Buttermilk

Buttermilk was originally the acidulous milk which remained after the butter had been churned but today cultured buttermilk is fairly widely available. With bicarbonate of soda it makes a moister scone. A recipe was published in The Bakers ABC (1927) and is referred to by Elizabeth David in English Bread and Yeast Cookery (1978): ‘If about 3oz of ordinary flour is carefully scalded with 1 qt. of boiling water, and about ½ oz malt flour and ½ pt fresh milk added when the scalded liquor cools, lactic fermentation starts spontaneously, and in two days, if the liquid has been kept warm, it is in the condition of an artificial buttermilk, answering all the purposes for scone-making, etc. A fresh mixing can be stocked with a quantity from a previous making, and a supply kept up, much in the same way as barm is made.’