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If you’re looking for the best sourdough scones, this is the master recipe you need. These sourdough discard scones are soft, flaky, and incredibly moist and tender — not at all tough or crumbly.
This easy sourdough scone recipe comes together quickly and uses cold sourdough discard straight from the fridge. Make them plain, turn them into savory ham & cheese sourdough scones or add chocolate chips for sweet chocolate chip discard scones if you want them sweet. Once you have this go-to sourdough scone base, you can customize it any way you like.
Quick Look: Sourdough Scones
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Chill Time: 15 minutes (optional)
- Bake Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 – 45 minutes
- Servings: 8 large scones
- Calories: ~387 kcal per scone (based on nutrition panel)
- Cook Method: Baked on a parchment-lined baking sheet at 425ºF
- Flavor & Texture: Moist and tender center with crisp, golden edges
- Difficulty: Easy – quick mix, shape and bake
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Why You’ll Love Sourdough Scones
- Adaptable – This is a true master recipe. Add strawberries, blueberries, pumpkin, chocolate chips, ham and cheese — whatever you’re craving. This sourdough scone base works beautifully with both sweet and savory mix-ins. Search my sourdough scone recipes for even more ideas!
- Breakfast – Perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack, these sourdough scones are tender and delicious. And for a special treat, try this version of Triple Chocolate Sourdough Scones!
- Homemade – These scones taste especially great with freshly milled flour. You’re going to love them just as much as my non-sourdough scone recipe!
Sourdough Discard Tip: I keep a jar in my fridge that I continually add sourdough discard to. Discard is a by-product of your sourdough starter and there is no reason to throw it away. Instead, use it in incredible sourdough discard recipes where it adds moisture and great flavor. Use older, more tangy discard in savory recipes like these Sourdough Drop Biscuits and young/fresh discard in sweeter recipes like these Lemon Blueberry Sourdough Scones.
Important Ingredients
- Sourdough Discard: Use 100% hydration sourdough discard (equal parts flour and water by weight)). If your discard is very runny, you may need a little extra flour. Cold discard straight from the fridge works best because it keeps the butter chilled, which helps create flaky scones.
- Flour: I often use freshly milled soft wheat for these scones, but you can also use all-purpose or a soft pastry flour with the same delicious results. For tender scones, use a lower-protein flour to discourage excess gluten development.
- Granulated sugar: Adds sweetness and creates a lightly crisp top.
- Heavy Cream: Heavy cream makes these scones rich and tender. I don’t recommend substituting milk — the lower fat content can make the scones taste more “bready” than tender.
- Unsalted Butter – I bake with unsalted butter so I can control the salt level. Salted butter varies by brand, so the total salt amount can be unpredictable if using salted butter.
- Eggs – Eggs add richness and structure to the dough.
- Vanilla Extract – Adds subtle flavor. Leave it out if using savory mix-ins.
- Salt – Enhances flavor and balances the sweetness.
- Baking Powder – Helps create that classic tall, fluffy scone rise.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities
Substitutions
- Flour: This recipe works very well with freshly milled whole wheat flour. I love using a soft white wheat flour in this recipe. You can also substitute half whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour with good results.
- Heavy Cream: If needed, you can substitute half-and-half or even buttermilk for the heavy cream in this recipe, but the scones will be slightly less rich. I don’t recommend substituting regular milk unless absolutely necessary, as it reduces the fat and tenderness.
- Vanilla Extract: Omit it, or replace it with another flavoring – lemon, almond or maple would also be delicious! Orange zest, lemon zest or lime zest would also be a fantastic addition.
- Mix-Ins: This is a master scone recipe that can be used for any mix-ins. Add 1–2 cups of your favorite mix-ins directly to the dough — chocolate chips, berries, nuts, cranberries or whatever you love, and make them your own.
How to Make Sourdough Scones
Mix the Dough
Step 1: Whisk together dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Grate cold butter and add on top of the dry ingredients. Set aside.
Step 2: Whisk sourdough discard, heavy cream and eggs together until smooth.
Amy’s Tip: Scone dough should resemble flaky pie dough more than soft cookie dough. Gently knead it once or twice just to incorporate any stray flour. If it feels too sticky, sprinkle in a little extra flour and fold it over a few times—just don’t overwork it! Short on time? You can also pulse the dry ingredients and cold butter in a food processor until you see pea-sized crumbs, then gently stir in your wet ingredients by hand.
