Kirstie's Handmade Britain

Richard Hunt of the Grand Hotel, Torquay shows Kirstie Allsopp how to make these classic scones on Kirstie's Handmade Britain

Kirstie Allsopp: "Until recently, I had never made a scone in my whole entire life. But despite this, when I decided that I was entering the Devon County Show with my baking, there really was no other choice than to enter a scone. I enlisted the help of expert scone maker and passionate Devonian, Richard Hunt. Richard baked his first scone aged 6, has produced in the region on 150,000 scones over this career as a chef (and believe me, this is a conservative estimate!), on an average day makes 2,000 scones and when I met him was hatching a plan to build an 8ft diameter scone at the Devon show. If he couldn’t help me then nobody could! I’m absolutely sold on Richard’s scones and I’m convinced that you will be too."

• 500g plain flour
• 65g caster sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 60g butter
• 30g baking powder
• 65g milk powder
• 250ml buttermilk
• 1 egg beaten with a splash of milk, to glaze

1. Preheat the oven to 210°C/gas mark 7. In a bowl put the flour, sugar, salt, butter, baking powder and milk powder and rub it together with your fingertips until it turns cream coloured and slightly crumbly. The odd fleck of butter is not a bad thing.

2. Add the buttermilk then stir this into the flour. Bring together into a firm ball of dough, and knead lightly for 10-15 seconds - no more or the dough will be tough.

3. Flour the surface again and the top of the dough and roll to 4cm thick. Cut into rounds using an 8cm round cutter. A quick downward cut will give you the best rise in the oven.

4. Place on a parchment lined tray a few centimetres apart and brush the tops with the egg and milk mixture. Bake for 15-20 minutes until risen and lightly coloured.

5. To serve, warm in a 150°C/gas mark 2 oven for 5-6 minutes then serve with lashings of clotted cream and jam on top. (You can freeze scones and they will almost come out as new. Put them in an airtight container for up to 6 months, defrost them and put them in the oven for five minutes until they are heated through.)

Tip: When you are baking scones, trust the oven; don’t open it constantly and poke around. Also when rolling out the scone mix, don’t use a rolling pin or beat it down. Be gentle and press it to about 4cm thick, then push the cutters straight down, without twisting. This will give you light scones that rise evenly.

Variation: If you want to customise your scones it couldn’t be easier. For fruit scones add golden sultanas (just remember that fruit scones should only be served with butter – not jam and cream). Alternatively for cheese scones, add a bit of mustard powder or English mustard, plus 100g of grated cheddar cheese (and some extra to sprinkle on the top).

Recipe by Richard Hunt of the Grand Hotel, Torquay