Scone

The scone is the central bake of the British teatime table, though the origin of its name is disputed: popular lore ties it to the Stone of Scone, the coronation seat of the Scottish kings near Perth, while linguists more often point to the Dutch schoonbrood ('fine bread') or the Gaelic sgonn ('a shapeless mass'). Oat-based, griddle-cooked scones were the original form in Scotland, with the first written reference coming from the poet Gavin Douglas in 1513; the leavened, wheat-flour, oven-baked version emerged in England in the 1840s with the arrival of baking powder, and became the heart of afternoon tea after Anna, Duchess of Bedford, established the ritual in around 1840. The Devon versus Cornwall split over how to dress a scone, jam first then cream in Cornwall, cream first then jam in Devon, is a long-running regional dispute. Plain, date or sultana scones are the standards; cheese scones are the savoury variant. The bake is judged on being served warm, fresh and tall enough to split cleanly.

A warm, soft, faintly sweet crumb with a crisp cracked top, split and loaded with cold, thick clotted cream and tart fruit jam. The contrast of warm bake and cold cream is the point.

A good scone is all about cold and speed. Cold butter is rubbed or grated into self-raising flour with a pinch of salt and a little sugar, then cold milk is stirred in just until the dough clumps, overworking develops gluten and makes the scone tough. The dough is patted, not rolled, to about 3cm thick, and cut straight down with a floured cutter, twisting seals the layers and prevents the rise. A brush of egg or milk on top gives colour. The oven must be hot, around 220 degrees C, so the raising agents react fast and the scone springs up before the crust sets, producing the characteristic tall, soft crumb with a cracked pale top. They are eaten within hours of baking; a day-old scone is a different, lesser thing.