Sourdough Discard Blueberry Lemon Scones - Man Meets Oven (2024)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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