Step 3: Add the liquid ingredients to the bowl with the flour mixture and stir together until the dough begins to clump and look cohesive. If there is still a lot of dry flour in the bottom of the bowl, add a little extra cream, about a teaspoon at a time, just until the dough comes together.
Long Fermentation Option: For the added benefits of long fermentation, prepare the dough as directed using double-acting baking powder. Shape the dough into a round disc, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 8 to 24 hours instead of cutting it right away. When ready to bake, slice into wedges and bake as directed. This extended rest helps ferment the flour in the dough for easier digestion and develops a slightly deeper, tangier sourdough flavor.
Shape Sourdough Scones
Step 4: Turn the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper. Gently pat it into a circle, using your hands to shape and press it together.
Step 5: Use a bench scraper to cut the dough into 8 even triangles. For smaller scones, shape the dough into a 10 by 10 inch square and cut it into 16 pieces instead.
Chilled Dough Tips: Cold butter and cold sourdough discard are key to flaky, tender scones. Keep your ingredients as cold as possible and avoid overmixing or overworking the dough, which can make the scones tough. Mix just until combined.
For make-ahead convenience, shaped scones can be refrigerated or frozen before baking. Chilling the dough can actually create even flakier layers when the high temperature the scones are baked at creates steam which makes lots of flaky layers. If baking from frozen, add a few extra minutes to the bake time.
Bake the Sourdough Scones
Step 6: Place scones on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and brush with heavy cream. Sprinkle the tops of the scones with granulated sugar.
Step 7: Bake the scones for 14-16 minutes at 425ºF until baked through and golden brown. Let cool and enjoy!
How to Store Leftovers
Leftover scones can be placed in a ziplock bag or airtight container. Freeze for up to a couple months. This helps preserve the moisture in the scone. When you’re ready to eat one, defrost and warm them up just a little. Enjoy!
Amy’s Recipe Tips
- Cold sourdough discard makes these scones extra flaky and delicious. Use your discard chilled when possible – it keeps the butter cold, resulting in lots of layers.
- Freezing Scones: Freeze the scones before baking and keep frozen for up to a month. When you’re ready to bake them, preheat the oven and bake, adding a few extra minutes to the bake time.
- This recipe works very well with freshly milled whole wheat flour. I love using a soft white wheat flour in this recipe. You can also substitute half whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour with good results.
Frequently Asked Questions
I love using freshly milled whole wheat flour in this scone recipe. Freshly milled soft white wheat is my preference. I purchase these wheat berries and mill them in my Nutrimill harvest grain mill. You can substitute a store bought whole wheat flour if desired or use all-purpose flour.
Add a little extra flour to your scone dough. Discard is not always going to have the exact same amount of liquid in it – it is dependent on where it was in the fermentation cycle, so it’s possible you may need to add a little extra flour or a little extra heavy cream to your dough.
If you want a sweeter scone, I recommend leaving off the sprinkle of sugar and adding a drizzle of glaze on top. Whisk together powdered sugar with heavy cream (and a flavored juice if desired) until you get a thick, pourable consistency. Pour it over the top of the scones and enjoy.
Yes. These are great to make ahead of time. Mix up the dough, separate into pieces and then freeze the scone dough overnight or up to a month. Bake scones immediately from the freezer, adding on a couple of minutes to the bake time.
Using cold sourdough discard, straight from the fridge and cold ingredients keeps these scones fairly chilled. But if you want to ensure flaky layers, chilling them is a good idea. I would stick them in the refrigerator or freezer for 10-15 minutes to chill. Alternatively you can freeze the scones for up to a month and bake straight from the freezer – just add a few minutes on to the bake time.
Popular Sourdough Scone Recipes
If you tried these Sourdough Scones or any other recipe on my website leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Happy Baking!
Sourdough Discard Scones
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 380 grams all-purpose flour, see recipe notes for freshly milled flour, scant 3 cups
- 90 grams granulated sugar, about 1/2 cup
- 15 grams baking powder, about 1 Tablespoon
- 4 grams salt, about 3/4 teaspoon
- 113 grams unsalted butter, about 8 Tablespoons
- 2 large eggs, about 100 grams
- 100 grams sourdough discard, scant 1/2 cup
- 60 grams heavy cream, about 1/4 cup
- 4 grams vanilla extract, about 1 teaspoon
- 2 Tablespoons heavy cream, for brushing on top
- sprinkle of granulated sugar, for topping the scones
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425ºF.
