As a follow up to my trouble to get them to stick together…came out perfectly and so delicious! They look nothing like the picture, though…the buckwheat made them gray! Love the lemon zest in the batter and sprinkled on top!
Well, I just made these and they are in the freezer. I had a really terrible time getting it all to stick together, and still never succeeded even after adding at least 3 tbs of cream. I’m suspecting that things aren’t going to go well when I try to cut them.
Perfect timing - I've got some lemons, fabulous buckwheat from Maine Grains (which M. Stewart loves) and backyard blackberries which are sure to turn the scones purple. Making TODAY! (I think it's funny we don't eat scones for dessert yet aren't they really like eating a piece of cake? So, can we eat cake for breakfast? Let them eat scones!)
These are really delicious! Not being a great fan of blueberries, I used dried Montmorency cherries and walnuts instead. I love buckwheat and the coarse ground buckwheat I buy locally really lent superb flavour. Encore merci!
Until the day I die, and perhaps even beyond, I’ll never understand the phenomenon of UHT dairy products as the default option in France. It’s so bad tasting even if the flavor has slightly improved over the last 40 years.
Read your Substack and enjoyed it. A bit over wordy, but you have to be descriptive. Yes, if I don't recognize an ingredient in a "foreign" recipe I just fake it. Most the time its okay.
When I first visited England in the 70s, I had clotted cream, which we couldn't get in the USA, and I thought I'd gone to Heaven! Your report here reminded me of that. Can hardly wait to make these scones. Might have to buy his book too! Thanks.
The crème fraîche in France is pretty amazing too. It various in quality, from supermarket containers to farm-fresh sold at fromageries. It's rich, thick, nutty and amazingly fatty. There's also something in France called "Fontainebleau" which fromageries make with a whipping machine, that's fromage frais and crème fraîche whipped together & it absolutely incredible with fresh strawberries.
Talk about good timing!! When I married a Frenchman with a house in the Savoie region, I had many adjustments to make when it came to cooking - I noticed the countless types of "creme", sugars and flours there were; this issue of your newsletter was soooo helpful. Thank you - or, merci beaucoup!!
Yes, it takes a bit to adjust to ingredients. Flour I think is the hardest. Standard (type 45-55) flour is very finely powdered and rather weak (low protein) so it makes nice cakes and pastries but is a challenge for cookies and bread. In America we usually have 3 types of flour available (cake, all-purpose, and bread) whereas in France you have everything from T45, T55, etc... to T150. I do miss being able to buy cream in larger sizes than the small packets, so when I find the liter boxes (like the one shown that I bought at Auchan), I grab one : )
During my first visit to the family home, my husband offered to go to the nearby dairy which is operated by a second cousin. I was thinking: "Fantastic - real 'cream'." Alas, it was grand bland; having a bit of a sweet tooth, and accustomed to the half and half, heavy or whipping cream, alas, I was disappointed. Not enough fat in the milk straight from the cow? Again, thank you for taking the time to reply to my previous inquiry. I expect many houseguests during our next visit to France, so I am preparing menus, often take spices from Penny's or other ingredients I can't find in Rumilly . . .looking at two of your books for inspiration, and the olive crisps are a big hit so will definitely make those for aperitif time.
I will try this recipe for scones while it seems unnecessarily complicated, but I try almost all of the recipes that you post. I have been making scones forever and use a recipe from a wee book entitled Simply Scones published in the US but clearly incorporates the English notion of what a scone truly is. My go-to recipe is for "Classic" cream scones and I don't need to run to the grocery to get ingredients. I make them for special breakfasts in less than 10 minutes and 20 minutes in the oven....YUMMY!
I didn't find the recipe that complicated but I did a bit of "over explaining" 😊 on the final mixing of the dough because I wanted to explain how it comes together, and the best way to do it. Someone asked elsewhere if they could laminate the dough - which is definitely more complicated (!) - but these came out very well & are worth the effort...imho! : )
When I lived in the 14th in 1992 there was a wonderful little fromagerie in Alesia that sold crème fraiche out of an enormous white bowl. I loved watching it being ladled out in thick, creamy ribbons, and I still don’t understand why it didn’t occur to me to buy any!
