Potato Scones - International Scone Week 2016

What!?  International Scone Week again? Nope I can't believe this has come around so soon. There we were discussing her grandmum's scones with our friend Miss P.P. seemingly a few weeks ago and here we are again.  Where did that year go?  

This year for #ISW2016, I chose to make potato scones from a newspaper recipe dated October 1912.  I found this on TROVE, the National Library online source of just about everything.  I have been doing text corrections on TROVE for the last few years, and have come across a wealth of interesting snippets of info.  And of course, there are heaps of wonderful old-fashioned recipes.  I love the way you have to divine a fair bit of the method yourself. 

potato scones with parmesan lurking inside  

This recipe is from a newspaper called The Land (Sydney NSW:1911-1954) Friday 4 October 1912 page 14.  I had to do a wee bit of research (and calculations) to get the right amounts for the ingredients.  These scones call for 1 gill of milk.  I only just found out today that it is pronounced with a soft g like gin, not girl. And you can have U.S. gills and UK gills - different amounts of course, just to keep you on your toes. Naturally I used the UK gill.

ingredients 

ingredients:


175g. plain flour

57g. butter

a big pinch of salt

1 tsp baking powder

227g. of cold, mashed potatoes

30g. extra sharp parmesan, grated - my addition to the recipe (optional)

1 egg

142 mls. of milk - you may not need all of this, or you could need more depending on the flour



Method:


Before you start the scones, bake/steam or boil 227g. of potatoes till tender

Peel them, mash them, cool completely and put aside

Place the flour in a large mixing bowl

Rub the butter in with your fingers till you have a crumb-like mix

Add the salt and the baking powder

Mix thoroughly with the mashed potatoes

Stir in the parmesan  

Beat the egg with 2 tablespoons of the milk

Add it to the mixture, and work it gently to a dough - the recipe says "using the needful quantity of milk" - i.e. enough of the milk to make it into a dough

Depending on the flour you are using, you may need a bit more or less milk.  I only used the 2 tablespoons of milk beaten in with the egg.  This is (I think) due to the fact that I was using leftover mash from dinner, which already had a goodly amount of milk and cream in it.  (Mr P. made it, and he loves his creamy mash)

Pat the mixture into a ball, then roll it out on a floured surface - you want it about 1 cm. in thickness (the dough was very soft so I used my hands to pat it out into a rectangle)

Cut out rounds 6cm. in diameter

Place them on a greased baking tray, brush with milk and bake at 220C for about 15 minutes or till golden

Serve hot and well-buttered - sounds like a good plan for Life!

flour and butter combined; now add salt and baking powder

mix the mash in thoroughly  

arty shot of the parmesan going in

cutting the eggy mix into the flour mix  

roll or pat out the soft dough   

using a scone cutter to cut out the 6cm. rounds 

brush the tops with milk

baked and golden - and yes a bit flat :=) 

Yep they came out kind of flat, more like a biscuit than a scone. Maybe I should have used self-raising flour?  Maybe they liked flat scones in them thar days?  But they were thin and cheesy, and very moreish.  Mr P. grabbed one and wolfed it down, saying "can I have another one?"  I have to tell you they disappeared in about half a day.

these didn't last long 

(BTW, just so you know, a U.S. gill is 118 mls as compared to the UK one of 142 mls.)

my scones on a Yayoi Kusama plate doodle 

Join in with Tandy from Lavender and Lime in this year's round-up of International Scones.  Everyone is welcome!