Emily Scott’s Cornish Splits

I take cooking inspiration from Emily Scott’s new book Sea & Shore for her Cornish Splits. Here she shares her recipe…

HIGH days and holidays, and early morning walks to the bakery with my Dadio (my dad) for the best teatime treats. Nothing evokes more Cornish childhood memories for me than the quintessential cream tea. I love baking, and splits, donuts and scones are so worth making yourself.

Here are my warm splits, with jam and clotted cream. I think a revival of the split is required. I love them and, of course, it almost goes without saying… Jam first. These are delicious with strawberry, raspberry or damson jam.

CORNISH SPLITS, RASPBERRY JAM, CORNISH CLOTTED CREAM
Makes 12

28 g (1 oz) fresh yeast
2 teaspoons caster (superfine) sugar
275 ml (9½ fl oz/scant 11/4 cups) milk, warmed
450 g (1 lb/3¼ cups) strong (bread) strong flour,
plus extra for dusting
115 g (4 oz/1 cup) plain (all-purpose) flour
85 g (3 oz) salted butter

To serve
Raspberry jam
Cornish clotted cream

Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan/350°F/Gas 4).

First, mix the yeast and sugar together with the warm milk until blended (if the milk is too hot it will kill the yeast, so just warm it to hand-hot).

In a large bowl, sift together the flours, then rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the middle, pour in the milky mixture and work into a dough with your hands. Knead for about 10 minutes, then set aside, covered with a damp dish towel, and allow to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour until doubled in size.

Knock back and knead again for about 10 minutes (I see this as a mini workout), then form your dough into 12 buns using a plain round scone cutter. Place on a floured baking sheet, cover with a damp dish towel and leave to prove for an hour until doubled in size.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cover with a damp dish towel for about 15 minutes so that they do not develop a crust.

You can keep these little buns for up to 4 days in an airtight container.

Serve warm, with homemade good-quality raspberry jam and Cornish clotted cream. Add the jam first. If you do not get cream on your nose when you eat them, you do not have enough cream on the split.

Credit: Sea & Shore by Emily Scott (Hardie Grant, £26) Photography ©Kim Lightbody