bake - January 2015 - 40

British Baking Gains an Audience
Scones and other popular British-inspired creations like

of baking" and a leading cookbook writer, and Paul Hollywood,

Millionaire's shortbread are staging a comeback, of sorts, in the

one of Britain's top artisan bakers, serve as the series' judges.

United States, as American consumers seek out bakery products backed by tradition but loaded with unique ﬂavors.

The History of Scones
Scones got their start as a Scottish quick bread. Originally

"Surprisingly, there has been a lot of interest in English baking,"

made with oats and griddle-baked. Today's version is more

says pastry chef Rachael Coyle of Coyle's Bakeshop in Seattle.

often made with ﬂour and baked in the oven. Scones are

"That's been fun to experiment with new things."

related to the ancient Welsh tradition of cooking small round
yeast cakes (leavened breads) on bakestones, and later on

Scones are taking on new ﬂavors across the country, as

griddles. One claim, probably not the best, says that scones are

evidenced by recent examples of caramel apple scones, bacon

named for the Stone (scone) of Destiny, a stone upon which

cheddar scones, and orange marmalade and thyme.

Scottish kings once sat when they were crowned (the Abbey of
Scone can still be found, upriver from Perth; but the Stone of

At Scratch Bakery, a locally owned bakery and pastry shop

Destiny was long ago removed to Westminster Abbey).

located in Lawrence, Kansas, baked goods range from classic
American selections to European-inspired fare, including scones

Other contenders include the Dutch schoonbrot, ﬁne white

in such creative ﬂavors as white chocolate raspberry, chocolate

bread, and the closely-related German sconbrot, ﬁne or beau-

chip, and bacon, cheddar and scallion.

tiful bread. The Oxford English Dictionary favors the latter two.
Scones became popular and an essential part of the fashion-

These creations are the brainchild of owner Mark Gregory.

able ritual of taking tea in England when Anna Maria Stanhope,

Raised in the Midwest, Gregory ventured south to Georgia,

the 7th Duchess of Bedford, one late afternoon, ordered

where he began his pastry training at 103 West, Atlanta's

servants to bring tea and some sweet breads, which included

premier private dining destination. He returned to Lawrence

scones. She was so delighted by this that she ordered it every

in 2005, where he began his 6½-year tenure at The Lawrence

afternoon and what now has become an English tradition is the

Community Mercantile, ﬁve as bakery manager. He opened

"Afternoon Tea Time."

Scratch Bakery in 2013.
Originally, scones were made with oats, shaped into a large
With all this newfound attention on traditional bakery products

round, scored into four or six wedges (triangles) and griddle-

from Britain, it's no wonder the most popular British baking

baked over an open ﬁre (later, a stovetop). With the advent of

show is now coming to America. On the heels of a record-

oven baking, the round of dough was cut into wedges and the

breaking UK ratings bonanza - with its recent season ﬁnale

scones were baked individually. Traditional English scones may

reaching half of the country's television viewership - The Great

include raisins or currants, but are often plain, relying on jam,

British Baking Show (called "The Great British Bake Off " in the

preserves, lemon curd or honey for added ﬂavor-or with a

UK) made its US television premiere on December 28, 2014, on

touch of clotted cream.

PBS. Renowned British bakers Mary Berry, the UK's "doyenne

JOHN U N R EIN

40 < JAN 2015 | bakemag.com

http://www.bakemag.com

bake - January 2015

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