The Hairy Bikers‘ Pogacsa (Hungarian Cheese and Bacon Scones)

Recently on SBS Food, they showed The Hairy Bikers Bakeation, where  the Hairy Bikers rode and ate their way through Europe. (Yep, this show is 13 years old, but I have never seen it before.)  They made a number of fabulous looking dishes along the way, inspired by the countries they were visiting.  

I was taken with a number of the dishes the Hairy Bikers made, but one which particularly caught my eye was Pogacsa (Bacon or Crackling Scones), from Hungary.  Crispy bacon is mixed with sour cream, caraway seeds, parmesan cheese and the usual scone ingredients to create these tasty, filling scones:

A pogacsa spread with butter while it is still warm is just the ticket for breakfast:

If you would like to make your own pogacsa, you will need:

60ml milk
1 sachet dried yeast (~7g)
250g chopped bacon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
500g plain flour
2 tablespoons grated parmesan
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
120g butter
120ml sour cream
2 beaten eggs
1 egg beaten with a splash of water for egg wash

Heat the milk gently until it is just lukewarm, then stir in the yeast.  Set aside for 15 minutes or so to allow the yeast to froth the milk.

Fry the bacon until crisp, then remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, parmesan and caraway seeds in a medium bowl.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, then stir in the sour cream, beaten eggs, bacon and milk mixture.  Pour the liquid ingredients into a large bowl, then add the dry ingredients, in several batches, and mix with a spoon and then your hands until everything is well combined.

Turn the dough out onto a floured bench and knead with your hands until the dough is smooth and elastic (~ 5 minutes).  Put the dough into a well oiled bowl and leave to rise for 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size.

Turn the dough back out onto the floured bench and punch it down, then press or roll it out to ~ 1 1/2 inches in thickness.  Cut out rounds from the dough using a scone cutter, and place onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper.  Make a cross-cross pattern on the top of each scone using a sharp knife, then allow the scones to rise for another 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius.  Brush the top of each scone with eggwash, then bake the scones  for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Serve warm spread with lashings of butter.