The Paris baker: sesame scones

I had been making a sesame sauce for a large reception and had somehow ground too many sesame seeds. Making our scones the following morning, I thought it might be a good idea to add the ground seeds with oats to our normal mixture.

The results were really good, and we have been making sesame scones regularly ever since – they are wonderful served with honey. To bring out the flavour of the sesame, the seeds have to be roasted before you grind them in a coffee grinder or pestle.

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Sesame scones

Ingredients

230g plain flour

90g porridge oats

380g wholemeal flour

80g roasted and ground sesame seeds (white or black)

20g extra whole sesame seeds for decoration

2 rounded tbs baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 tbs light muscovado sugar

3 tbs honey

250g cold unsalted butter

1 cup milk

2 eggs, plus 1 extra egg for glaze

● Preheat oven to 190C. In a food processor or bowl, bring together the dry ingredients and the butter to form a breadcrumb mix.

● Pour this into a bowl if using a food processor. Mix the milk, honey and eggs together and pour into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Bring all this together into a firm dough.

● Roll out or pat the mixture to a thickness of three or four centimetres and cut into about 15 scones. Place on a lined baking tray, about two centimetres apart.

● Brush with the egg glaze and sprinkle whole seeds on top. Bake for 12-15 minutes until firm and golden.

Rose Carrarini is co-owner of Rose Bakery in Paris and author of ‘Breakfast, Lunch, Tea’ (Phaidon, £19.95)

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