- To a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Grate the cold butter into small pieces and whisk into the flour mixture until the little pieces of butter are spread throughout and coated with flour. If you're using mix-ins, add them now – coating them in the flour mixture.
- To a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, sourdough discard, heavy cream and vanilla until smooth and incorporated. Note: If you are using a "wetter" mix-in like fresh fruit ie: strawberries or blueberries, you may need to add a little extra flour when mixing.
- Add the liquid to the flour mixture and stir together with a fork or spoon until moistened and sticking together. If you have a lot of flour leftover in the bowl, add a little extra cream a teaspoon or so at a time until it comes together. Scone dough will resemble pie dough more than cookie dough. Knead it once or twice until all the flour is incorporated. If your dough is too wet, add a little extra flour and knead a few more times, doing your best not to over-mix.
- Pull out a sheet of parchment paper and lightly flour it. Turn the dough out and pat into a circular shape, about 8-10 inches round and 1 inch thick. Using a sharp knife or a bench knife, cut the scones into eight triangular slices.
- Place the parchment paper with the scones on it on top of a baking sheet. Separate the scones so they aren't touching. At this point you can freeze the scones for later baking or freeze to chill the scone dough for a few minutes for more flaky layers – this is optional.
- Brush the tops of the scones with heavy cream and sprinkle granulated sugar on top. Alternatively you can leave off the cream/sugar topping and make a glaze instead like I do in these cranberry orange scones.
- Bake the scones for 14-16 minutes at 425ºF (depending on how crispy you want the edges). Once scones are finished baking, pull them out of the oven and let cool about 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe was great! It was pretty easy. And it tasted great. I used brown sugar instead of white. It wasn’t dry, and it didn’t crumble to pieces. It was Yummy! Thanks!
Thanks for the review! I’m glad the scones turned out delicious.
These are amazing! Easy recipe and turned out excellent the first time I made them. I added Currants and they’re a show stopper. Thank you Amy for this brilliant recipe!!
Currants would be delicious in these scones – thanks for the idea and review!
These are the best!!! They’re fluffy and light. I’ve made them plain, with cheese and herbs, with cranberry orange, and snickerdoodle. All turned out perfectly!
Thanks for the review! I’m glad they turned out great!
SO good. I added frozen local blueberries (and a lot of them) and I added a couple splashes of heavy cream as I was mixing to make it come together. I froze them for a few minutes and cooked them on parchment paper. I didn’t brush them with cream or add sugar. We use convect so I set the oven for 25 degrees less. Some were ready in 15 min but some needed another 5. They turned out perfect and tasty.
I’m glad it turned out great – thanks for the review and substitution ideas!
Can I add protein powder into this recipe? Or will it change the dough consistency too much?
I think you definitely could. I haven’t tried them that way, so I can’t say for sure, but I think it would work. Let me know if you try it and how they turn out!
My 83 year old mother-in-law said these were the best scones she’d ever had. I used dried cranberries and orange zest as add-ins. Substituted the cream entirely with more sourdough discard. Delicious! Thanks for sharing your recipe.
I’m so glad you love this recipe and that it was a hit with your family.
Excellent scones with a really nice crumb! I opted to freeze them unbaked so it was very convenient to just pull them out of the freezer and bake them this morning. They took about 16 minutes to cook.
So glad you loved these! Thanks so much for sharing.
So good and easy to make!
So glad you loved them!
Glad you loved this one!
When incorporating strawberries or raspeberries, do you recommend that I use fresh, frozen, or dried fruit?
Any of those will work. If using fresh, you may need to add a little extra flour to compensate for water in the dough as you the scone dough comes together. Frozen fruit works really well – work quickly so it doesn’t thaw much – and it keeps the scone dough cold which is good for flaky layers. Freeze dried also works and has good flavor.
These are delicious & easy to add in different flavors. I have friends who don’t eat refined sugar. Could I sub honey or maple syrup for the sugar? And then decrease the cream?
I haven’t made them that way, so I’m not sure. You could definitely experiment, though!
I made these twice, two days in a row. I gave one batch to a new neighbor from the UK and they wrote me a note saying these were ‘legit, best scones we have ever eaten, better than the bakeries in UK.” Delicious
I’m so glad you are loving these! And what a great compliment!