Food & Wine Test Kitchen Manager Kelsey Youngman has laid out her favorite tips: 1. For a better rise, use cold butter —or even frozen butter. The colder the better, and that extends beyond just ingredients, too. It's ideal to have a chilled bowl and pastry cutter as well. 2. When it comes to mixing, don't overdo it; mix until the dough just comes together. And although the food processor can help keep the temperature down, it's easy to over-mix, so use a pastry instead, Youngman suggests. "It should look like pancake batter," she says. "Lumps are what you want!" 3. Use pastry flour for the lightest scones. All-purpose plus pastry flour also works, but don't omit the pastry flour. 4. "Once you've shaped your scones, chill them before baking," Youngman says. "You can use that time to preheat the oven so the kitchen doesn't heat up while you make the dough. The final chill relaxes the gluten which yields a tender texture.
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