The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Two Perthshire businesses are among the first in Scotland to offer customers a Bridge of Earn baker’s fusion of scone and calzone. Courier reporter Anita Diouri tries out the “sconezone”. Picture by Gareth Jennings.
Two Perthshire eateries are among the first in Scotland to offer customers a new invention which is a cross between a scone and a calzone.
The new kid on the block is called a ‘sconezone’.
Made to be the same size as a calzone but using a savoury scone base, the creation is the brainchild of John More, who runs his own artisan bakery in Perthshire called Johns Scone Mad.
A trained chef who worked for many years in restaurants up and down the country and across the world, John admits his love has always been for making scones, which is why he has given up working in the restaurant industry for a world of baking at his premises in Bridge of Earn.
John said: “I’ve worked in quite a lot of places all over the world – I love travelling and I’m a chef by trade.
“I love scones and I’ve always made them and the sconezones have just come through experimentation, really. One day I was working somewhere, I rolled the scone pastry out and realised I could fold it and do stuff with it.
“They are basically the size of a calzone and they are made in the same way. Calzones are made using a pizza base, but I make these with a savoury scone base – hence the name ‘sconezone’.
“From the base, it’s then folded and then baked. So it’s the same process as making a calzone. The different flavours are also experimentation. A lot of these flavours go into my favourite scones. They’re just like a larger variation of those. It’s my scones but stuffed into a pastry.”
Foodies who are fans of scones, but partial to the odd calzone or pizza, will be delighted to hear that they can now have a bit of both through John’s sconezone invention.
He continued: “Scone dough is very similar to other doughs and I just thought you can fill this with any flavour you like. I’ve put chorizo in them, I’ve put feta in them, I’ve done Mediterranean ones and haggis ones, and black pudding ones.
“It kind of looks like a Cornish pasty as well and is the perfect finger food, which is what I was aiming for – something that can be for the festival kind of season, and something you don’t need a knife and fork with. It’s picnic food and you can cut them in half. Folk are loving them!”
Mhor Coffee House in Perth and a coffee shop in Stirling have been stocking the sconezones for a couple of weeks, and selling out fast.
Dome Restaurant in Blairgowrie is one of the next places to stock them.
Courier reporter Anita Diouri went to Mhor Coffee House to taste the goods and said: “I sampled four different flavours of the sconezones and they were actually pretty good. They kind of tasted like pizza, but in a good way and were slightly bigger shaped, almost like a steak pie.”