Orange and Oat Scones

Now that I've tried soaking grains a few times with success I'm starting to experiment a bit.  I found this recipe for orange and oat scones on 101 Cookbooks a while back.  The recipe already used whole wheat flour, oats and buttermilk.  So I thought it would be a good one to play around with.  Instead of the usual method of making scones (mix flour and butter, then mix in wet stuff) I soaked the flour and the oats in buttermilk overnight.  Then proceded with the rest.  The turned out pretty well.  The end product was definitely different than a normal scone.  They weren't as puffy/pastry-like.  But they tasted great and were very moist.  Part of it was that I had to use quite a bit more buttermilk to get all of the flour and oats moist for soaking.  It made for a very sticky/moist dough.  Maybe next time I'll cut it back a little.  Overall very good!  Rebecca scarfed hers down with dinner and another one for breakfast the next morning.  Justin and I did too :)  I'm looking forward to trying this method with other recipes.  I'll post the original recipe and then my soaked modifications.  This makes a huge batch.  I got 12 good size scones out of it.

Orange and Oat Scones

3 cups whole wheat pastry flour (I used 2 cups ww pastry and 1 cup white whole wheat)
1/2 cup turbinado sugar (I used organic cane sugar)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter, cut into small pieces
2 cups rolled oats
zest of 1 orange
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup coarse turbinado or Demerara sugar, for sprinkling (I used organic cane sugar)
2/3 cup dried currants (I used a cup or more of raisins)

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine the flour, 1/2 cup of turbinado sugar, baking powder, and baking soda in the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and pulse 15-20 times or until it looks like sandy pearls. (If you are working by hand, cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter.) Transfer the dough to a bowl and stir in the oats and zest. Stir in the buttermilk and currants until just moistened.

Bring the dough together with your hands. If the dough is still too crumbly, stir in more buttermilk a tiny splash at a time, but try to avoid over mixing. After bringing the dough together, gently pat it into an 8-inch round. Cut into triangle shapes (see photo) and transfer to the prepared baking sheet with some room between each scone. Sprinkle the tops with coarse sugar.

Bake for 12 to 15 minute or until the bottoms are deeply golden.

Makes 8 extra-large scones, or 12 to 16 regular ones.

To soak grains:

In a glass bowl combine flour, oats and 1-2 cups buttermilk (just enough to get everything moist).  Cover and let sit on couner at least 7 hours.

Mix in butter (you could probably use a food processor.  I just worked it in with my hands.).  Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

At this point I wrapped my dough in plastic wrap and refrigerated it until I was ready to make the scones.  But you don't have to.  Divide dough in half.  Pat into 2 rounds, about 1" thick.  Cut each round into 6-8 pieces.  Place on parchment lined baking sheet.  At this point you can freeze them, refrigerate them or bake them.

Bake at 350 for 20 - 30 min.