LAMINATED (CHERRY AND PEACH) BUCKWHEAT SCONES, p. 240
I lit on this recipe because I knew I had some buckwheat flour languishing in the fridge, and it’s stone fruit season. Initially, I thought I’d buy some raspberry jam and use apricots for the fresh fruit (in place of the called-for nectarines), but when I ended up with a bunch of sweet cherries thanks to a good price, I swerved and went with a smooth peach jam and quartered cherries.
As it happens, I only had half the weight of buckwheat flour called for, so I made up the rest of that portion of the dough with ww pastry flour, figuring it’d contribute some of the nuttiness of buckwheat. I used the food processor to cut the butter in, just four or five quick pulses, and probably ended up with more larger pieces than he intended, but that was just fine with the rolling and folding. I had to add a couple of tablespoons of milk to get the dough to come together (an extra spoonful of sour cream would’ve also worked), and even then it was a bit messy through the first letter fold. Downtime in the fridge brought it together. Since it took a bit of work (and time) to roll it out and fold in the fruit, I stuck the pan in the freezer for 10 minutes before baking to firm up the butter. I made 8 rather than the 6 the recipe specifies, and they are still pretty substantial. Six would make for huge scones.
I had one when they were still barely warm from the oven, and it was tender, flaky and delicious. Rewarmed briefly today, it was softer, not so flaky, but still tender with great flavor. The nuttiness of the buckwheat, the buttery pastry, and the fruit are great together. These are rich (to be expected, with butter, eggs, and sour cream), so the crumb isn’t super light, but neither is it dense, if that makes sense.
