Quick, easy, soft, and buttery scones with a hint of that sourdough bite. These blueberry lemon scones make use of discard from your sourdough starter that is simply irresistible. They will quickly become a favorite in your household.Â
Ever wonder what to do with that sourdough discard other then pour it down the sink? I was at my wits end with making sourdough discard pancakes and waffles so I wanted to branch out. I saw that there were biscuits made with the starter and since they are so similar I tried my hands at making scones. This what happened because of that.Â
In this recipe
The best part of this recipe is the sourdough starter. This is due to the acidity of the starter. Many other scone recipes will use buttermilk to achieve the same acidic bite, however with the starter discard you get that familiar sourdough tang. This acidity will be key in also getting the rise from the baking powder.Â
Keep it cold
It is important to make sure that the dough is cold. The best way to achieve this is to work with it as little as possible. I prefer to use a food processor to cut the butter since it does it in seconds. You can also use frozen butter that way. If that option is not available try and work as quickly as possible to prevent the butter from melting. Also once you have cut the scones, cover them with a towel and put them in the fridge as the oven finishes heating.Â
Adding the blueberries
Like the butter I prefer to add frozen blueberries. The reason is 2-fold. Firstly, it will help keep the dough cold which is really handy if you aren’t using a food processor. Secondly, it is easier to add them to the dough, shape it, and cut it without bursting the blueberries. They don’t take long to thaw so don’t worry about them increasing baking time by much.Â
Let them almost touch
In order to keep the scones in their nice triangle form allow them to be set very closely together. This will force them to rise higher. If you prefer a rounder scone then pat the dough disk down more flatly and use a biscuit cutter. You will want to place them similarly to how you would arrange buttermilk biscuits.Â
Substitute sourdough starter
You can make almost any baked good with sourdough starter. However it is a little tricky. You will need a scale to do this. To substitute sourdough starter for flour and milk/water remove an equivalent amount of flour and water/milk from the recipe and replace with the starter discard. Also never substitute more than half of the weight of flour or milk/water with starter. For example if there are 100 g of flour and 50g of water you will be able to remove 25g of each and replace with 50g of starter. This is assuming your starter is 50% of flour and water by weight.Â
Looking for other breakfast ideas?
Sourdough Discard Blueberry Lemon Scones
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
- Bench scraper
- Baking sheet
- Silicone mat/Parchment paper
- Spatula
- Pastry blender
Ingredients
Scone
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup blueberries fresh or frozen
- ¾ cup sourdough starter discard
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup butter
- â…“ cup milk
- 3 tablespoons lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 egg
- ¼ teaspoons salt
Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1½ tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F, 220°C, or gas mark 7.
- In a large mixing bowl whisk the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and lemon zest. With a pastry blender or your fingers blend in the butter until the the mixture takes on a pebbly consistency. Not all of the bits of butter and flour will be the same size. Add the blueberries.
- Mix the eggs, starter, and milk together until combined.
- Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and with a spatula gently fold and mix the ingredients until all contents stick together. If your dough is a little dry add additional milk 1 tbsp at a time.
- On a lightly floured surface create a mound of dough and shape into a circle about 8 inches in diameter. Using a knife or bench scraper cut the dome into 8 pieces.
- Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone mat and place in the refrigerator for 30 min.
- Bake for 20-25 min until the tops are a nice golden color. Cool on a cooling rack.
- Mix the lemon juice with the powdered sugar until the icing is smooth. You can add more sugar or juice to achieve the desired consistency. Drizzle over the cooled scones.
Nutrition
Big hit! Always looking for great recipes to use with my starter. I was wondering how to store these? Do they need to be kept in thr fridge? Or can they be stored on the counter?
I store them in the refrigerator since they have fresh fruit in them.
