Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!
I almost said that I’ve never made biscuits from scratch, which seems crazy for a Texan who loves to bake…but I’ve made scones! Looking back at those, they weren’t too pretty, but they sure tasted good and had a light texture. Not convinced that I’d mastered scone or biscuit-making by any means, I was happy about this challenge, especially since Audax was hosting! He always provides such a wealth of knowledge and help for both the Daring Bakers and Cooks that I felt confident with his instructions.
I fully expected my first batch to be a flop, and it was. I went with the basic scone recipe and think the problem was that the dough was way too wet; I shouldn’t have used the full amount of milk. Audax did say that a moister dough makes lighter scones, but I definitely passed that point! However, the amorphous lumps were still light and I had no problem polishing them off…
For the second batch, I really wanted to make the cheese and chive scones because they’re my favorite! Feeling brave, I went ahead and doubled the recipe since the first batch only gave me six. When it came to adding the milk, I only used half of what was called for, then gradually added more until the dough seemed moist enough yet not overly so. This dough was much easier to work with! Instead of lightly kneading, I used the laminating method (folding the dough up in thirds as in making croissant dough) for flakier scones and it was a breeze!
Since the dough was thicker, the scones baked up very high! They got a little browner than I would have liked even though I put them in for 8 minutes instead of 10, but weren’t burnt. These were so light, super flaky. The layers just peeled apart! The scones smelled and tasted kind of like Cheeze-Its, which is a totally good thing to me.
Anyway, I am feeling way more confident about scones and biscuits now! Can’t say I feel the same about what to call them, though… Thanks so much to Audax for being a great host! If you would like to read his write-up and recipes with super helpful instructions and photos, here you go! I’m really looking forward to flavor experiments with the basic recipe.
Let’s revisit that first photo because it was the last meal of my 20s:
Shirred eggs and a cheddar chive scone. YUM.
p.s. kitty oven mitt made by Julie! :)
bake me away! 
What an amazing height you got in your scones/biscuits, and yes you did the right thing about adding the liquid a little at a time for your second batch that is the way to experiment this your technique, bravo bravo bravo on your results. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.
wow your scones/biscuits got impressive height! Audax always posted great tips so I’m not surprised that the recipe turned out well.
mmm cheez-its
Look at that crumb. Those look fantastic and so does the soup.
Time for a shirred eggs pun.
These scones look delicious! I made cheese ones as well, but I didn’t have the chives.
I have never ever made a scone. But you inspire me to want to try it! By the way- happy birthday!
Audax – Thanks for upping my scone/biscuit-making confidence with this challenge! Learned lots of valuable info from you, as always.
Stephanie – I kind of want to try cheddar jack scones now because that’s my favorite flavor of Cheeze-Its…
Greg – Thanks!
Jill – I shirredoo love me some puns.
Kyleen – Ooo, you should make them again with chives!
Shawn – You should! And thank you!
They are so definitely ‘biscuits.’ And those kitties are so definitely cute:)
Love your idea to fold the dough. When I made biscuits last week it was obvious upon looking at my results that the thicker the dough, the thicker x thicker the final product after baking. If that mathematical expression made any sense. I meant it seems additive, in a way?
But I didn’t want to just have super thick dough and only make like three biscuits. I’ll fold next time !
Holy moley batman, these look AWESOME! I’m super impressed by their height too…you clearly have mad skills. :) I should go back and see what I did differently from yours and see if I can duplicate your results! Mine turned out pretty well, but not nearly as flaky and tasty-looking as yours. Great job! ^_^
Emma – I think I’m going to start using the word ‘biscones’ for anything in question. The folding was actually one of two ways shown to us in the challenge! I’m definitely a fan. And yes, thicker dough makes for taller biscones. I doubled the recipe! :)
Mary – Thanks! It really felt like luck so I clearly need to make these again. mmm…
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