Paul Hollywood Scones / Tried and Tested

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Paul Hollywood is the most famous for his bread-making skills, and because scones belong in the bread category rather than cakes I wanted to know how he makes them.

I wasn't very lucky with his scone recipe two years ago, so when I found out that he recently released a new video How to bake the PERFECT scone | Paul Hollywood's Easy Bakes with slightly adjusted ingredients (the amount of butter in the recipe), I decided to give it another go. 

📃 Paul Hollywood Scone Recipe Ingredient Overview

This time I followed the recipe with a reduced amount of butter and I also used better quality bread flour than before.

What happened when we tried it?

The first time I tried Paul Hollywood's recipe, the scones rose into an odd shape and created a dome with an unattractive crack right across the top. 

This time, following Paul Hollywood's new video, I was hoping for a better result. To my disappointment, the same thing happened again. Almost all scones had a crack at the top.

After making the first batch of scones I decided to re-test two factors that I investigated in my original post: 

• Difference between using strong flour and plain flour.
• Does handling time of the dough affect the scone texture and appearance?

Does the type of flour matter?

Bread flour with a higher percentage of protein is better for developing strong gluten strands in the dough to trap gasses from the yeast and help the bread rise. But can this flour make better scones? I made two batches of scones to find out:

• 1st with bread flour
• 2nd with plain flour (without any other changes to the recipe). 

After comparing both batches, I could see that the plain flour made lighter more brittle scones, while scones from bread flour felt chewier (even with minimal handling of the dough). It was a result that matched the findings from my previous test, yet, this time the difference wasn't as noticeable.

This time, the difference between flours on its own wasn't as prominent as it was when I tested Jamie Oliver's recipe, which had almost double the amount of butter than Paul Hollywood's scones.

It's because it's not just flour, but the other ingredients that alter the scone texture too, and I believe that less butter in Paul Hollywood's recipe makes the scones tougher even when using plain flour.

However, I concluded, that there is no right and wrong flour for scones. What is better depends on your own preferences and can be very individual. I for example like plain flour more as I prefer lighter and brittle scones.

How much to handle the scone dough?

Paul Hollywood's advice is to work with the dough gently and fold and turn until the flour is all adequately mixed in. In his video, the dough looks nice and smooth. Even though he stresses not to overwork it, he handles the dough more than other recipes recommend.

I tried to follow his method as closely as possible, but after making my first batch, and seeing that they were not the most visually appealing scones, I started questioning the instructions.

I made the recipe again, testing if the handling time would affect the scones' appearance and texture. This time, I worked the dough as little as possible and stopped when the ingredients barely held together (the dough mixture looked very flaky and lumpy).

The scones turned out a fraction better (to me, they felt lighter too) but, the improvement was minimal as you can see from the images.

I was annoyed that I was not to be able to fix the cracked dome on the scones, I even tried to bake another batch at a lower oven temperature to see what happens. Normally, the lower temperature helps to prevent the dome in my cakes because the edges don't set too quickly allowing for a more even rise, but it didn't help with the scones.

Paul Hollywood Scone Recipe Overview

Paul Hollywood's scone recipe is quick and simple and his video gives good instructions, however for me - the scones never turn out like his. I don't know why as so many people love them.

I can tell from my experiment that the type of flour affects the scone texture, and it's better to work with the dough less, avoiding heavy kneading altogether. However, neither of the changes I tested made my Paul Hollywood's scones considerably better-looking.

The problem may be in the ratios of the ingredients rather than the method, the type of flour or the baking temperature. Mostly because none of the other recipes I made including Jamie Oliver's (see below) or, more recently, James Martin's (you can check my post - James Martin Scones/Tried and Tested) had the same appearance.

Ok, what can I tell you? I'm sad to say that Paul Hollywood's recipe, once again, didn't make the traditionally looking English scones I was expecting.

Please, let me know what you think; I would love to hear about your experience.

The Original Post: Paul Hollywood vs Jamie Oliver Scones

This time, we set a challenge between the two celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Paul Hollywood. We baked scones following their recipes and compared them side by side. We've tested the recipes more than once adjusting the methods to see how a little change affects the outcome. 

You can find both original recipes online. Jamie's recipe is published on his website. We also watched his video "How to make scones" to learn about his techniques and tips.

Paul Hollywood's scone recipe comes from the BBC Food website, and to make sure we get the methods right we watched this instructional video on Youtube. 

How the ingredients in the two recipes differ 

Check the chart below. It shows you side by side the ingredients for both recipes. 

As you can see, both recipes are using baking powder as a raising agent, and both include eggs. The amounts of ingredients like sugar and milk vary, and Jamie added dry fruit to his scones. However, the biggest variables are the type of flour used in the recipes and the amount of butter. 

