Irish Brown Bread Scone Recipe by Debbie

Yesterday evening i sat in a sitting room filled with the smell of laundry drying and brown bread scones baking. It must have been the warmest, loveliest combination of smells. Made more all the more lovely by Debbie (who made them) giving one to Mikey Fleming Likes This to take home with him on his cycle home. And all this after we had all sat out in the last of the sun and listened to Leonard Cohen and drank beer (fake beer for me) and chatted. Pretty great for a tuesday. So Debbie kindly shared the recipe. I was asked if i’d like “The Debbie makey-upey one or the ready mix one?”

The Debbie Makey-Upey Irish Brown Bread Scone Recipe

Ingredients

• Equal amounts of brown flour and white flour (400g approx)
• Slab (of unspecified size) of butter
• Miniature handful of salt (- indicates to palm of her hand and the little well in there so presumably about that much.)
• Baking soda 1-2 teaspoons depending on whether you’re using buttermilk or fresh milk
• Buttermilk preferably, fresh milk if you must. (When questioned on the amount responds “enough to make dough”)

Debbie Directions

1. Mix your flour together in a bowl
2. Sprinkle with salt and baking soda
3. Break up butter in the flour
4. Squish it all so there’s no lumps
5. Make a well in the middle of the mix
6. Pour in milk
7. Stir it all together until you’ve got a nice dough
8. Sprinkle flour on counter
9. Turn Bowl upside down and “gently let the dough fall out”
10. Also adds, “You can knead if you wanna knead but there ain’t no need to knead. But feel free to knead if you got the need.”
11. Use one of a variety of things to create the shapes that you want, possible options include jar, glass, cup or scone cutter and make scone shapes
12. Adds, “I hope by now you’ve had the sense to turn the oven on and it’s hot and ready”
13. Place your scones on the baking tray, that you’ve previously sprinkled with flour already
14. Butter the top of each scone with a dash of milk on a paintbrush or something, whatever those brushes are called.
15. Put the buns in the oven.
16. Sit back and have a moment of calm (chamomile tea) or a cup of earl (earl grey tea)
17. Guess when ready. Look for the colour brown and poke a knife in the belly of the scone. And if the knife’s all clean then you’re ready to go

Delicious with jam and butter or tuna fish and mayo. “yuuummm”

– Beautiful wording all kindly donated by Debbie

NB. I think putting on a wash and then drying it on radiators indoors should be part of the recipe. To get that amazing, all ecompassing feeling and smells of warm loveliness. But it works pretty good with just the baking too. x elva