What is the best way to return your bowl varnish dough into soft and delicious pieces? It's up to you: There are several techniques to choose from, depending on the results you want. Here are some factors to consider before making your choice:
- What do you want your scones to look like?
- What would you like their texture to be?
- How much time and energy do you want to spend?
With these questions in mind, let's examine the three most common ways to shape scarves, starting with the simplest.
Food photography and styling by Liz Neily
How to shape scones
The fastest and easiest way to shape the grains is to simply “spoon” the dough into a prepared one. Cooking sheet.
Front side: This is a quick and leak-proof way to shape baskets, perfect for beginner bakers (or those in a hurry!). And if you like moist, cake-like bottles (instead of more crumbly ones), higher humidity Scone drop are the way to go.
Downside: The resulting sheets can only be baked in a round shape, not triangles or squares. They'll also potentially be flatter than regular grains, because of the extra moisture in the dough that encourages them to spread as they bake, rather than rise.
PJ Hamel
How to do it: Stir in the soft dough with a large spoon or, better yet, a 1/4 cup Scoop and muffin, which encourages scones that are similar in size and shape. Pour each batch of dough onto one or less fat parchment-Lined baking tray, leaving a few centimeters between them. Bake according to directions.
Tip: Dumpling scones depend on a softer than usual dough. If your recipe calls for lift and drop, you're good to go. But if the recipe tells you to roll or knead the dough and then cut it into shapes, you'll need to add a little extra milk or cream while you're making the dough, just enough to make it tacky.
How to shape scarves with a pan
For perfectly shaped wedges (triangles) with no crumbs out of place, treat yourself to a wedge pan. of standard pan shapes and bakes eight full-size suits; THE mini version makes 16
PJ Hamel
Front side: Using a griddle pan requires a little more effort or skill than making bulbs, and the pan is equally suited to soft (loose) dough or stiffer, cut dough. If you appreciate the look, the resulting strips are all perfectly identical, with clear, sharp lines.
Downside: The pan may not be a perfect fit for every pool recipe out there. But if you have too much batter for the pan, you can always shape some mushrooms by hand with the leftover batter; if you don't have enough batter to fill the pan completely, just fill fewer wells.
PJ Hamel
How to do it: A simple arithmetic is all it takes to divide your batter into the number of cups the pan will hold. Weigh out your dough; divide by the number of wells in the pan, then pour or press that amount of batter into each well. Bake as directed, checking the kernels a few minutes before the recipe calls; the sides of the pan help roast the beans a bit faster than free-form roasts.
Tip: Be careful about the color and material of the pan you choose. Cast iron or other dark metal pans can blacken your cups very quickly, creating a hard crust. Silicone pans tend to under brown, leaving the cups at the bottom. For best results, select a metal pan with a lighter colored interior.
Food photography and styling by Liz Neily
How to shape handkerchiefs by hand
Most puff pastry recipes call for you to roll or pat the dough into one or two 3/4″ to 1″ thick discs, then cut into pieces. Although a bit more involved, this method does not require a pan or any special tools. And it gives you much more control over the final shape and size of your scarves.
Front side: It's easy to control both the size and shape of the mushrooms, as well as how much you want to make from a batch of dough. And all you need is a sharp knife for wedges or squares; or a cookie cutter for round handkerchiefs.
Downside: If you are not very precise, the bulbs may vary in size and appearance.
PJ Hamel
How to do it: Most scone recipes will tell you how to free form the scones. For triangular felt, you'll usually divide the dough in half, pat each half into a thick disk, and cut the disk into pieces; Cut more wedges for smaller tiles, less for larger ones. For triangular strips with noticeably sharp corners, roll the dough into a large square first, then into smaller squares, finally cutting each square in half diagonally to make triangles.
For round patties, roll or pat the dough into a single disk, then use a cookie cutter to cut rounds, cutting them close together to avoid having to reroll and cut off too much excess dough.
For square patties, roll out the dough into a square or rectangle. Gently flattening the batter into a square cake pan can help here, as long as you have enough to fill the pan about 3/4″ to 1″ thick. Cut the formed dough into smaller squares with a sharp knife.
PJ Hamel
Whatever shape you choose, make sure you use a sharp tool, like a good quality one cookie cutter or chef's knife, to cut the dough. Using a drinking glass or jelly jar is not your best bet, as those tools tend to compress the sides of the lids and prevent them from rising in the oven.
Tip: With triangular or square loaves, the less you divide them before baking, the softer they will be. Space the cut pieces just a little apart (say 1/2″ or less) and they will expand into each other as they cook. When you're done, you'll need to carefully pull them apart and their sides will be soft and moist (think yeast rolls that fall apart).
On the other hand, if you separate the shaped patties completely (leaving at least one centimeter between them in the pan), their sides will brown and be slightly crispy; and their interior slightly drier and more cookie-like.
Do you like your cookies super moist and cake-like? Look an easy way to give shape to handkerchiefs.
Cover picture (Lemon scones) by Kristin Teig; food styling by Liz Neily.