Paul Hollywood recommends strong white flour (he is famous for his bread after all) and less butter while Jamie Oliver asks for self-raising flour and almost double the butter.

Does the type of flour matter?

We compared Jamie's (self-raising) and Paul's (strong flour) scones side by side. We tested how the knife cuts throughout them, how they break and crumble when you try to snap them and finally how they taste. 

The result was like I expected - Jamie's self-raising flour and more butter made more brittle, delicate light scones that melted in the mouth.

In contrast, scones made from strong flour felt tougher and chewier even with a minimal handling time (more details below), despite their sufficient raise.

How much to handle the scone dough? 

Most scone recipes stress the importance of not overworking the dough, but there is always a question of when is the right moment to stop. 

The instructions in Jamie Oliver's recipe asks you to work with the dough as little as possible and stop as soon as you bring the ingredients together. If you check his video, the dough mixture looks flaky.

Paul Hollywood's advice is to work with the dough gently and fold and turn until the flour is all adequately mixed in. His mix forms a smooth dough because he spends a longer time folding it.

It was interesting to see how the way the dough was worked affected the scones' appearance as well as their texture. 

There was an apparent difference between Jamie's and Paul's scones when we compared them side by side. 

Jamie's scones had a more sort of traditional, classic look (at least in my eyes) while Paul's scones rose in an odd way - most of them with a split dome on the top, smoother surface and round edges. It might be that I worked the dough too much maybe.

How did the recipes do after all? 

We liked the texture as well as the visual appearance of Jamie's scones. The taste was good, but we wouldn't mind them a bit sweeter and preferably without dry fruit (we understand that judging the taste can be very subjective). 

As much as we enjoyed the taste of Paul Hollywood's scones, the tougher texture is given by the bread flour (and more likely less butter) meant that we had to award more points to Jamie's recipes despite Paul's scones being faster to make.

The winner

At the end of our tests, we all were very united on who had the winning recipe. If you read the text up to this point, you can easily guess that the scones we liked the best were Jamie Oliver's. 

>>>>>>>>> Jamie Oliver Winning Scone Recipe <<<<<<<<<<

His scones look rustic but uniform. Their texture was crumbly and light, and they melted in the mouth. What a treat it was to eat them accompanied with jam and clotted cream. If you are not keen on dry fruit like us, simply replace it with milk to compensate for the missing moisture that the soaked fruit would otherwise add to the dough.

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Paul Hollywood Scones

Paul Hollywood's recipe for easy and simple traditional English scones.

Please visit the BBC Food Website for the original Paul Hollywood's Scone Recipe and his directions.

Prep Time25 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Course: Afternoon Tea

Cuisine: British

Servings: 8

Calories: 357kcal

Author: Lea

Ingredients

• 500 g strong white flour
• 80 g butter softened
• 80 g caster sugar
• 5 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 free-range eggs beaten
• 250 ml milk
• 1 egg beaten; for egg wash

Equipment

• round cutter
• baking paper
• baking tray
• large mixing bowl

Instructions 

• Line the baking tray with baking paper and preheat the oven to 220C or 200C (fan assisted setting).
• Mix 450g of flour with baking powder in a large bowl, add the butter and rub the ingredients between your fingers until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Tip the sugar and two beaten eggs into the bowl and gently stir them into the flour (using either hands or spatula).
• Pour slightly more than half of the milk into the mix and keep gently combining all ingredients; add more milk if the dough feels too dry (a small amount each time).

  Note: I don't use all 250ml of milk; my flour usually absorbs around 180 - 200ml.
• Dust generously the kitchen countertop with the remaining flour, tip the sticky dough onto the surface and dust more flour over the top.
• Fold the dough in half and turn 90 degrees; repeat the process a few times until the flour is incorporated and the dough is smooth. You can add more flour if the dough keeps sticking to your fingers.

  Note: I prefer to work the dough less.
• Roll the dough out with a rolling pin until it's 1 inch thick. Do it in a few steps while turning the dough 90 degrees each time.

  Note: I flatten the dough into the desired thickness with my hands.
• Cut out round shapes with a pastry cutter and place each scone onto a baking tray.
• You can roll out the leftover dough again, but the more you work with it, the denser the scones will be.

  Note. I have never been able to make fuffy scones with rerolled dough.
• Glaze the top of the scones with a beaten egg and bake them in the oven for 15 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the scones have risen.
• Let the scones cool slightly before serving.

Nutrition

Serving: 8g | Calories: 357kcal | Carbohydrates: 57g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 62mg | Sodium: 112mg | Potassium: 333mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 311IU | Calcium: 126mg | Iron: 1mg