Sourdough Scones
Sourdough Scones have a special flavor and the perfect scone texture. A proper scone should neither be too biscuit-y nor too muffiny, but should fall somewhere between the two. A little sourdough discard is all you need to make the best scones ever.
As I mentioned in my post for English Scones, my basic scone recipe is adapted from a recipe given to me by a British mum. I used that recipe for 7 years when I worked in a British tea shop.
I made adjustments to the original recipe so it could work in a US kitchen with US ingredients and measurements. I can tell you I get great feedback from everyone who tastes these scones.
Now, I’ve made these scones even better by adding a little sourdough discard to the recipe.
If you don’t already have one, I can show you how to make a sourdough starter and how to feed a sourdough starter.
How to make Sourdough Scones
- Mix the sourdough discard into the buttermilk.
- Pour the buttermilk & discard into the flour base.
- Toss until almost combined
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface.
- Knead a couple of times to bring the dough together.
- Brush the scones with buttermilk and sprinkle with sugar before baking.
- Bake until the scones are golden brown.
Pastry Chef Tips for making Sourdough Scones
- Use real buttermilk if you can. The tangy flavor and tenderizing acidity works perfectly with the sourdough discard to make these the best scones ever. Buttermilk substitutes will work, but the real thing gives the best flavor.
- Mix the dough by hand. Mixing by hand ensures that you won’t over mix the dough and form too much gluten.
- Pat the dough by hand instead of using a rolling pin. This also ensures that the dough won’t be over worked.
- To work ahead, mix the recipe until the point where you add the buttermilk. Later you can mix the dough, roll, cut and bake.
Storage
Scones are best the day they are baked. Leftovers can be frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost and then warm in the oven to get the best texture. Do not refrigerate scones.
I know you hate to throw away that sourdough discard. Check out these recipes that use sourdough discard.
If you love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a star rating and a quick comment. Ratings and comments help my recipes show in search results. Thanks!
Sourdough Scone Recipe
Ingredients
- 22 ½ oz unbleached all purpose flour ( 4 ½ cups, see note)
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 4 oz granulated sugar (½ cup)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 oz unsalted butter (cold, cut into 1″ chunks)
- 8 oz buttermilk (1 cup)
- 8 oz sourdough discard (1 cup)
- 2 eggs
- Demerara Sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 °F. Line two ½ sheet pans with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 22 ½ oz unbleached all purpose flour, 2 tablespoons baking powder, 4 oz granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon salt. Toss in 6 oz unsalted butter chunks. Mix in the butter until the bits are the size of a pea.
- Whisk together 8 oz buttermilk, 8 oz sourdough discard and 2 eggs. Add the buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients all at once and mix until just barely combined. Some loose flour may remain at the bottom of the bowl. DON'T OVER MIX.
- Dump the dough onto a floured surface and finish kneading by hand just until all the loose flour is absorbed. Use your hands to pat the dough until it is ¾" thick. Use a 2½"-3" biscuit cutter to cut scones. Re-roll the scraps and continue cutting until all the dough is used.
- Line the scones onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving 1" space between. Brush the tops of the scones with buttermilk and sprinkle with Demerara or granulated sugar.
- Bake on the middle racks of the oven, flipping the trays after 10 minutes (see note). The scones are ready when they are golden brown and sound hollow when the bottom is tapped. Total baking time 15-20 minutes.
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Can you make this recipe into the traditional triangle-like scone shape?
yes
These look great I am from the UK as well so appreciate having this conversion, I’m going to try and bake these today with maybe some blueberries and lemon or even a lavender for fun. I think my problem with sourdough is I don’t know when to stop it’s a discard/feeding cycle and then put it into the fridge
I’m sorry, buy I’m not sure what is your question.
If you want to put it in the fridge, you can feed it, let it sit on the counter for 2 hrs then put in the fridge for a week. To get it ready to bake again, you will need to feed it 1-2 times before it’s ready. So you could pull it on Friday night to bake on Saturday-Sunday. 🙂
Yes I did that my starter is amazing And I have made this recipe several times since plane, with berries, and also with cheese and chives thank you so much
Christina, I keep about 1 cup of my starter in the fridge and feed it every 10 days or so. I keep a note on it with the date I last fed it so I’m not guessing as to how long it has been. (I forgot it once for 3 weeks and it was fine). When you want to bake remove one third of what you need and feed it 2 x a day for 3 days or until you have the amount you need. It keeps me from wasting a lot of flour. Does that make sense?
Oh Em Gee
they are delicious I did fold a few raspberry into a few of the scones that I cut out I only used half a recipe because I didn’t know if they were to turn out or not but they are delicious
Curious what the original amount of buttermilk for the recipe was and if you also used less flour? Trying to learn to convert recipes to sourdough. Thanks
Hi.
I have started baking with sourdough starter a few weeks ago and now I’m trying different recipes with the starter discard.
Can you tell me what I can use instead of buttermilk for this recipe?
Thank you
If you don’t have buttermilk you can use yogurt thinned with a little water to get it to the texture of buttermilk. You can also use 1 cup of regular milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar stirred in to sour the milk.
Thanks for this awesome tip!
That’s what I was thinking too