A different take on a British favorite, Sourdough Discard Lemon Scones with Lemon Glaze are the perfect addition to your afternoon tea. These scones are sweet, tart, and comforting – a real treat for any occasion!
What are sourdough discard lemon scones?
Sourdough discard lemon scones are based on a British Tea-Time staple, the classic scone. Scones are generally made with self-raising flour and baking powder to enable them to rise. This version uses sourdough discard, not so much to make the scone rise as to provide added flavour and health benefits.
If you have ever tried making your own sourdough bread, you will know what it is like to have a fridge full of sourdough discard. It is useful to have recipes that will help to use it up, and this is just such a recipe.
Ingredients Needed to Make Sourdough Discard Lemon Scones with Lemon Glaze
For the Scones:
- 300g plain flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp sugar
- rind of 1 lemon, grated
- 85g butter
- 100g sourdough discard
- 100ml milk
- squeeze of lemon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg to glaze
For the lemon glaze:
- 75g icing sugar (powdered sugar)
- 1 tbsp + 1tsp fresh lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon)
Plain Flour
I use plain flour for this recipe (otherwise known as all-purpose flour). I add baking powder, so there is no need to use self raising flour. If you do decide to use self raising flour, you will need to reduce the baking powder to 1/2 tsp.
Baking Powder
Since we are not using sourdough starter to make the scones rise, you will need to add some baking powder. This can also be replace by bicarbonate of soda (baking soda).
Sugar
There is only a small amount of sugar required for this recipe, but don’t leave it out! It is totally necessary and will help to bring out all of the other flavours.
Lemon Rind
This is what will give the scones their deliciously subtle lemon flavour. A little goes a long way, so the rind of 1 lemon should be enough.
Butter
Butter is an essential ingredient for any scone recipe. To make it dairy free, you could use a dairy free butter alternative, as long as it hardens when cold. I find that soft margarine does not work as well.
Sourdough Discard
This is the central ingredient of the scone and will provide a lot of flavour. Sourdough discard is what is left during the process of feeding your sourdough starter. Since we only need to feed a small amount, we often have to discard the rest. Many of us keep that discard in the fridge as a back up plan, if anything goes wrong with our starter, or to use in discard recipes like this.
Sourdough starter contains wild yeast, which is what enables sourdough bread to rise. If you’re interested in making sourdough bread, I have a great recipe for beginners here.
Since the discard in this recipe is probably not active (has not been fed beforehand), we will not be relying on it to help the dough to rise. However, if you are using sourdough for health reasons, you may want to let the uncooked scones ferment in the fridge for a few hours before baking. This will allow the sourdough discard to start to ferment the gluten in the dough and make it more digestible. You may have to increase the cooking time, however, since the dough will be cold from the fridge.
How to Make Sourdough Discard Lemon Scones with Lemon Glaze
For the Scones:
Preheat the oven to 200°C with a baking tray in it.
Heat up the milk so that it is just warm. Add the squeeze of lemon to the milk and the vanilla.
In a bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, add all of the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, lemon rind) and the butter.
If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment and mix on low until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
If using a bowl, rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Pour in the milk mixture and incorporate to form a shaggy dough. It is important not to overmix the dough as it will become tough. The dough will be quite wet, this is normal.
Tip the dough out onto a well-floured, clean worksurface. Make sure the dough is well coated with flour so that it does not stick to your hands. Form the dough into a thick circle (around 2.5cm thick) and pat so that the surface is even.
Using a bench scraper or large knife, cut the dough into eight equal triangular parts.
Beat one egg and add a little water to make and egg wash.
Remove the hot baking tray from the oven and place the uncooked scones evenly on the tray. They should not be too close together as they will rise.
Brush the scones with the egg wash, using a pastry brush.
Bake in the oven for 18-20 mins until golden brown.
Leave to cool completely before glazing.
For the lemon glaze:
Place the icing sugar in a small bowl and add 1 tbsp lemon. Mix well until you have a smooth mixture. The icing should fall slowly off the spoon. If it is too thick, add a little more lemon juice (about 1tsp). Be very careful as it is easy to add too much and the glaze will be too runny.
