LAST UPDATED: BY NICKKI THOMPSON FIRST PUBLISHED: 77 Comments
Would you love to make light, fluffy, tall scones? Look no further – Paul Hollywood’s best fluffy scone recipe is the one!
It’s that time of year again…the new series of The Great British Bake off starts tomorrow night on BBC2, 8pm…and I can’t wait!
To celebrate this occasion, I decided to make Paul Hollywood’s scone recipe. I’ve wanted to try this particular recipe for a while now.
I don’t make scones very often because they are usually a bit of a hit or a miss for me. I always longed to make big, fluffy scones but mine can sometimes turn out a bit…flat.
I was well chuffed with these beauties! They rose so high and were really light and fluffy.
How to make the best fluffy scones
According to Mr Hollywood, the secret is in “chafing” the dough, which involves lightly folding the dough in half, turning it 90 degrees and repeating a few times until the dough is smooth.
Scones require a light touch – so handle the dough with care!
I wouldn’t recommend rolling out the dough with a rolling pin either. All you need to do is lightly pat the dough out with your hands.
You don’t want to go to all that effort of handling the dough as carefully as possible only to undo it all!
When you’re cutting out the scones, don’t twist the cutter when lifting them out or the scones will be wonky.
You can use either egg yolk or milk to glaze the top of the scones – egg yolk makes them look shiny and golden and milk gives a soft crust.
Alternatively, you could just simply dust the top of the scones with a little (not too much!) flour.
This gives a “farmhouse kitchen” look to the scones that I’m actually pretty fond of.
The recipe uses bread flour which I’ve never seen in a scone recipe before but it works really well.
I also figured out where else I was going wrong in my scone making – my dough wasn’t wet enough – it was too dry. It should have a slightly sticky consistency.
Please don’t be alarmed by the amount of baking powder in this recipe – you really do need 5 teaspoons. I promise it’s not a misprint!
If you’re making scones then you’ll need something delicious to spread on them – you could make this 4 minute microwave lemon curd while you’re waiting patiently for the scones to bake!
Or if you love rhubarb, you could try my rhubarb and ginger jam recipe.
If rhubarb isn’t your thing, I also have a great blood orange curd recipe. You could of course use normal oranges if blood oranges aren’t in season.
Want to see more scone recipes?
Here’s my date and walnut scones recipe for you to try – they are so delicious spread thickly with butter.
Like fruity scones? Try my classic fruit scone recipe – perfect for afternoon tea!
Or here’s my all time favourite – cheese scones!
Treacle Scones are a perfect bake for Halloween or Bonfire Night.
These salted caramel apple cinnamon scones are absolutely gorgeous – drizzle the the salted caramel glaze over the scones while they are still a little warm for an indulgent afternoon treat!
They are equally as good thickly spread with blackberry jam or apple butter.
If you’ve ever made scones that turned out like hockey pucks, give this recipe a try and I promise you will not be disappointed!
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a comment/star rating and let me know what you thought, or share a photo with me on Instagram!
The Best Fluffy Scone Recipe
Yield: 10 Scones
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
I've tried dozens of scone recipes over the years and this one is BY FAR the BEST I've ever tried. The method may seem a little fiddly with all the folding and turning of the dough, but if you follow the method EXACTLY as below and handle the dough with care, you'll be rewarded with beautiful, tall, fluffy scones.
Ingredients
- 500g (3 1/2 cups) strong white flour, plus a little extra for rolling out
- 1/2 Tsp Salt
- 80g (5 1/2 tablespoons) butter, plus a little extra for greasing the tray
- 75g (1/3 cup) caster sugar
- 2 large (not extra large) eggs
- 5 tsp baking powder, Yes really 5 teaspoons – this is not a misprint!
- 250ml (one cup) milk
- I egg yolk OR 1 tbsp milk, for glazing
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 220C/200Fan/428F.
- Lightly grease a baking tray with butter and line with baking paper.
- Place 450g of the flour and 1/2 tsp salt into a large bowl and add the butter.
- Rub the butter into the flour until you have a breadcrumb like mixture.
- Add the sugar, eggs and baking powder use a wooden spoon to turn the mixture gently.
- Add half the milk and stir gently with a spoon to combine. Then add the rest of milk a little at a time until you have a very soft, wet dough. You may not need to add all of the milk.
- Flour a work surface (using the remaining four but keep a little back) and tip the dough out. Sprinkle with the remaining flour. The mixture will be slightly wet and sticky, but it shouldn't be too sticky to handle.
- Using your hands, fold the dough in half, then turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat. This method is called “chaffing”. Repeat a few times until the dough is smooth. Take care not to overwork the dough.
- Next roll the dough out. Sprinkle more flour on the work surface and on top of the dough, then use the rolling pin to roll up from the middle and down from the middle. Turn the dough by 90 degrees and continue to roll until it’s roughly 2.5cm thick. “Relax” the dough by lifting the edges and dropping the dough back down on the work surface.
- Using a cutter dipped in flour, stamp out rounds from the dough and place on the baking tray. Don’t twist the cutter when pressing down, it could make the scones uneven. Leftover dough can be re-worked and re-rolled, but the resulting scones won’t turn out quite as fluffy.
- Place the scones on the tray and leave to rest for a few minutes. Glaze the scones with the beaten egg yolk or milk, trying not to let the mixture run down the sides.
- Bake for about 15 minutes, or until well risen and golden.
Notes
For light and fluffy scones, it's very important to handle the dough with care. You don't want to knock the air out, so being gentle is key!
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 303Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 75mgSodium: 326mgCarbohydrates: 48gFiber: 1gSugar: 8gProtein: 8g