That stuff is the BEST. It's so rich and nutty but to most people, it's an occasional indulgence. (Due to the richness.) I do buy farm-made fromage blanc at the fromagerie at my market and that's amazing too, and less-rich.
Iv’e taken to rubbing any grated citrus rinds (lemon, orange, lime) into the sugar in a recipe, until it’s well-distributed. This gets the oils directly incorporated into the sugar, doesn’t take long, and really enhances flavor! Try it sometime.
I often grind the sugar and zest in a mini food processor which really goes a great job of extracting the flavorful citrus oils, but I didn't want to call for doing that in the recipe as it's another thing to wash - but other methods like yours work well too!
I just made cherry almond and cranberry Orange scones last week. I can’t wait to try blueberry lemon. In step 8 of the scone recipe you say to mix powdered sugar and salt, Then mix other ingredients and heat. Does the powdered sugar get added to the wet ingredients? It doesn’t specify what to do with it.
UHT milk! On my very first visit to France, I was fascinated by it. My French family was equally fascinated to hear that Americans didn’t have it. One reason for it was the lack of available refrigeration. French fridges used to be like the large size dorm refrigerators, and there simply wasn’t room for everything that Americans keep chilled.
A lot of Americans are surprised by sterilized milk but you're right that refrigeration was often at a premium (even though nowadays everyone has a refrigerator, which have become more spacious too...) but also Americans tend to drink milk on its own, so the flavor is more important.
Merci, David! That book sounds very much worth a look. I’ve never tried grain mixing so this will be fun to try. My British/American family will eat any style scone as long as it is fresh. The Americans prefer them plain, and regardless of add ins and glaze, the UK contingent still slather with cream and jam and, this month, fresh strawberries.
As a follow up to my trouble to get them to stick together…came out perfectly and so delicious! They look nothing like the picture, though…the buckwheat made them gray! Love the lemon zest in the batter and sprinkled on top!
Well, I just made these and they are in the freezer. I had a really terrible time getting it all to stick together, and still never succeeded even after adding at least 3 tbs of cream. I’m suspecting that things aren’t going to go well when I try to cut them.
Perfect timing - I've got some lemons, fabulous buckwheat from Maine Grains (which M. Stewart loves) and backyard blackberries which are sure to turn the scones purple. Making TODAY! (I think it's funny we don't eat scones for dessert yet aren't they really like eating a piece of cake? So, can we eat cake for breakfast? Let them eat scones!)
When I save a scone recipe on Pinterest, I always put it under breakfast!
Wish I could post a pic! Made extra lemon-zesty, and with just unbleached flour and buckwheat (no whole wheat). They are dangerously heavenly.
I made these today and they are delicious. Many thanks!
Blueberry scones went over fabulously in Klosters, Suisse this morning. Many thanks for sharing the recipe.
These are really delicious! Not being a great fan of blueberries, I used dried Montmorency cherries and walnuts instead. I love buckwheat and the coarse ground buckwheat I buy locally really lent superb flavour. Encore merci!
Yum great idea! I have some of those. Could be good with almonds and cherries too.
Until the day I die, and perhaps even beyond, I’ll never understand the phenomenon of UHT dairy products as the default option in France. It’s so bad tasting even if the flavor has slightly improved over the last 40 years.
These look delicious! And I was literally just having a conversation with someone American that we don't have canned tomato sauce here int he UK!
On this topic which you might enjoy, I got together with some fellow Substackers for a tongue-in-cheek differences between British and American ingredients: https://ingredientbyrachelphipps.substack.com/p/british-american-ingredients
Read your Substack and enjoyed it. A bit over wordy, but you have to be descriptive. Yes, if I don't recognize an ingredient in a "foreign" recipe I just fake it. Most the time its okay.
Substack is for the words, I think that is why so many of us OG bloggers are coming over here!
When I first visited England in the 70s, I had clotted cream, which we couldn't get in the USA, and I thought I'd gone to Heaven! Your report here reminded me of that. Can hardly wait to make these scones. Might have to buy his book too! Thanks.
