Why not learn how to bake? A sentence I never, thought I would ever, hear myself say. However, due to having a bit more time on my hands, I have decided to finally give baking a go!
Having recently watched James Buckley (Jay from the Inbetweeners) on Great British Celebrity Bake Off Stand Up To Cancer bake I thought how hard can it be. I have decided to start small on my own Great British Bake off journey small, so, here is my step by step beginners guide to making scones, enjoy:
First of all I bought a 50p pack of scone mix from the Co Op (these packs are also available at most supermarkets down their baking isle) and some milk. This actually works out a lot cheaper than buying all the individual ingredients (and isn’t cheating IMO)
Luckily for me as someone who has never baked before there were instructions on the back of the packet. So here is a list of everything I needed: 160 ml Milk, Plain Flour, Scone Mix, Raisins or Sultanas (optional), A Backing Tray with Grease proof paper, Mixing Bowl and Wooden Spoon, a cookie cutter and a rolling pin. Once you have assembled all of your items you are good to go.
Now we’ve got the ingredients – Step one is to pour the scone mix and milk into the mixing bowl and stir until it becomes a dough. At this point you can add the sultanas and raisins into the mix.
Step Two – Once you have created your dough sprinkle some plain flour onto the counter. This is to ensure the dough does not stick to the work surface. I would put some flour onto the rolling pin as well at this point because my mix ended up sticking to the rolling pin rather than rolling onto the counter! (If this happens to you just sprinkle some more flour on).
Step Three – You will need to roll the dough until it is about 1.5 cm thick. Once you have done this you can use your cookie cutter to cut your dough and put it onto a baking tray.
Step Four – I have a Gas oven so I set mine to Gas Mark 7 but if you have an Electric or Fan oven set it to 220c.
My instructions said to leave the scones in the oven for 10-12 minutes. However, mine took around 25 minutes to bake.
From start to finish these took me around 40 minutes to make. If your like me and its your first go at baking, you are better off with something simple. So for me, scones were the perfect choice as they were cheap and easy to make.
I found baking surprisingly relaxing and it was a much better way of spending my time doing something rather than staring at a screen. The fact that you get to eat something afterwards is always a bonus! So if I can do it why don’t you give it a go too!
Amber Xxx
Worcester Student Life 