Bouchon's Bacon-Cheese Scones?

Does anyone here have the Bouchon Bakery cookbook? And does it contain the recipe for the bakery's incredible bacon-cheese scones? I had a couple of bites of one of those while in Napa a few days ago and it's haunting me. Thanks in advance if anyone can post a recipe.

[Jenise]

I don't have the Bakery book. Frank Deis might...Frank?

I checked with my wife, but she hasn't heard of the Bouchon Bakery cookbook. Those scones sound great, though. I'd love to see the recipe when you get hold of it.

[Jenise]

I checked with my wife, but she hasn't heard of the Bouchon Bakery cookbook. Those scones sound great, though. I'd love to see the recipe when you get hold of it.

Though I was sure Ines would have already done so, I checked the net and found no mention of recipes from the Bakery. But I was impressed that seemingly every person who visits the bakery comes away swooning over those scones. It was pretty tough to read this morning on an empty stomach.

My obsession got the best of me and I had to play around with recipes this morning. I came up with a pretty good rendition of those scones and would love to hear from anyone who tries my recipe, to see if they get similarly good results. I didn't take any pictures, but they look good and tasted very, very good.

RCP "Almost Bouchon" Bacon Cheese Scones
- makes 12

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 rounded teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup (4 ounces, or 1 stick) cold unsalted butter cut into 1/4 inch dice
1 Cup (packed) precooked, crumbled bacon (I used Costco's precooked crumbled bacon)
2 handfuls shredded cheese ( I used Costco's Mexican blend of cheddar and jack but I think you could use all cheddar)
1/4 Cup shredded Swiss cheese
1 extra large egg
1/2 cup whole milk or buttermilk
Egg wash
1/4 cup turbinado sugar (basically raw brown sugar) or regular sugar

Egg Wash
1 small egg
1 tablespoon water
Pinch of salt
Procedure
1. Prepare to bake: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Combine the dry ingredients: Measure the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt into a bowl with high sides or the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk to combine.

3. Cut in the butter, then add the crumbled bacon Use your hands or the paddle attachment of the stand mixer on low speed to blend the butter into the dry ingredients until the pieces of butter are the size of almonds. Add the bacon. Add the cheeses.

4. Whisk the egg and buttermilk or milk together, then add two-thirds of the mixture to the dry ingredients. Gently mix the dough just until it comes together, then add the remaining buttermilk mixture; the dough will look rough. Scrape the dough from the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix again to incorporate any floury scraps. The majority of the dough will have come together, on the paddle if using a stand mixer. Stop mixing while there are still visible chunks of butter and floury patches. The dough should come out of the bowl in one piece, leaving only some small scraps and flour on the sides.

5. Form and cut the dough: Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Gather it and pat just a few times to get it to come together. The top won't be smooth, but the rough surface creates a crunch that is part of a scone's charm. Divide the dough into two parts. Gently form dough into two 5-inch disks, each about 3/4 inch thick, brush with the egg wash, and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Cut each disk into 6 wedges, like a pie. Separate the dough triangles and place them on the parchment lined pan about 1/2 inch apart.

6. Bake: Place the scones on the prepared pan, Bake for about 30 minutes The scones should be a pale golden brown. Don't overbake! Can be eaten warm or cold. They also freeze well, just reheat briefly in the microwave.

Let me know how yours turn out!
Ines

Ines, I have copied your recipe above and while I don't know for sure when I'll get around to baking the scones, rest assured I will. I am trying to drop a few (or a bunch) of pounds else it would be today. Anyway, this sounds really great. I have a bakery about a mile from me that makes several types of scones but nothing quite this savory AFAIK. I am going to (hopefully with your permission) drop off this recipe with him and see if he might like to try them too. So, thanks for going to all this trouble.

Ines, I have copied your recipe above and while I don't know for sure when I'll get around to baking the scones, rest assured I will. I am trying to drop a few (or a bunch) of pounds else it would be today. Anyway, this sounds really great. I have a bakery about a mile from me that makes several types of scones but nothing quite this savory AFAIK. I am going to (hopefully with your permission) drop off this recipe with him and see if he might like to try them too. So, thanks for going to all this trouble.

Bob, I'm always curious as to how my home-concocted recipes work out for others, so look forward to hearing how your local baker might do with these. He''ll probably tweak the ingredients in some other way too.

[Jenise]

Major yum, Ines. Those sound fantastic. Btw, have you recently been to Napa Valley such that you tried these scones there?

Major yum, Ines. Those sound fantastic. Btw, have you recently been to Napa Valley such that you tried these scones there?

Yes, unfortunately we were there for a sad occasion, our eldest niece's husband passed away (age 43), so it wasn't a visit oriented toward wine or food. It was just by chance that someone bought one of these scones and shared it with me.

[Jenise]

Oh how sad! Way too young. Was this by any chance the guy who was part of the Flora Springs family?

Oh how sad! Way too young. Was this by any chance the guy who was part of the Flora Springs family?

