My friend LC inspired me with talk of her hubby baking heavenly breads from the Tartine cookbook. I told her I had one too, but hadn’t yet had a chance a crack it open. It was high time I did. After rifling through the pages filled with decadent carbolicious goods, I decided on the buttermilk scones.
The recipe:
- 1/2 pint strawberries, frozen, then hulled & coarsely chopped
- 4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup + 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, very cold
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (I used 1 cup buttermilk, plus 1/2 cup milk)
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest, grated
- topping: about 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- topping: large crystal sugar or granulated sugar for sprinkling
Tartine’s buttermilk scones recipe typically calls for 3/4 cup Zante currants, but since berries are in season, I opted for my fave: strawberries.
About an hour before I started the recipe, I first cleaned, hulled and sliced the strawberries. Then I spread them out on a baking sheet and popped them into the freezer (getting them frozen will prevent the berry juices from oozing when they get rolled into the dough later).
I flipped the oven on to 400 degrees F and lined a baking sheet with parchment. Then I got started by grating the lemon zest and setting it aside. I sifted the flour into a large bowl.
I then added the baking powder and baking soda along with the sugar and salt, and stirred well. I sliced the super chilled butter and added them into the bowl. Using two knives, I cut the butter into the dry ingredients.
According to Tartine, the goal is to get a coarse mixture with pea-sized lumps of butter. Once achieved, I added the buttermilk and milk as well as the lemon zest and frozen chopped strawberries, and proceeded to mix as gently as possible with my rubber spatula just until the dough held together. My mixture was a tad dry, so I sluiced it with a bit more milk as I combined all the ingredients together. I ended up with a dough that was pretty moist (and admittedly messy) so I made sure to generously flour my work surface.
Tartine says to use your hands to pat the dough into a rectangle about 18 inches long, 5 inches wide and 1 1/2 inches thick. I didn’t have a ruler, so I’d say my rectangle was roughly that size, though I ended up with several more triangles than the Tartine recipe says you’ll have (15-16 vs. 12).
Before you cut the rectangle into triangles, brush the top with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 25-35 minutes (I think mine only needed 25) until the tops are light golden. Eat for breakfast, a snack, whenever the mood strikes.
