What Flour Should I Use for Scones? (A Step-by-Step Guide for the First-Time Scone Baker)

So, you want to try baking the delicious British creations known as scones, ha? Those make for a tasty breakfast with jam or a light snack with your afternoon tea.

You have milk, eggs, butter, baking powder, and sugar on hand, but what flour should you use for scones?

Fortunately, scones may be made with nearly any sort of flour, the most common being all-purpose flour. If you want to modify the appearance of your scones as they come out of the oven, experiment with different flours.

In this post, we’ll look at how various flours alter the texture and appearance of scones. So, let’s get started!

Can You Make Scones With Plain Flour?

Yes, plain flour is the most basic form of flour for making scones. It must, however, always be used with a leavening agent, in this instance baking powder.

If you want scones that keep their slightly elevated form well in the oven and outside of it, use all-purpose plain flour.

Can You Make Scones With Self-Raising Flour?

You can absolutely use self-raising flour to create scones, but you’ll need to leave out the baking powder. In Europe, scones are often baked in this manner.

Even better, you won’t have to worry about portion control; you’ll use the same quantity of self-raising flour that the recipe specifies for regular flour.

Can You Make Scones With Almond Flour?

Yes, almond flour may be used in place of regular flour in scone recipes. Not only is it sweet and savory, but it is also gluten-free, allowing folks with wheat allergies to enjoy their scones without danger.

Almond flour is typically healthier than wheat flour since it contains less carbohydrates and hence fewer calories. Furthermore, it has many more nutrients.

Almond flour, like regular flour, requires a leavening agent to allow the scones to rise. You’ll also need the same quantity of almond flour as you would for regular flour.

Can You Make Scones With Bread Flour?

Bread flour is another basic flour option to use when creating scones, although the texture and consistency will be much different.

Scones will be more chewy than crumbly if you use the same quantity of bread flour as all-purpose flour in the recipe.

However, to avoid the pastry becoming too chewy, use half of the needed amount of ordinary flour and the other half of bread flour.

Can You Make Scones With Pastry/Cake Flour?

Cake flour is also worth experimenting with in scone recipes if you want the texture to be more like muffins. You’ll need to use the same quantity of plain flour that the recipe calls for, but the other ingredients will need to be changed so that the dough doesn’t come out watery.

You’ll want to use less liquid in this recipe, so reduce the milk and egg combination by a tablespoon or two.

Do I Need to Sift Flour for Scones?

Yes, sifting flour is a definite method to make fluffy, light scones. Whatever sort of flour you choose, you should properly sift it for a few of reasons.

To begin, sifting your flour allows air particles to enter the flour, increasing the fluffiness and lightness of your scones. If you don’t do this, your scones will be more likely to get hard and brittle.

Second, by layering your salt, baking powder, and flour and sifting them all together, you achieve a balanced, uniform combination.

Will Scones Rise With Plain Flour?

Scones will rise when made with ordinary flour, but not when made without baking powder. Unlike self-raising flour, using ordinary flour to create scones without a leavening agent prevents the scones from rising, and scones are all about height!

In general, use five tablespoons baking powder for every pound of plain flour in your scone recipe.

How Much Flour Do You Need to Make Scones?

In all scone recipes, the quantity of flour required is around three cups, or 350 grams. This should make eight scone servings, but you may double the recipe to make 16 scones.

You’ll need the following ingredients with three cups of flour, whether all-purpose, almond, or self-raising:

• 6 tablespoons baking powder (not to be used with self-rising flour)
• cup of butter
• cup of white sugar
• teaspoon of salt
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 cup of milk

Why Do My Scones Taste Like Flour?

Beginners may experience scones that taste like flour, which, of course, should not be the case with a good recipe. So, what’s the deal here?

A flour-like taste in your scone usually suggests that you packed more flour into the dough than required. This is most likely to occur if your measures do not match those given in the recipe, particularly if you will be using cups.

Simply said, some cups are larger than others, and you may have used a larger one than the recipe called for. To prevent this from occurring again, measure your flour in grams or ounces rather than cups.

What Helps Scones Rise Besides the Right Flour and Leavening Agent?

There’s a clever approach you can use to guarantee your scones rise to an equal height in all of your scone wedges or circles.

After you’ve cut out the dough, arrange the pieces on the baking sheet so they’re side by side and just barely touching. This manner, they’ll rise uniformly with the heat, straight up rather than to the sides.

Why Aren’t My Scones Fluffy?

Other factors, apart from inadequately sifting the flour when creating the scone dough, might prevent your scones from being as light and fluffy as they should be.

Overworking the dough, for example, will undoubtedly force any air outside its particles, resulting in hard scones. Also, not allowing the oven to heat for around ten minutes before baking the scones may result in the same outcome.

Brittle scones may result from an oven that is not hot enough to fully bake your scones.

So, make sure you do everything correctly before creating your scones if you want them to have that fluffy texture we all adore!

Final Thoughts

Wondering what flour for scones is best?

It all depends on your own tastes. Plain flour is often used in scone recipes, however if you are sensitive to wheat, you may substitute almond flour or cake flour for a chewier texture.

You might alternatively use self-raising flour, which eliminates the need for baking powder in your recipe.

Whatever flour you choose, we are certain that your scones will taste delicious as long as you follow the instructions!