Kamut Flour in Scones

I have been using a lot of Kamut® Khorasan of late. I ordered a 5-pound bag of the whole grain, since I have an electric grain mill, and it is nearly gone. 

Kamut® Khorasan is an ancient strain of wheat, along with another called "Emmer". These two tetraploid strains have 28 chromosomes instead of the 42 found in our hexaploid strain of the common wheat of today. Kamut® Khorasan grains are nearly twice the size of our modern wheat grains. When I bought Kamut® flour in past, I thought that Kamut® was the name of the type of wheat, but was in error. The name of this grain is actually Khorasan, referring to a historical region in modern Afghanistan and northern Iraq. The title of "Kamut®" Khorasan was given later by two brothers in Montana. Growing this strain of wheat in hopes of preserving the strain cleanly, they registered it with

the name of Kamut.

What really got me interested, besides being an heirloom variety of wheat, with less gluten, and of a totally different size and look than our modern wheat, was when I tried grinding and using it to make pasta. Kamut® Khorasan is a very "blond" grain, and when ground, has a lovely golden color. Using it to make pasta only made the pasta look like it had more eggs in it, with none of the graininess of other whole wheat pasta. It also did not tend to split and break so easily when cooked, as whole grain wheat pastas will. All in all, neither my husband nor I can tell the pasta is made of a whole grain at all. Which is rather wonderful, all in all.

Long ago, nearly 20 years ago now, I discovered Kamut® Khorasan flour and tried it in things like cookies, using about half Kamut® Khorasan to half white all-purpose flour. I added it to some breads and bagels. I liked the flavor and the look, but then didn't continue using it. Until recently. Now, I am finding that it is an excellent substitute, or partial substitute for all-purpose flour in many recipes, giving some added benefits of the whole grain goodness and fiber. 

Whole Grain Kamut® Khorasan Maple Pecan Scones

Of late, I have used it almost entirely, with only ½-cup of all-purpose flour added to 1½ cups of Kamut® Khorasan flour, to make a Rhubarb Pecan Coffeecake, Chocolate Beet Cake (revised), Rhubarb Blueberry Bars, pancakes, pasta and scones. Of all these, the only recipe that did not quite turn out well was the Rhubarb Blueberry Bars, and that was due to the fact that I completely screwed up my measuring when I made it and the recipe just was not terribly good. My fault, not the Kamut® Khorasan flour. 

This morning I wanted to make scones. It was getting late, but I went ahead with it anyway, and ground the needed Kamut® Khorasan grain to make the scones. In grinding just enough whole grain to make 2 cups of flour, less than 2 cups of grain is needed, as once ground, it fluffs quite a bit. Once I measured the flour and weighed it, I knew how much I would need in future to make 2 cups. I have gotten used to using grams on my scale, as it will weigh more precisely down to tinier measures than I can get with pounds and ounces. For the 2 cups of flour, it weighed 255 grams. Next time, for 2 cups of flour, I will first weigh out 255 grams of the grain and then grind. For this time, I did it backwards. 

For the recipe itself, I proceeded with the formula that has worked so splendidly for me:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
• 1 cup heavy cream

Whole Grain Kamut® Khorasan Maple Pecan Scones

This mixture makes the basic dough, which turns out perfectly almost all the time. Today, once I mixed the cream into the ingredients, it seemed soupy; too wet to work with. I figured that it was possible that the whole grain flour just didn't absorb the liquid as quickly, but rather than wait, I added ¼-cup of all-purpose flour, which, once stirred in, made the dough just the perfect consistency. I had also added in some Maple Flav'r Bits from King Arthur Flour that were in my freezer for some time and needed to be used up. As it happens, these are no longer available from King Arthur website. For me, this is unfortunate, because I just loved them, as well as the Cinnamon Flav'r Bits, also no longer available. From here on, obviously, I will need to use maple flavoring instead. 

Once baked and sitting down to breakfast, the scones were truly lovely. Such a pretty warm color, puffed just perfectly, baked to perfection. They were so very tender - not something you expect of whole grain pastries. We were both just truly enamored of these scones. I hope you will be, too!

Whole Grain Kamut® Maple Pecan Scones

Whole Grain Kamut® Khorasan Maple Pecan Scones

Makes 8 scones

2 cups whole grain Kamut® Khorasan flour (255 grams, by weight)
¼ cup white, all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
5½ tablespoons COLD unsalted butter
½ cup broken pecans
1 cup heavy cream
½ to 1 teaspoon maple flavoring, to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in the cold butter until in very small bits. Stir in the pecans with a fork. Stir together the cream and maple flavoring and add to the dry ingredients, stirring together quickly with the fork. Once the mass begins to come together, turn out onto a greased surface and bring together into one mass, then pat neatly to an 8-inch circle. With a long kitchen knife, cut across the circle 4 times, creating 8 equal wedges. Lift the wedges to the parchment lined baking sheet, keeping them at least 1-inch distance from each other. If desired, brush the tops of the scone wedges with a little more cream, then sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake the scones in the lower third of the oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until they spring back nicely to the touch. Serve warm.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.