Tangy and moist, these Sourdough Discard Scones are another great way to use up some of your extra sourdough starter. You can use this base recipe to create dozens of different flavor combinations of these delicious scones!
During the Fall, these sourdough pumpkin scones are a must make too!
I love baking with my sourdough discard! I always have extra sourdough discard on hand that I am trying to bake with. Don't waste it! You can make so many delicious recipes with it. If you love scone recipes, make sure you check out my kefir scones, orange strawberry scones, and blueberry sourdough scones too!
These sourdough scones are soft and buttery, perfect to slather Instant Pot mixed berry jam, peach jam, or blueberry jam on! This is a great sourdough scone recipe that I think you will love because you only need a few basic ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen!
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What is Sourdough Discard?
Sourdough discard is the portion of your sourdough starter that you are not feeding. When you are "feeding" your starter to make Dutch oven sourdough bread with, you add equal parts flour, water, and starter to a mason jar and let it rise.
You can't feed your entire starter, as it doubles and sometimes triples in size, and that's a lot of starter to have on hand! If you are new to sourdough, be sure to check out how to feed and maintain a sourdough starter post all about how to keep your sourdough starter happy.
With your sourdough discard, you can make lots of delicious recipes! I love making sourdough brownies for desserts, sourdough discard cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and sourdough chocolate chip cookies for a special treat!
Scones vs. Biscuits
Scones and biscuits are small quick breads that are actually quite similar. Biscuits tend to not be sweetened, while scones have a little bit of sugar in them. The shape is different too. Scones are usually either triangles or squares, while biscuits tend to be round.
When it comes to their textures, biscuits are light and airy, while scones tend to be denser and more buttery, perfect to serve with butter or jam.
Ingredients to Gather
You only need a few simple ingredients to make these delicious sourdough discard scones!
Sourdough Starter Discard- Discard is the extra sourdough starter that you would get rid of when you are feeding your starter. You can make your own homemade sourdough starter, buy one, or get one from a friend. The sourdough discard should be out of the refrigerator and not fed, meaning not bubbly and active. Active sourdough starter will work in this recipe too!
All purpose flour- If you have bread flour, that would work here too. Both are very similar. When thinking about bread flour vs all purpose flour, they can be used interchangeably in this scones recipe.
Butter- You'll use one stick of cold butter in this recipe. I like salted butter in this recipe because it lends it flavor better and helps make really tender scones.
Sour Cream- Here's the magic in this recipe. Along with the sourdough starter, the sour cream makes these scones moist and delicious. If you don't have sour cream, you can use buttermilk as well. Make sure that you are using full fat sour cream, as the low fat or fat free versions will not give you as good of a texture and flavor. The sour cream also activates the baking soda to give these scones a good rise.
See printable recipe card for full recipe information on ingredients and quantities.
How To Make Sourdough Discard Scones
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
First, you'll want to make sure your butter is frozen. Grating the butter gives the best distribution of butter throughout the dough. Use a good quality cheese grater and be careful because they can be very sharp. Grate the butter into a bowl using the box grater.
Place the grated butter in a large mixing bowl. Add the flour and mix the dry ingredients into the butter so the butter is coated with the flour. Add the sugar, baking powder and baking soda to the flour mixture. Mix to combine.
Lynn's Tip!
To make mixing the butter into the dry ingredients even easier, use a food processor! Process the ingredients together until they look like big clumps of sand. Be very careful not to overwork the mixture though or the scones will be tough.
Add the sourdough starter and the sour cream. I like to use my hands here to mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, but you can use a spoon or pastry blender if you would like.
At first the dough will feel very dry. Keep mixing gently until the dough is wetter and you are able to form it into either one large disk, or two small disks (for mini scones like I did). Place the discs on the prepared baking sheet.
Cut the disks into triangles with a sharp knife or a bench scraper. You can usually get 8 mini scones out of each disk. The dough will be pretty crumbly and you may have some leftover flour hanging out, that's totally fine!
Brush the top of the scones with some milk and dust with granulated sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 400 degrees or until the scones are golden brown on top. Serve immediately with your favorite butter and jam!
Substitutions and Variations
- Blueberry Scones- Add in ½ cup of blueberries, fresh or frozen, to the dough.
- Chocolate Chip Scones- Add ½ cup of chocolate chips to the dough, top with more chocolate chips for an even more chocolaty flavor.
