Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood has shared the three most common scone-making mistakes to avoid, drawing on his 30 years of baking experience. The baker recently took to TikTok to offer his advice, which he says boils down to three simple rules for a perfect bake every time.
Three scone mistakes to avoid
According to Paul, the first mistake is glazing the sides of the scones. "Egg wash the top, try not to egg wash the sides," he explained. "If it goes down the sides too much, it creates a glue, and prevents it from rising up."
The second mistake is leaving lumps of butter in the dough. "Lumps are bad in a scone because you don't want a big lump of butter in there," he warned. If the butter isn't rubbed in properly, it will just melt and "pour all over your tray" in the oven.
The 15-minute rule
The third mistake is guessing when the scones are done. "Use the 15 minutes of a scone in the oven as a good rule," Paul advised. "15 minutes bang on is 99% of the time going to be spot on."
The tutorial quickly racked up views, with fans praising his straightforward advice. "Those look so good," one viewer wrote, while another added: "I love hearing him talk, and he's adorable to watch." A third fan joked: "Wow, for 30 years. You have been making them since you were nine years old."
Paul Hollywood's full scone recipe
For those wanting to test the tips, Paul's full recipe includes 500g strong white bread flour, 25g baking powder, 80g unsalted butter, 2 medium eggs, 250ml milk, 80g caster sugar, and a large egg beaten with a pinch of salt for glazing, plus icing sugar, jam, and clotted cream to serve.
The method involves lining two baking trays, rubbing the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, mixing the wet ingredients, and bringing the dough together softly. After rolling to about 3cm thick and cutting rounds, the scones are glazed, chilled for 20 minutes, and baked at 220°C (200°C fan) for 15 minutes until risen and golden, then cooled and served with jam and clotted cream.
