We’re Sconed.

Living a life without sugar or yeast isn’t easy.

I know Mr. No Sugar yearns for those pockets of air found in sourdough bread, sandwiches on whole wheat, and that sweet crunch of toast smeared with butter. Pizza, croissants, cookies, and cakes are all out and sorely missed.

And yet, he perseveres. The choice between being sick and eating certain foods is a clear one, although not always easy.

Our attempts at bread have turned out to be mediocre. The greatest accomplishment so far has been pizza dough, adapted from a biscuit recipe that doesn’t include yeast or sugar. Sometimes leaveners, such as baking soda and salt, or a combination of the two – baking powder – help to rise the breads, but can also make the finished product too salty. However, using leaveners is the best solution I’ve found so far to making breads without yeast.

And so, with this in mind, I tried my hand at scones. Almost everything I bake must be free of sugar, and thus the idea of savory scones popped into my head last Saturday morning.

The recipe is adapted from Alice Water’s in her book, The Art of Simple Food. This cookbook is one of the best gifts I have ever gotten, easy to use but sends a clear message about cooking real food in simple, yet tasty, ways.

The scones turned out amazingly well for my first attempt. I halved her recipe just in case they turned into and utter disaster, but didn’t need to worry as they were gone within the day.

The addition of herbs and cheese made them fragrant and chewy in the middle, and I think next time I’ll top every one of them with cheese. However, if you aren’t eating dairy the cheese can easily be left out and the milk in the recipe can be replaced with a milk substitute. That’s what I love about scones, they’re quick, easy, and adaptable.

Cheese-Herb Scones

Makes six scones.

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup white flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups of milk

1 cup grated cheese (cheddar is what I used, but any medium to hard cheese will work well)

1 tablespoon of dried basil

1/2 tablespoon of dried oregano

2 teaspoons fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix together dry ingredients (flours, salt, baking powder, herbs) until evenly mixed. Add in the milk and stir until a thick, dough-like consistency is achieved. Mix in the cheese until uniformly distributed.

Form six lumps (clumps, balls, spheres?) of dough and space evenly on an oil or butter – lined baking sheet. I used a spoon to drop even amounts of dough on the baking pan. You can also use parchment paper to keep the scones from sticking.

Bake for about 17 minutes until golden brown.

Advertisement