Dill and lemon scones with crème fraîche and smoked salmon

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes

Serves 8 (makes 8-10 scones)

Afternoon teas must have scones. If you want sweet ones as well, you can double the quantity here and then split it, adding sugar to one half and lemon and dill to the other. If you can’t find any buttermilk, use a mixture of plain yogurt and milk, or use kefir.

These scones are small – they’re supposed to be – but don’t make them any smaller or they won’t rise.

INGREDIENTS For the scones

– 175g self-raising flour – 1 tsp baking powder – 55g butter, cold and

chopped into cubes – 1 tsp caster sugar – finely grated zest of

½ lemon

– 2 tbsp chopped dill – 80ml buttermilk

To serve

– butter, at room

temperature

– small tub of crème

fraîche

– 150g smoked salmon,

torn into rough pieces – lemon wedges, for

squeezing

– little sprigs of dill – 50g jar of salmon roe

(optional)

METHOD

Heat the oven to 200C/ 190C fan/gas mark 6.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add the butter and rub it in with your fingers until you have a rubbly mass, the bits just a little smaller than peas.

Throw in some salt, the sugar, the lemon zest and dill, and pour on the buttermilk. Use a butter knife to mix everything together then, with floured hands, pull into a dough. Get this on to a lightly floured surface. Instead of using a rolling pin, press the dough into a circle with your hands. It should be 2.5cm thick.

Dip a 5cm pastry cutter in flour then stamp out all the rounds you can – don’t twist the cutter, just cut the rounds cleanly. Transfer these to a non-stick baking sheet. Gently gather up the remaining dough, then cut out as many more scones as you can. You should have 8-10 scones.

Put them in the oven and cook for 10 minutes. While still warm, but not so warm they fall apart, split the scones in half and butter each half. Spoon a little crème fraîche on to each bottom half. Put some smoked salmon on top – be generous – squeeze over some lemon juice and grind on some black pepper. Add a sprig of dill. You can also add a little salmon roe – I usually use the end of a teaspoon to pick up a small amount. Finish with the top half, or make smaller bites by putting crème fraîche and salmon on each scone half and serving them that way.