Make a well in the centre and add in milk. Stir with a spatula until just combined. The mixture will be sticky, moist and lumpy.
7. Gather up the mixture and place it on a lightly floured surface and give it a few light kneading (not more than 10 seconds) so that it comes together to form a dough. Do Not over work the dough. (Only mix the dough until it comes together. Too much kneading will cause gluten to develop, and the resulting scones will turn hard and chewy. Knead only until the ingredients come together into a combined mass.)
8. Pat the dough into a round disc about 3/4 inch thickness.
9. With a round cutter, cut out the doughs into 12 pieces.
10. Place the scones on baking tray, space them apart. Brush the tops with some milk.
11. Bake in preheated oven at 200 degC for about 12 minutes or until they are well risen and the tops are a light golden brown. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Serve warm.

Thanks Bakertan and HHB for sharing so generously!