- Cranberry Orange Scones- Grate the zest of one orange into the dough and add ½ cup of fresh cranberries or ¼ cup of dried cranberries.
- Lemon Poppy Seed Scones- Grate the zest of two lemons into the dough and add one tablespoon of poppy seeds.
- Citrus scones- Add a tablespoon of lemon zest, orange zest, or lime zest for a little pucker to this basic scone recipe.
How To Long Ferment Scones
To make this scone dough ahead of time, make the dough completely and then cover it with plastic wrap. Place it in the refrigerator overnight or up to 24 hours. This will enhance the fermentation and increase the tang of these scones.
When you are ready to bake them, place the dough on a lightly floured surface, turn the dough onto it and create the discs. Cut the discs into scones and brush the top with heavy cream or whole milk. Sprinkle with sugar and bake.
Storage Tips
Once the scones have cooled to room temperature, place them in an airtight container and keep them on the counter. It is best not to refrigerate these scones as they will go stale very quickly.
These are also great to freeze! You can freeze them for up to 3 months in a freezer bag. Remove them from the freezer when you are ready to enjoy them and let them defrost on the counter.
Heat the scone in the oven or toaster oven to refresh them a little before serving.
Sourdough Discard Scones FAQs
Sure! If you wanted to make this recipe but do not have sourdough starter, I would double the amount of sour cream and add one egg to better bind the dough together.
Definitely not! If you wanted to make them into one large disk instead of two small disks you could certainly do that! With kids, I find the mini are easier and they eat the whole thing, instead of wasting the extra.
You can freeze them in Ziploc bags once they are baked and they will last for about 3 months in the freezer. On the counter, they will last in a Ziploc bag for about 5 days. It's best to bake them and eat them as soon as possible for the best possible flavor.
Other Recipes to Try!
- Peanut Butter and Banana Oat Bars
- Cinnamon Streusel Banana Bread
- Pina Colada Smoothie
- Baked Peanut Butter Donuts
📖 Recipe
Sourdough Discard Scones
Ingredients
- ½ Cup Salted Butter Frozen
- 2 ½ Cups All Purpose Flour
- ½ Cup Sugar
- 2 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 Cup Sourdough Discard Not Active
- ¼ Cup Full Fat Sour Cream
For Brushing Before Baking
- ¼ Cup Full Fat Milk For Brushing Before Baking
- 1 tablespoon Sugar
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Using a box grater, grate the frozen butter into a large bowl. Add the flour and coat the butter in the flour.
- Add the sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix to combine.
- Using your hands or a large spoon, add the sourdough discard and sour cream. Gently mix to combine everything. The dough will be very dry at first, but keep working it. The dough is perfect when it is just holding together and most of the flour is incorporated.
- Divide the dough into two disks if you are making mini scones, or one disk if you are making larger scones. Cut each disk into 8 triangles.
- Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve immediately.
Notes
- You can freeze them in Ziploc bags once they are baked and they will last for about 3 months in the freezer. On the counter, they will last in a Ziploc bag for about 5 days. It's best to bake them and eat them as soon as possible for the best possible flavor.
- If you wanted to make this recipe but do not have sourdough starter, I would double the amount of sour cream and add one egg to better bind the dough together.
Abby Snyder says
These scones are amazing. Easy using discard sourdough too. I added a bit of cinnamon into the dry ingredients. After the first rise, I added about a cup of diced apricots (partially frozen since from last years crop) and folded them in before the bulk rise. Made 16 nice (bigger than what I would call “mini”) scones. Light and full of flavor. My sisters and I are all sourdough bakers… I am sharing this recipe! Enjoy!
Lynn Polito says
Yay! I am so happy to hear that! Thank you for making my recipe!
Rob Guinter says
I guess I have a reading disability, but twice now I have put the milk into the dough. Might help if you separate the ingredients to Dough, and Topping lists.
Sheryl says
The best! I never made scones before but wanted something different to make with my sourdough discard. This recipe so easy that I’ve made 3 versions. Lemon Poppy is my favorite. My only change is that grating the frozen butter wasn’t working for me so I took the frozen butter and cut it up into 1/2 cup of flour using a pastry cutter. I added the rest of the flour using the pastry cutter to make sure the butter was finely broken up and evenly distributed. Worked great for me. .
lynnswayoflife says
Fantastic! I am so happy to hear that! Thanks for making my recipe!