Drizzle the glaze over the scones and garnish with a bit more grated lemon rind if you wish.
Serve as they are with a nice cup of tea, or you can serve them with butter or even with lemon curd and clotted cream!
Tips for Making Perfect Sourdough Discard Lemon Scones
- Make sure the baking tray is hot. This will help your scones to have a kick start and rise really well.
- Make sure the butter is well incorporated into the flour. There should be no large lumps of butter, but the dry ingredient and butter mixture should resemble small breadcrumbs.
- Don’t over mix the dough. This will result in a tough scone. It is normal if the dough is shaggy and doesn’t look well mixed. A few seconds in the stand mixer is all it takes to mix in the milk.
- Use a lot of flour when shaping the dough to prevent it sticking to the surface or your hands.
- If you are using sourdough to reduce the gluten in the dough, you may want to use einkorn or another type of low gluten flour to dust your worksurface.
How to serve Sourdough Discard Lemon Scones with Lemon Glaze
I love to serve these scones just as they are with a nice cup of tea, but you can serve them with butter or even with lemon curd !
Storing Sourdough Discard Lemon Scones
Scones are generally best eaten the same day. However, if you don’t manage to eat them all, you can keep them in an airtight container (I like to use a biscuit tin) for several days. You can refresh them by popping them in the oven at 180°C for 5 mins, although this will make the glaze runny.
Scones are also great to freeze but I would suggest that you freeze them before they are glazed.
To defrost them, just pop them in the oven at 180°C for about 10 mins.
What if I Don’t have any Sourdough Discard?
I have been making scones for years without sourdough discard, and, while I really enjoy this recipe for its extra flavour and health benefits, my favourite classic scone recipe is by Jane Hornby. If you follow her recipe and add the lemon rind with the flour and use the lemon glaze as described above, you will end up with an amazing scone. Click here for her recipe.
So, are you ready to give this different take on a British classic a go? Let me know if you do and if you enjoyed it in the comments below, I love to hear from you 🙂
Looking for more sourdough recipes? Click here.
Looking for gluten and dairy free cakes? I have you covered here.
Sourdough Discard Lemon Scone Recipe
Ingredients
For the Scones
- 300 g plain flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp sugar
- rind of 1 lemon grated
- 85 g butter
- 100 g sourdough discard
- 100 ml milk
- squeeze of lemon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg to glaze
For the Lemon Glaze
- 75 g icing sugar powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp + 1tsp fresh lemon juice about 1/2 lemon
Instructions
For the Scones
- Preheat the oven to 200°C with a baking tray in it.
- Heat up the milk so that it is just warm. Add the squeeze of lemon to the milk and the vanilla.
- In a bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, add all of the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, lemon rind) and the butter. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment and mix on low until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. If using a bowl, rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs.
- Pour in the milk mixture and incorporate to form a shaggy dough. It is important not to overmix the dough as it will become tough. The dough will be quite wet, this is normal.
- Tip the dough out onto a well-floured, clean worksurface. Make sure the dough is well coated with flour so that it does not stick to your hands. Form the dough into a thick circle (around 2.5cm thick) and pat so that the surface is even.
- Using a bench scraper or large knife, cut the dough into eight equal triangular parts.
- Beat one egg and add a little water to make and egg wash.
- Remove the hot baking tray from the oven and place the uncooked scones evenly on the tray. They should not be too close together as they will rise.
- Brush the scones with the egg wash, using a pastry brush.
- Bake in the oven for 18-20 mins until golden brown.
- Leave to cool completely before glazing.
For the Lemon Glaze
- Place the icing sugar in a small bowl and add 1 tbsp lemon. Mix well until you have a smooth mixture. The icing should fall slowly off the spoon. If it is too thick, add a little more lemon juice (about 1tsp). Be very careful as it is easy to add too much and the glaze will be too runny.
- Drizzle the glaze over the scones and garnish with a bit more grated lemon rind if you wish.
- Serve the scones as they are with a nice cup of tea, or you can serve them with salted butter or even with lemon curd and clotted cream!
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