Scones..how can i get them to rise..

Seakay

My tip would be to use plain live yoghurt instead of milk - thin with a little milk to get a runny consistency if necessary. Does not make the scones sour but does help them rise (well, I think so anyway) If no yoghurt in the house then sour your milk with a little lemon juice.

bltchef

i would heat your milk to blood temp then add it to mix this will help the scones to rise better ps the bero book is a good scone recipe :beer:

meritaten

use good butter - NOT margerine or those butter substitutes, plain flour and baking powder (the quantities of baking powder are on the tub). use the minimum of liquid to get the dry ingredients to combine. dont Knead the dough! just bring it together with your hands then pat it out until its about three quarters of an inch thick then cut with the cutter. place on your baking sheet and glaze with milk or egg wash ( I just use milk i find it lighter than egg wash) then bake.
I always used to use self raising flour and was always disappointed - then found that the only time i had ONLY plain flour they came out perfectly!
so this is what I always do now - they are so easy to make and taste divine! but you must use proper butter and plain flour with baking powder - i just use milk as the liquid but you can use buttermilk if you want or a mix of yoghurt etc.

Ches

And remember not to twist the cutter as you cut out or they don't rise.

kerleytops

And if they turn out flat like my last lot did just call them Fat Rascals - a Yorkshire scone made by Betty's of Harrogate.

ceridwen

I've been unable to get scones to rise either - though I've tried several recipes.

Two points:
1. I use wholemeal flour (though I've even tried using part white flour to see if that would help) - does that affect whether they rise or no?

2. I've tried both ways of cutting the dough - using cutters and just leaving it in a round and cutting it cake fashion. No rise either way.
If one cuts them into rounds with a cutter - then I'm not sure how that would fit in with having to pull together the leftover bits of dough and roll out again (in order to be able to cut out some more circles - ie from the leftover dough as well - in order to use it all up).

ubamother

lots of scone folklore about - here's my folklore!

This is what I have found works for me.
using cold plain yoghurt adds a lot to the height and fluffiness of scones
I no longer roll the dough, just pat vaguely but enough to make it more or less the same thickness - when I rolled they never rose as much
pat the dough a little, but make sure you don't go too thin - often i used to roll them almost to thick biscuit depth, which is no good - you shouldn't expect to get many scones out of a basic recipe.
I cut into squares or triangles - I don't use cutters ever since I saw a progamme that explained that the cutter push down on the edges, the opposite of 'knocking up' in pastry terms, so making it harder for the scones to rise. I use a very sharp carving knife.
I only use white flour - plain plus baking powder does it for me, as I've never had really good scones using wholewheat.

Just to the OP's comment about sweetness - don't forget as they're served with cream and jam they shouldn't be too sweet.

angeltreats

I make wholemeal & date scones sometimes and have found that what works for me is using about 3/4 wholemeal flour to 1/4 plain, using buttermilk, and rolling the dough an inch thick. They do rise nicely but still not as much as plain flour only.

maro11

Thanks all, I will check out all the suggestions. I used plain flour and baking powder even though the recipe asked for self raising. I can taste the baking powder in the baked scones if that makes sense.

I used cold buttermilk as per the recipe but may have used too much.

I will try again, practise makes perfect.

Maro

angeltreats

You may not need as much liquid as the recipe states. Add a little bit at a time and stop when the consistency is right.