BLACK OLIVE, FETA, HONEY & THYME SCONES
the savoury scone you didn't know you needed
Welcome to The Late Plate, where I share the recipes I am cooking at home in my warehouse. I live communally with six other people, we each pay £25 a week and collectively that pays for all of our weekly food costs. One person cooks dinner each night of the week for everyone else, every night of the week there is a delicious dinner that will feed us all. The food we eat is largely vegetarian, seasonal, healthy and affordable, and I can’t wait to share some of those recipes with you here!
This week I am sharing a recipe that was inspired by a pastry my friend Angus first made for me when we worked together. It was sort of a savoury Pain Au Raison, made with ricotta, black olives, honey and thyme. To me, it was perfect. Just salty and sweet enough, with a delightful crispy, sticky texture. Sadly, we don’t work together anymore, so I don’t have the pleasure of sampling his pastries every day, and I personally don’t possess the skill or the inclination to make laminated dough at home. So I developed this version, working the flavours into a scone, which is far more achievable, and replacing the ricotta with feta which lends itself better to being crumbled into chunks.
I also wanted to say a big thank you to Safia Shakarchi who came round to the warehouse a few weeks ago to photograph me baking these scones, and a few other recipes that you will see very soon. Safia and I met almost ten years ago, when we were both working at Meringue Girls in their Hackney bakery. She has gone on to do lots of incredible things, not least founding her pop up Another Pantry, that I hope will pop up again one day soon. She is an incredibly talented Middle Eastern photographer, writer and one of the hardest working women in food. So cheers to Safia, may we all have friends as talented and kind as she is.
Black Olive, Feta, Honey Thyme Scones
Makes 12 generous scones
Ingredients:
- 500g plain flour
- 50g caster sugar
- 15g baking powder
- 7.5g bicarbonate of soda
- 200g unsalted butter
- 150g black olives, roughly chopped
- 1 egg
- 250g plain yoghurt
- 200g feta
- A handful of fresh thyme leaves
- 2 tablespoons of honey
- 1 tsp olive oil
Method:
In a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment, on a slow speed, combine the flour, caster sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and the cubed butter until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
Add the olives, egg, yoghurt and ¾ of the fresh thyme and mix until a shaggy dough forms
Add the feta and mix until just combined.
Turn the dough out onto your surface and pat into a square, let it rest for 5 minutes.
Roll the dough out into a long rectangle, fold into thirds, like a letter and roll out again.
Repeat this step twice.
Line a 20cm x 30cm baking tray with cling film and pop all the dough into the tin, pressing it to the very edges until you have a flat rectangular dough that fills the tray, wrap tightly and chill in the freezer for 30 mins
Preheat your oven to 180c
Turn out the dough and with a sharp knife cut into 12 equal pieces
You can freeze the scones at this point, to later bake individually, or bake straight away. If you bake from frozen, allow the scones to thaw at room temp for 10 minutes before baking.
When you are ready to bake, paint each scone with a little egg wash, bake for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the honey up and loosen with the olive oil. Glaze the scones with the honey mix, sprinkle with the remaining thyme and a little salt, and bake again for a further 10 minutes, until golden, crisp and baked through.
Shot by Safia Shakarchi
