Hairy Bikers Strawberry and Black Pepper Scones

The strawberries never go into Hairy Bikers strawberry and black pepper scones raw. They are roasted for an hour and a half at 120°C with sugar and pepper first, then folded into a plain scone dough. It makes 10 at roughly 270 calories each.

This one comes from Hairy Bikers’ Best of British, the BBC Two series, from the episode on spices. BBC Food carries the recipe and says roasting the strawberries intensifies the flavour, which is what gives the scones their fruity note.

Slow roasting is really slow drying. Ninety minutes at 120°C drives the water out of the strawberries, and that is the whole point, because a raw strawberry would bleed pink liquid through the dough as it bakes.

Hairy Bikers Strawberry and Black Pepper Scones

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Baking Cuisine:British Courses:Baking

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 20 minutesCook time:1 hour 45 minutesRest time: 10 minutesTotal time:2 hours 15 minutesServings:10 servingsCalories:270 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

Black pepper goes in twice, once over the strawberries as they roast and again into the flour. The scone dough itself is plain: flour, sugar, salt, cold butter and whole milk. These Hairy Bikers strawberry and black pepper scones are served warm with clotted cream.

Ingredients

For the strawberries

• 400g small strawberries, hulled and halved
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

For the scones

• 500g self-raising flour, plus extra for rolling
• 50g caster sugar
• ½ tsp fine sea salt
• 100g cold butter, cubed
• 300ml full-fat milk, plus extra for brushing
• clotted cream, to serve

Instructions

1. Roast the strawberries: Preheat the oven to 120°C, gas ½. Put the strawberries on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, sprinkle over the sugar and season with plenty of black pepper. Roast very slowly for 1½ hours, then take them out and leave to cool.
2. Raise the oven: Turn the oven up to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6.
3. Rub in the butter: Put the flour, sugar, salt and butter in a large bowl with a couple of twists of black pepper. Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs.
4. Add the strawberries: Stir the cooled roasted strawberries into the flour mixture. Add the milk, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until it comes together into a soft, spongy dough.
5. Roll and cut: Turn out onto a well floured surface and knead lightly. Roll to 2cm thick and cut into 7cm rounds with a deep plain cutter. Press firmly to cut through any strawberries at the edge, but do not twist. Re-knead and roll the offcuts as needed.
6. Bake: Place on a lined baking tray and brush the tops with milk, keeping it off the sides. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 15 minutes, until well risen and golden brown.
7. Serve: Eat warm, cut in half and spread with clotted cream.

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FAQs

Why roast the strawberries first?

To dry them out. A raw strawberry is mostly water, and water in a scone dough turns it sloppy and bleeds pink streaks through the crumb as it bakes.

Ninety minutes at 120°C is slow enough to drive off that moisture without cooking the fruit to jam. What you are left with is concentrated and sweet, closer to a semi-dried strawberry than a fresh one. Their pavlova uses the same 400g of strawberries raw, because there the water does no harm.

Does it really taste of pepper?

Yes, and that is the point of the recipe. Pepper goes in twice, a full teaspoon over the strawberries before roasting and a couple of twists into the flour.

Black pepper and strawberry is an old pairing, because the pepper sharpens the fruit rather than making it hot. Grind it fresh, since pre-ground pepper has lost most of what makes this work.

Why press firmly when cutting?

Because there are pieces of roasted strawberry through the dough, and a cutter will drag rather than slice if you are gentle. The recipe says to press firmly to get through any strawberry at the edge of a scone.

Still do not twist. Twisting seals the cut edge and the scone rises lopsided, which is the same rule that applies to every scone. Their fruit scones carry the same instruction, with sultanas instead of strawberries.

Can I skip the roasting to save time?

You would be making a different scone. Raw strawberries release liquid into the dough and again in the oven, so you get a wet crumb and pink patches.

If time is the problem, roast the strawberries the day before and keep them covered in the fridge. The rest of the recipe takes about half an hour. Their ginger and treacle scones are the quick option, on the table in 40 minutes start to finish.

What do I serve them with?

Clotted cream, warm, with the scone split in half. That is how Best of British serves them, and there is no jam anywhere in the recipe because the roasted strawberries are already doing that job from the inside.

They hold their moisture better than a plain scone thanks to the fruit, so they are still good the next day. Their tattie scones are the other end of the scale, fried rather than baked and best straight from the pan.