Can a person come to obsess about the texture of their scones over a lifetime? Then, can one become obsessed with getting the photo which best depicts what you are trying to convey? It seems that I have. BTW, craggle is a word which technically refers to messy-looking hair, often seen first thing in the morning. In my book, craggle* is a derivative of craggy, the texture sought most dearly in the baking of a good scone.
Nick Malgieri, the venerable pastry guru and founder of the Pastry and Baking Program at ICE, answered a question on his page a couple of weeks ago about scones. nickmalgieri.com It got me to thinking about the real differences between scones and cake. He mentioned that when you top a scone with an icing or glaze, it becomes more of a cake. In my little mind, it’s really about texture, really crumb. Of course, he’s the expert and I’m the novice baker here, so what do I know?
I have written here before that a scone is only worth eating when it can be properly baked and served. That is, don’t bother on a rainy day, unless you live in a hermetically sealed environment with low humidity. Any scone with a sticky, moist exterior is only worthy of the garbage pail. The crumb should not be uniform (like a cake), it should be random and somewhat rough, but never tough. You should imagine them (or you) floating, like a bunch of taught balloons through a long and wispy breeze on a perfect Summer day. This is where I’d draw or paint the image if I had any sort of talent. (I must call upon Jessie Kanelos Weiner, a woman with the perfect talent in this regard – www.thefrancofly.com to do this for me). Close your eyes and imagine a batch of scones floating through the air, in this case with blueberry and lemon verbena colored streamers cascading along. (I’m thinking of the hot air balloons in Napa, floating, floating, on a crisp September morning against crystalline blue skies).
When I get to mid-July and the forecast begins to look like several days ahead around 90s and chance of thunderstorms each day, I start looking to lighten it up. Not that I’m not always in search of “light”, I am.
Over the past week or so I’ve been dreaming of a light as a feather lemon scone, one with pillowy crunch on the outside and soft webby layers inside. This imaginary floating image stems from thoughts of chiffon cakes and billowy clouds.
Today, I got to experimenting with an idea that I am certain others have tried but I heretofore have not – making my scones with egg whites only. While many an expert baker would argue over the inclusion of eggs in scones to begin with, I tend to like them “in”. In today’s case, I was really going for the cleanest possible flavor of lemon, a stem of my lemon verbena and the lushness of blueberry. I topped them off with Nutmeg Sugar.
THE EGG WHITE SCONE WITH LEMON, VERBENA, BLUEBERRIES AND NUTMEG SUGAR –
8 tblsp unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups cake flour
1 cup bread flour
1 tblsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 very good size stem of lemon verbena (yielding a generous tblsp of leaves)
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp almond extract
zest of two large lemons
2 egg whites
1 tsp lemon juice
1 1/4 cups fresh blueberries
one egg white for brushing
nutmeg sugar – 1/8 cup granulated sugar mixed with a generous tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Preheat oven to 425F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In the bowl of your food processor, whir together the flours, baking powder, salt, lemon verbena and zest. Add the cubed butter and pulse 8-9 times or until the butter pieces resemble small peas. Dump the dry ingredients into a low wide bowl.
In a measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk, egg whites, lemon juice and almond extract. Pour about 3/4 of the mixture into the center of the dry ingredients. Working with a dough scraper, gently bring the mixture together, working with a light hand, adding more of the wet mixture as needed. When the dough begins to hold together, add the blueberries. Gently work in. Finish kneading lightly with your hands. Move the dough to a baking sheet which has been lined with parchment paper. Press into a disk about 8″ in diameter. Cut the disk into 8-9 wedges. Brush with egg white wash. Sprinkle with nutmeg sugar.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the scones are nicely browned, have crunchy-craggy exteriors and are firm in the center. Remove from oven. Let sit for 5 minutes and serve.
study of craggle and crumb:
I’m but a student of Nick Malgieri, but you can look for my article on Scones in issue 34 of Intermezzo Magazine – www.intermezzomagazine.com