The crème fraîche in France is pretty amazing too. It various in quality, from supermarket containers to farm-fresh sold at fromageries. It's rich, thick, nutty and amazingly fatty. There's also something in France called "Fontainebleau" which fromageries make with a whipping machine, that's fromage frais and crème fraîche whipped together & it absolutely incredible with fresh strawberries.
https://fr-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/Fontainebleau_(fromage)?_x_tr_sl=fr&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc
Talk about good timing!! When I married a Frenchman with a house in the Savoie region, I had many adjustments to make when it came to cooking - I noticed the countless types of "creme", sugars and flours there were; this issue of your newsletter was soooo helpful. Thank you - or, merci beaucoup!!
Yes, it takes a bit to adjust to ingredients. Flour I think is the hardest. Standard (type 45-55) flour is very finely powdered and rather weak (low protein) so it makes nice cakes and pastries but is a challenge for cookies and bread. In America we usually have 3 types of flour available (cake, all-purpose, and bread) whereas in France you have everything from T45, T55, etc... to T150. I do miss being able to buy cream in larger sizes than the small packets, so when I find the liter boxes (like the one shown that I bought at Auchan), I grab one : )
During my first visit to the family home, my husband offered to go to the nearby dairy which is operated by a second cousin. I was thinking: "Fantastic - real 'cream'." Alas, it was grand bland; having a bit of a sweet tooth, and accustomed to the half and half, heavy or whipping cream, alas, I was disappointed. Not enough fat in the milk straight from the cow? Again, thank you for taking the time to reply to my previous inquiry. I expect many houseguests during our next visit to France, so I am preparing menus, often take spices from Penny's or other ingredients I can't find in Rumilly . . .looking at two of your books for inspiration, and the olive crisps are a big hit so will definitely make those for aperitif time.
I will try this recipe for scones while it seems unnecessarily complicated, but I try almost all of the recipes that you post. I have been making scones forever and use a recipe from a wee book entitled Simply Scones published in the US but clearly incorporates the English notion of what a scone truly is. My go-to recipe is for "Classic" cream scones and I don't need to run to the grocery to get ingredients. I make them for special breakfasts in less than 10 minutes and 20 minutes in the oven....YUMMY!
I didn't find the recipe that complicated but I did a bit of "over explaining" 😊 on the final mixing of the dough because I wanted to explain how it comes together, and the best way to do it. Someone asked elsewhere if they could laminate the dough - which is definitely more complicated (!) - but these came out very well & are worth the effort...imho! : )
When I lived in the 14th in 1992 there was a wonderful little fromagerie in Alesia that sold crème fraiche out of an enormous white bowl. I loved watching it being ladled out in thick, creamy ribbons, and I still don’t understand why it didn’t occur to me to buy any!
That stuff is the BEST. It's so rich and nutty but to most people, it's an occasional indulgence. (Due to the richness.) I do buy farm-made fromage blanc at the fromagerie at my market and that's amazing too, and less-rich.
Iv’e taken to rubbing any grated citrus rinds (lemon, orange, lime) into the sugar in a recipe, until it’s well-distributed. This gets the oils directly incorporated into the sugar, doesn’t take long, and really enhances flavor! Try it sometime.
I often grind the sugar and zest in a mini food processor which really goes a great job of extracting the flavorful citrus oils, but I didn't want to call for doing that in the recipe as it's another thing to wash - but other methods like yours work well too!
I just made cherry almond and cranberry Orange scones last week. I can’t wait to try blueberry lemon. In step 8 of the scone recipe you say to mix powdered sugar and salt, Then mix other ingredients and heat. Does the powdered sugar get added to the wet ingredients? It doesn’t specify what to do with it.
Fixed!
UHT milk! On my very first visit to France, I was fascinated by it. My French family was equally fascinated to hear that Americans didn’t have it. One reason for it was the lack of available refrigeration. French fridges used to be like the large size dorm refrigerators, and there simply wasn’t room for everything that Americans keep chilled.
A lot of Americans are surprised by sterilized milk but you're right that refrigeration was often at a premium (even though nowadays everyone has a refrigerator, which have become more spacious too...) but also Americans tend to drink milk on its own, so the flavor is more important.
Merci, David! That book sounds very much worth a look. I’ve never tried grain mixing so this will be fun to try. My British/American family will eat any style scone as long as it is fresh. The Americans prefer them plain, and regardless of add ins and glaze, the UK contingent still slather with cream and jam and, this month, fresh strawberries.