Ask a Chef reveals the secrets of those superb dishes you ate in cafes and restaurants and wanted to try yourself.
Otago Museum Cafe's buttermilk scones
Ingredients
415g flour
90g sugar
15g baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
170g butter, room temp
225ml buttermilk, cold
150g chopped crystallised ginger mix
Method
Sift dry ingredients together, rub in butter. If butter is cold, cut into very small pieces or grate. You're looking for a sandy consistency but there should still be signs of butter. Not big lumps, but it doesn't need to be completely homogeneous either.
Add 150g chopped crystallised ginger mix.
Mix in buttermilk, just enough to blend. Do not overmix as scones are a dry dough.
Portion into two balls of equal weight and put into plastic wrap, flatten and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight.
Portion into four equal triangles, brush the tops with milk, and sprinkle on a generous amount of sugar.
Bake at 175degC-180degC for about 25 minutes.
Requested by Lyn Sommerville
Provided by Otago Museum Cafe.
• If you have enjoyed a dish in an Otago cafe or restaurant and would like the recipe, write to Ask a Chef, Features, Otago Daily Times, PO Box 181, Dunedin, fax 474-7422, or email odt.features@odt.co.nz , including your name, address and a daytime telephone number, and we will request it.
