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Friday 4 January 2013

And just like that, he's scone....

 In the eternal quest to save money, I'm considering lunches. Both daughter and husband are mostly
 out to lunch like the Sex Pistols, so packed lunches are an endless source of debate. I've had a go a costing cheese and bacon scones, as my daughter doesn't much like sandwiches, and have made rolls also to see if they are cheaper the the low quality, low cost super market alternative.
The scones, based on the recipe in Jo Wheatley's book need 225 grams of self raising flour, a teaspoon of cream of tarter and half a tea spoon of baking soda, a pinch of salt, 50 grams of Asda best for baking spread, 85 grams of smart price grated cheddar, 50 grams of panchetta and a teaspoon of smoked paprika.

 It's the usual method - sift the dry ingredients together, cut up the chilled fat and then rub into the flour until it looks like sand, then stir in the grated cheddar and the panchetta and form into a soft dough with some iced water as opposed to milk. Knead very briefly and then roll out into a slab about a half inch thick, then cut out with a 6 cm cutter.
As part of my money saving tip, I then put the scones in the fridge - chilled scones rise better and I also wait until I have the oven going for my bread, it saves power to cook all at once rather than turning it on and off during the day. 
 Then it's bread time - I'm using white bread flour which is cheaper than wholemeal, but to add important fibre I'm adding smart price oat flakes.

To 1 kg of white bread flour add 4 tsp flour and 200 grams or oats, along with 50 grams of best for baking spread.
I then make up my yeast mix, by putting 4 teaspoons of sugar into 50 ml of boiling water and then adding 100 ml of cold once the sugar has dissolved so it's tepid to touch. I add 15 grams of yeast and wait for it to foam up.







Pour into the flour mix, I create a well in the middle and pour the yeast into it, then mix it in slowly. You'll need more liquid, so use either tepid water or milk made up from skimmed milk powder until you have a wet dough.
Turn it out onto an oiled surface, oil your hand and knead, the dough will be sticky at first but keep working it and it will become a lovely, silky smooth ball.
 Leave it to rise in a large bowl covered in a plastic bag (cheaper than cling film and re-usable), mine took about two hours.

Then turn it out onto the surface and knock the air out of the dough and divide in half.
Make one half into a loaf for breakfast bread, and divide the rest into rolls, pressing their tops into more rolled oats.
Leave to prove - or if like me you're going to make a batch of Shepard's pies for dinner, put in the fridge until you're ready to heat the oven and bake it in this order :
 Take bread and rolls from fridge, and put on the oven. Cover the bread and rolls so they can prove. When the oven is at 220 degrees, throw in some ice or water to create steam and bake your rolls for approx 20 mins. Then add more water or ice for steam and then bake your bread.
Get out your scones, brush with a little milk and when the bread comes out, bake your scones for about 15 mins at 200 degrees.
If you've made dinners, finally bake them at 180 degrees.
So - the finished rolls - I made 9 which is just under four days worth, or if I let him have a scone a weeks worth.
Scones work out at 13 p each - I think if I used cheaper streaky bacon cut up then I could lower the price again.
The rolls work out at 5p each but also need some smart price ham and butter, so we'll say 9 p each - and when I have the money to get him a thermos for soup, he can go down to one sandwich and one soup portion. Of course, I don't know how to work out the gas and electric costs, but I'll get back to you on that!

And the bread is 50 p a loaf, and tastes much better than smart price sliced!

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Next blog - pig man's pie and bulk cooking.

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