Well. I’m not sure where the mishap is. I used the metric on this recipe and the scones were sooooooo wet. I had to add at least another 100g of flour and it was still very wet dough. I make other scones all the time and I wanted to try another recipe especially with lemon and blueberries. I used frozen blueberry’s and frozen butter and I don’t know how all y’all’s dough was but I couldn’t even make it into a scone. I just put them into the oven because I didn’t wanna waste the ingredients. Hopefully they come out okay
Was the sourdough discard is the discard 50/50 flour and water by weight? If the starter is higher in hydration then that could be the reason.
Yes I have a 100 % sourdough starter hydration.
I don’t know why yours came out so runny. I retested to recipe with the metric settings to make sure. As long as your starter is equal portions of flour and water by weight then this recipe should work.
Can’t wait to try this! It sounds amazing. Like someone else said, I personally would wait till the last, after everything else is mixed to add blueberries, and mix by hand to prevent the messy bursting of blueberries. 😊
I’m curious, should the discard/starter be cold or room temp? Mine is refrigerated, but I usually take it out to warm up ahead of time..
Yup always wait until the very end for the blueberries. No one like burst blueberries. I will use cold discard since I want to keep everything as cold as possible when making the scones.
Ok – these are amazing!! So happy with how they turned out. I did a 1/4 cup for sugar and added a bit of maple syrup.
That is an awesome little twist! That sounds delicious.
Sounds like a wonderful recipe.
Can these be baked in a jumbo muffin pan [3.5 x 1.75 inches] ??
Yes I would still cut it in equal parts for but you can place them in a muffin pan, either line them or coat with a nonstick spray.
3/5 only because the lemon zest definitely needs to be doubled. It tasted very close to pizza dough but I think with the extra lemon zest that should fix it.
Thanks for the I added some more to the recipe.
This recipe is a keeper!!! My kids and husband loved them! Perfect blend of lemon, blueberry and dough. This will be one of my discard recipes from now on. I think what I’ll do the next time is wait to put in the blueberries into the dry ingredients until I’m ready to put the wet ingredients to the dry. That way they stay frozen and doesn’t smoosh when I mix them together. YUM!!!! Thanks for the recipe.
Loved the flavor of these scones. I mix the dry ingredients with the butter in a large bowl; then combine the liquid ingredients in another small bowl; and leave both bowls in the fridge overnight. Next morning I add my frozen blueberries to the flour, then stir in the starter/egg mixture. It is super fast to put together and everything stays nice and cold. Thanks for such a flavorful recipe.
This was my first time making scones with sourdough discard and definitely won’t be my last. It made the perfect brunch for my family and went great with strawberry jam!
Fresh from the oven. Cooling and the whole house smells like a bakery! Can’t wait to share!
I have a starter almost ready and I cannot wait to try this. Thanks for all the tips.
Sourdough discard recipes are so handy! This one’s downright irresistible. I’ve got some wild blueberries on hand so these scones will be happening in my kitchen very soon!
These scones were amazing! I have never used sourdough discard before, but I definitely will again, thanks!
A sourdough scone – what an idea! I love making scones for breakfast, so will be giving this a try soon! Thanks for the share!
This was a great way to repurpose my sourdough discard. I loved how tender and fluffy the blueberry lemon scones turned out.
You can’t go wrong with a blueberry scone with a bit of sourdough tanginess. I love the use of the discard – I never really thought much about how else to use it before but this is brilliant!
Thank you for providing such great tips on using sourdough discard in baking. I have a very small starter so my discard does not equal 3/4 cup. Can I save it up in the fridge for a few days?
You most certainly can. You can also freeze the starter also if you have a small amount until you have the amount you want.
Everything I love in one bite. The combination of blueberries and lemon is always a hit. I would love this scone with my morning coffee for breakfast.
I love, love, love this sourdough discard blueberry lemon scones!! This is such a great scone recipe that I will be making again and again!!
I can’t wait to make these using our wild blueberries.
great way to use up DF discards otherwise wasted. it was tasty – love the lemon blueberry combo!
I am always on the lookout for recipes using sourdough discard. made this for breakfast today and it was amazing!
Ohhh a great way to use up blueberries this season!
I love blueberries and these scones are bursting with them – can’t wait to use some sourdough discard for these!