Salty Buckwheat & Jam Scones

Scones and Jam, there couldn’t be an easier match.

Hello!

Thanks for joining me for this shorter newsletter and recipe. We’re still trudging away through the frayed edges of winter here in NY. We had our first sunny day in the 60s and the energy and mood shift was apparent everywhere I looked.

A shot from the Washington Heights 5K this weekend

Today’s recipe came from wanting to simplify a layered scone recipe that I developed a few years ago for King Arthur Baking. The finished scone features three layers of jam sandwiched between dough studded with cornmeal and fresh rosemary. It requires rolling out four separate pieces of dough, using a ruler, and several trips to the fridge to keep the dough chilled and workable.

The response to the recipe was immensely positive and I enjoyed seeing many, many people recreate the scones at home. I never thought that so many people would find joy in baking something that I had created. The only consistent and possibly valid criticism that the recipe received was that it wasn’t very “easy” to make. The results were delicious but the effort to get there took some dedication.

The process of developing and publishing this recipe taught me so much. I learned how to work with seasoned professional recipe developers at King Arthur (shout out to Sarah, David, & Jessica) who helped me unwind the process of making this scone in order to communicate the steps clearly to a really big audience of varying skill levels and time restraints.

The opportunity also taught me how to be vulnerable. How to stand behind what I knew as a baker and how to admit when I wasn’t sure how something would work. In art school, I learned what it feels like to create a piece of work and have it viewed by strangers in a gallery. It’s a thrilling vulnerability.

Publishing this recipe online felt like I was inviting everyone across the globe into my kitchen to watch over my shoulder. I had anxiety about it for weeks, stressing over whether I was worthy of the opportunity. Supportive friends and colleagues assured me that I was the right person for the assignment and they also had no problem eating batch after batch of test scones in return for hearing me work through all of my worries and doubts.

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I couldn’t resist the opportunity to change things up a bit while trying to simplify this recipe, so while today‘s scones include jam like the original layered version they really stand on their own. These scones are delightfully fluffy - almost more biscuit than scone. They morphed into something new but hopefully still as satisfying.

The buckwheat flour in these scones creates a beautiful speckled surface that immediately reminded me of river stones. A friend recently referred to me as a “stone turner” because of how much I worry - like someone continuously turning over a stone. I thought “Stone Turner’s Scones” would be a great name for these and I love how the pocket of jam reminds me of a sparkling geode.

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Salty Buckwheat Scones with Jam (aka Stone Turner’s Scones)

Makes 10-12 small scones

225g all-purpose flour

50g buckwheat flour

40 g white sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt (2 teaspoons if using unsalted butter)

113g (1 stick) salted butter, cold

113g (1/2 cup) milk, cold

1 large egg, cold

85g (1/4 cup) blueberry or another variety of jam or preserves

zest from one lemon

1. With a rack in the middle to upper position, preheat your oven to 375F. Line a sheet tray with parchment paper and set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, buckwheat flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Use a fork to mix these dry ingredients together thoroughly. In a small bowl, stir together the jam and lemon zest. In a small measuring cup, whisk together the milk and egg until completely blended.

3. Divide your butter in half. Cut one half into 1/2 inch cubes and place into the bowl of flour. Cut the remaining half into 1/4 inch cubes or smaller. This second portion is your “pea-sized” pieces. Use your hands to rub the first portion of butter into the flour. Fully incorporate the butter until the mixture has the texture of course cornmeal.

4. Add the pea-sized pieces of butter into the bowl and toss gently just to break apart the pieces and coat them in flour. Pour the milk and egg mixture into the bowl while using the fork to lift and fold the dry ingredients up from the bottom of the bowl until the mixture comes together into a large mass.

5. On a lightly floured surface, turn out the crumbly dough and pat it into a rectangle roughly 1 inch tall. Using a bench scraper or a knife, divide the rectangle in half and stack one square of dough on top of the other. Pat or roll the dough out into a rectangle again in the opposite direction and repeat the cutting and stacking. To finish shaping, pat the dough again to create a rectangle that’s about 3/4 inch tall.

6. Divide the dough into 10-12 small squares. These squares will be roughly 2x2 inches but feel free to cut them larger. Place the scones onto the prepared baking sheet with 2-3 inches of space on all sides and use the back of a 1 teaspoon measuring spoon to make an indentation in the top of each scone. Use that same measuring spoon to add a heaping portion of jam to each indentation. It’s okay if it appears slightly overfilled.

7. Bake the scones for 20-23 minutes. When finished, they should be firm to the touch with a matte surface and a golden brown bottom. Enjoy!

Notes:

• Buckwheat is actually a seed rather than a grain. Unlike regular wheat, buckwheat contains no gluten. Because of this, buckwheat flour is softer and adds a biscuity pillow-like quality to these scones.

• I dialed up the salt for this recipe because I feel like it amplifies the nutty notes of the buckwheat flour and brought out a stronger buttery flavor. Feel free to dial it down to 1/2 teaspoon if you’re sensitive to saltiness.

• These scones won’t appear golden brown on top because of how dark the buckwheat flour can be. It’s a great opportunity to use your other senses, touch and smell, to decide when these scones are finished baking.

• These scones can be frozen with or without jam and baked directly from the freezer. Just add 4-5 additional minutes to the baking time.

If you don’t have jam, don’t like jam, or just forgot the jam, these are delicious baked plain as well. I feel like the buckwheat sings more clearly this way and you can always add butter and jam the old fashioned way. Talk about easy.

Scones on their way to the oven.