Sweet Sourdough Scones

These sweet sourdough scones are my favorite kind of baking project: fast, flexible, and full of flavor. If your sourdough starter is active and ready, you're just 15 minutes away from buttery, tender scones that you can customize with whatever fruit, zest, or mix-ins you love most. Minimal effort, maximum reward.

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Yield 12

Author SALUD! Team

Prep time

15 Min

Cook time

15 Min

Total time

30 Min

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Sweet Sourdough Scones

I love me a sweet, tender scone, and what better way to use your sourdough discard?

Ingredients

• 1.5 c all purpose flour (about 180 g)
• 3 T sugar
• 1/2 t salt
• 2 T baking powder
• 5 T cold butter, cubed
• 200 g active sourdough starter
• 1/2 c heavy cream
• 1/2 c mix-ins

Instructions

1. ~4-6 hours before you want to bake - feed your starter!
2. Preheat your oven to 425 F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
3. Cut your butter into cubes a keep it in the fridge until you're ready to use it
4. In a small bowl, mix together the starter and heavy cream
5. In a medium bowl, mix together all dry ingredients. Then add in your butter. You'll want to coat each cube of butter in the dry mixture and smush each one between your fingers (I find this easier and less hassle than grating your butter).
6. Then add in your sourdough and heavy cream mixture, stirring with a dough whisk or fork until almost just combined. Pause to add in your mix-ins, then fold these in until your dough is just combined
7. Pour out onto a lightly flour surface, folding in the last bits of flour that were at the bottom of your bowl. Press the dough into a rectangle and cut into squares (or you can make more of a circle to get the more traditional triangle shapes). Place cut scones onto your lined baking sheet
8. You can brush the tops with 1 T of heavy cream and sprinkle with demerara sugar, but you don't have to
9. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Let cool on the pan once removed from the oven for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack until ready to store

Notes

For the depicted batch of scones, I used frozen blueberries and some orange zest for a nice, summer-y flavor!

Nutrition Facts

Calories

161

Fat

9 g

Sat. Fat

5 g

Carbs

19 g

Fiber

1 g

Net carbs

18 g

Sugar

3 g

Protein

2 g

Sodium

350 mg

Cholesterol

24 mg

The nutrition information is based on estimates and is not definitive.

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There’s something wildly satisfying about transforming your sourdough starter into something sweet, buttery, and bakery-worthy—especially when it only takes 15 minutes to throw together. These sweet sourdough scones are the lazy baker’s dream: minimal effort, ingredients you already have, and endlessly customizable. Whether you’re new to sourdough or looking for more ways to use your starter beyond bread, this is one recipe that needs to be on your radar.

The real beauty here is in the balance: the tangy edge from the starter paired with a rich, tender crumb that melts in your mouth. It’s not quite a biscuit, not quite a muffin—just a golden, flaky square (or triangle) of magic that you can tailor to your cravings. Think of it as the choose-your-own-adventure of the baking world. For this batch, I went with frozen blueberries and fresh orange zest because I love how the citrus lifts the flavor and keeps everything bright. But you can go wherever your flavor brain takes you. Cranberry orange, lemon poppy seed, apple cinnamon—truly, the world is your scone.

The process couldn’t be simpler. Once your sourdough starter is fed and bubbly, everything else happens fast. You’ll start by whisking together flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Here’s where the hack comes in: cold butter is key for that signature scone tenderness. And while many recipes call for grating the butter or using a food processor to cut it in, I skip both. (One is messy, and my food processor’s still recovering from pizza dough.) Instead, I cube my butter first, then toss the pieces in the dry ingredients to coat them. From there, I smush each cube between my fingers until I’ve got flat, flaky shards throughout. It’s a method I stole from Claire Saffitz and it’s genuinely life-changing. All the flake, none of the grating.

After the butter's worked in, you stir in your fed starter and heavy cream until a shaggy dough forms. Gently fold in your mix-ins of choice, then pat the dough into a rectangle or circle, cut into squares or wedges, and bake until golden brown and just crisp at the edges. They rise beautifully, with a tender inside and just enough chew to remind you this dough has depth. You can also freeze the unbaked wedges for later and pop them straight into the oven when you're ready—ideal for surprise guests, weekend cravings, or stress baking (my personal favorite).

These scones are cozy, flexible, and just indulgent enough to feel special without tipping into fussy. And because the sourdough starter does some of the heavy lifting, the flavor is next-level: a little tangy, a little sweet, and totally addictive. I keep a stash of these in my freezer at all times, and they’ve saved more breakfasts, brunches, and afternoon slumps than I can count.

There’s something extra satisfying about baking with sourdough in a way that feels lighthearted and low-stress. These scones are proof that you don’t need to babysit a boule of bread all weekend to get the sourdough magic. You just need a few pantry staples, a good buttery trick, and an excuse to turn on the oven.

Whatever mix-ins you choose, make them yours. These are scones that adapt to your mood, your cravings, and your schedule. They’re forgiving, flavorful, and fun to bake. Honestly, they’re just the kind of treat that makes a sourdough starter feel less like a responsibility and more like a gift.

So whether you're on a mission to use up some starter or simply craving a warm baked good that doesn’t take an entire day to make, these sweet sourdough scones are a win. Try them once, and you'll be dreaming up new flavor combos before the tray even cools.