Toss the apple cubes with the 1 teaspoon flour and ½ teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl and pop them in the fridge while you make the dough. The flour soaks up the juice the apple releases, so the dough doesn't turn sticky.

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) and line a baking sheet with baking paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg (if using) and brown sugar.

Grate the frozen butter into the dry ingredients. Rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs, but don't rub it all the way to sand. Leave some visibly larger flakes and pea-sized pieces of butter, these are what create steam pockets and flaky layers in the oven.

In a separate bowl or jug, whisk the sourdough discard, egg, vanilla and 1 tablespoon of the milk together.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry and fold together with a spatula or your hands until just combined and shaggy. Only add more milk, a splash at a time, if there's still dry flour that won't come together. The apples bring extra moisture, so err on the drier side. Stop as soon as there's no dry flour left.

With lamination, for extra flaky layers: turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a rough rectangle about 2cm thick. Scatter the apples evenly over the surface and press them in lightly. Fold the dough into thirds, like folding a letter, then turn it 90 degrees. Pat out into a rectangle again and repeat the fold once more. A few apple pieces poking through is fine. Two folds is enough, any more and the apples start to break up and make the dough wet.

Without lamination: fold the apples into the shaggy dough in the bowl with a few gentle turns, then bring it together on a lightly floured surface. The scones will still be tender and buttery, just with less visible layering.

Pat the dough into a round about 15cm across and a full 4cm tall. Tuck any escaped apple pieces back into the sides.

Cut into 8 wedges using a bench scraper or sharp knife, pressing straight down rather than dragging the blade, which seals the cut edges and blunts the rise. Space the wedges out on the baking sheet.

Freeze the shaped, cut scones, uncovered, on the tray for 20 minutes before baking. This re-firms the butter so it stays in solid pieces until the oven heat hits it, which is what gives you a tall rise and flaky layers. (You can also freeze them at this stage for up to a month and bake straight from frozen, adding 3-4 extra minutes to the bake.)

Brush the tops with milk or double cream and sprinkle over the demerara sugar.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, until well risen and deep golden brown, especially around the edges.

Whisk the icing sugar, cinnamon and salt with 1½ tablespoon milk. Add the rest of the milk a few drops at a time until the glaze is thick enough to sit on the scone without running straight off, but still pourable.

Drizzle the glaze over the cooled scones and leave for 10 minutes to set.