Figgy Buckwheat Scones
Today I woke to a crisp morning and blue sky dappled with clouds. The arrival of cooler weather marks the first day of fall. The transition of season brings a natural shift from the bright, juicy flavors of summer into deeper, spicier flavors. Baking techniques shift as well. Summer has us baking minimally, letting the fruit speak for itself, while fall asks us to slow down, tend the stove and build layers of flavor into each pastry.
As a young pastry chef, I developed a dessert that, in some iteration, has stayed with me throughout my career. The dessert was a Port Ice Cream Parfait laced with Nougat Montellimar, served with plump sour cherries and red wine-poached figs.
The poached figs adorning each plate were peeled and dropped into a simmering sauce of port and red wine spiced with star anise, clove and cinnamon, where they sat for hours (or even better, a few days) to macerate and soak in their surrounding flavors.
While consulting for a cafe project, I shifted this recipe to use dried figs, which were left to sit overnight in the spiced wine liquid until the tough skin turned soft and pliant. Then they were pureéd into a smooth paste and spread over an almond-flecked dough, then baked with crunchy edges and a tender middle.
When I was well into the development of my cookbook, Good to the Grain, I was working with buckwheat flour, a deep purple-grey colored flour mottled with dark flecks, reminiscent of a swirly distant galaxy. Letting my mind wander, I thought through possible pairings with this dark, assertive, almost wine-ish flavored flour. Free association is a technique that I often turn to in development. I take one ingredient and think about other ingredients that will complement this particular one. Sometimes I draw from the weather, maybe a mood, a color, and sometimes it’s as simple as coming up with an alliteration for the recipe’s title. The fig jam came to mind.
So, into a bowl went the buckwheat flour, then white flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. I rubbed the butter between my fingers down to little nubs of varying sizes. I streamed in the cream, and gently brought the mixture together, shaped it into a rectangle, spread the fig jam over the surface and rolled into a spiral. After a rest in the fridge, pinwheels were sliced and dipped into sugar and baked until crisp on the edges. And voila, the Figgy Buckwheat Scone was born! A scone that became more wildly popular than I could ever imagine.
When the bakery opened, I put this scone on the opening menu. Over the years, I’ve made thousands of batches. I’ve rolled them with a baby in a carrier perched on the wood table with me, I’ve rolled them with most new hires who come through the kitchen, and stood quietly humming along with seasoned veterans. Figgy shaping became the place that I found peace in the bakery, and I would join the table to center myself while the activity of the bakery whirled around me.
After Covid hit, I thought I might never make another Figgy Buckwheat Scone, but with a small sense of normality now allowing us to implement more items, along with the change in the season to autumn, it is time to put this classic out there again. Welcome back, friend!
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