Cheese scones are the most popular pogácsa in Hungary. Pogácsa is a simple and delicious snack food, which is generally one of the first things to be served at dinner parties and get-togethers. Those bite-sized biscuits are dense and doughy in the center, but crispy outside. Hungarian pogácsa is always made from a yeast dough, baking powder scones are not so widespread.
My cheese scones are dead easy to make and stay soft for 1-2 days due to the large amount of butter and sour cream. After kneading the dough spends a night in the fridge, the next day I just roll it out, cut out the scones and bake them.
There’s no need to overwork the dough, just quickly bring it together; the less you handle scone dough, the better. The secret of well-risen scones is not to roll out the dough too thinly, start off with a thickness not less than 3/4 inch. Concerning cheese you can use almost anything that is hard enough to grate.
Ingredients:
- 50 ml (~1/4 cup) milk
- 25 g (~3/4 oz) fresh yeast (2 1/2 tsp dry yeast)
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 500 g (~4 cups) flour
- 250 g (~1 cup) butter
- 3/4 tbsp salt
- 2 egg yolks
- 150 g (~5 1/3 oz) sour cream
- 1 egg white
- 100 g (~3 1/2 oz) cheese, grated
Dissolve yeast and sugar in lukewarm milk. Sift the flour into a bowl. Add cubed butter and rub it into the flour. Stir salt into the flour, then make a hollow in the flour and pour in activated yeast. Add egg yolks and sour cream, and quickly knead until smooth. Cover the bowl and chill the dough overnight.
The next day line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 220°C / 428°F.
On a floured surface roll out the dough until 2 cm/ 3/4 inch thick. With a 5 cm/2 inch cutter cut out scones and place them onto the prepared baking sheets. Brush the tops with slightly beaten egg white, then scatter grated cheese onto them. Bake the scones for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool slightly on a rack before splitting open.
