Against all possible predictions and probabilities, the sourdough starter is still alive. It has been used regularly and is now kept in the fridge between baking days. I have been making a loaf of bread every week or so, as it is only me who eats it; my partner says it gives him heart burn and my daughter doesn’t enjoy the taste. I have also made the odd other thing with it; muffins, brownies and pikelets, even doughnuts. Now I thought it was time to try scones.

The usual caliber of scones I create ranges from inedible to…interesting as a building material and possibly bullet proof. I am hoping that these will be different. I found a recipe that looks good on this blog; Passion fruit garden.

Basic recipe

Scones:

• 1½ cups sifted all-purpose (plain) flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda (bicarb soda) (The recipe said ½ tsp if starter is quite sour.  For my first batch, I used the ½ tsp because my starter was well and truly dead!)
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ cup butter
• 1 cup starter.

 Method:

1. Sift all the dry ingredients together.
2. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Add the starter and mix.  As mentioned above, I had to add some milk as my dough was too dry.
4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board.
5. Knead only long enough to form a smooth dough.
6. Press out dough to about 2 cm deep.
7. Use a scone cutter to cut out scones.
8. Put scones onto a tray lined with baking paper.
9. Brush scones with milk.
10. Let scones rest for one hour.
11. Bake for 12 minutes at 200°C.

Of course with my daughter being almost totally vegan now I decided to substitute vegetable oil for the butter, other than that I just followed the recipe. It made six large scones, I think I will make a double or even treble batch next time.

The resulting scones taste good but they look like flat rocks. They crumbled as I tried to cut them too. I think that is because of the oil for butter substitution. Next batch I will use the vegan spread we use for butter.

Update; I tried a batch with real butter, just to see how it would go. They turned out ok, but nothing spectacular. I think I need more practice at this…my losing streak when it comes to scones continues.