Flour and Confectionery Products
Scones (British Buttermilk Scones)
Scones are the cornerstone of the British cream tea — a tradition in which scones are served warm, split horizontally, spread with clotted cream and jam, and eaten in the afternoon alongside a pot of tea. Originating in Scotland in the early sixteenth century and associated with Devon and Cornwall in the south-west of England, they are a quick bread (leavened by baking powder rather than yeast) made from flour, cold butter, buttermilk, and a little sugar. The defining technique is the same as pastry-making: very cold butter worked into flour until it resembles breadcrumbs, combined with cold liquid to just bring the dough together — never kneaded. The cold butter pockets in the dough hit the hot oven and release steam, creating the characteristic slight flakiness and the dramatic rise that splits the scone naturally along the middle — the 'waist' — making it easy to break open by hand without a knife.