Yes, Otto Komes. His parents own Flora Springs and he and his brother developed a subsidiary called Toad Hall. Their Lavender Hill pinot is quite lovely.

My obsession got the best of me and I had to play around with recipes this morning. I came up with a pretty good rendition of those scones and would love to hear from anyone who tries my recipe, to see if they get similarly good results. I didn't take any pictures, but they look good and tasted very, very good.

RCP "Almost Bouchon" Bacon Cheese Scones
- makes 12

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 rounded teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup (4 ounces, or 1 stick) cold unsalted butter cut into 1/4 inch dice
1 Cup (packed) precooked, crumbled bacon (I used Costco's precooked crumbled bacon)
2 handfuls shredded cheese ( I used Costco's Mexican blend of cheddar and jack but I think you could use all cheddar)
1/4 Cup shredded Swiss cheese
1 extra large egg
1/2 cup whole milk or buttermilk
Egg wash
1/4 cup turbinado sugar (basically raw brown sugar) or regular sugar

Egg Wash
1 small egg
1 tablespoon water
Pinch of salt
Procedure
1. Prepare to bake: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Combine the dry ingredients: Measure the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt into a bowl with high sides or the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk to combine.

3. Cut in the butter, then add the crumbled bacon Use your hands or the paddle attachment of the stand mixer on low speed to blend the butter into the dry ingredients until the pieces of butter are the size of almonds. Add the bacon. Add the cheeses.

4. Whisk the egg and buttermilk or milk together, then add two-thirds of the mixture to the dry ingredients. Gently mix the dough just until it comes together, then add the remaining buttermilk mixture; the dough will look rough. Scrape the dough from the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix again to incorporate any floury scraps. The majority of the dough will have come together, on the paddle if using a stand mixer. Stop mixing while there are still visible chunks of butter and floury patches. The dough should come out of the bowl in one piece, leaving only some small scraps and flour on the sides.

5. Form and cut the dough: Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Gather it and pat just a few times to get it to come together. The top won't be smooth, but the rough surface creates a crunch that is part of a scone's charm. Divide the dough into two parts. Gently form dough into two 5-inch disks, each about 3/4 inch thick, brush with the egg wash, and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Cut each disk into 6 wedges, like a pie. Separate the dough triangles and place them on the parchment lined pan about 1/2 inch apart.

6. Bake: Place the scones on the prepared pan, Bake for about 30 minutes The scones should be a pale golden brown. Don't overbake! Can be eaten warm or cold. They also freeze well, just reheat briefly in the microwave.

Let me know how yours turn out!
Ines

Ines,
I did take a printed out copy of your recipe of these scones to a bakery owner here and after looking it over he decided to try making them. When they were out of the oven he called and I went there and brought one home! WOW! these things are seriously good says I and my wife. Since then he has fooled around with the recipe, and just this week he told me that he has gotten his first rave review of them and asked me to thank you for your work.He has added them to his menu, but I don't know which days they will be available. He has promised to call me when he does them again, and I can't wait! Thank you for all your work.

[quote="Bob Henrick.[/quote]


Bob, thanks for the compliment. I still have a few of the scones from my original attempt in the freezer and they hold up very well frozen, just nuke for about 25 seconds and they're back in fine form. Particularly good with orange marmalade.
Ines

A good example of synchronicity! Yesterday, Jan and I decided to try a batch of scones inspired by this thread and they came out exactly as we hoped they would, but not necessarily like either ones a la Bouchon or from the Ines recipe.
We've never tasted Bouchon scones and going for a savory scone, used no sugar in our recipe which follows.
2 cups all purpose & 1 cup cake flour
1 Tbl baking powder
1/2 tsp each salt & ground black pepper
1 stick chilled unsalted butter diced into small pieces
1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
3 Tbls chives, snipped
10 strips of bacon cooked crisp & cut into small pieces
Up to 1 cup buttermilk
1 medium egg
2 tsps water or cream
Preheat oven to 375 F
In large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, S & P
Cut in the butter and rub it quickly between your fingers until the mixture becomes pale yellow and crumbley
Stir in the cheese, chives and bacon
Add 3/4 cup of the buttermilk and mix with a spoon just until all the ingredients are incorporated
If it's too dry to hold together, add the rest of the buttermilk a little at a time until the dough can be formed into a ball
Stir as lightly and as little as possible to insure a lighter texture scone
Move the dough ball to a lightly floured board and pat it down to a rough circle about an inch thick
Use a floured biscuit cutter to cut out circles or just cut 'traditional' wedge scone shapes
For the egg wash, whisk the egg with the water or cream (we used water) and brush each of the scones
We divided the scones between 2 parchment line baking sheets and baked them till golden brown which took 30 minutes
As noted here, they freeze extremely well

I don't have the Bakery book. Frank Deis might...Frank?

Good guess, since I have batches of cookbooks. In fact I have the original "Bouchon" cookbook, but not Bouchon Bakery.

Sorry, I just noticed this...