Summer marks the beginning of the berry season here in the Northwest. Strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackcaps and of course huckleberries begin their glorious arrival.
This recipe for Sourdough Scones with Lemony Glaze came about after I ended up with extra blackberries after a catering event, and wanted to use up the extra sourdough starter I had in my fridge.
Let me just say right away, the sourdough starter gives the scones an earthy robust flavor that pairs beautifully with sweet and tangy berries.
A few days ago, on a camping trip in Idaho, we stumbled upon a patch of wild strawberries. In size, they were the smaller than a pea, yet surprisingly, bursting with so much strawberry flavor, it was hard to believe the flavor was real and not manufactured. It was as if all the strawberry flavor of a regular-sized strawberry was packed into their tiny little bodies, they were so intense and delicious!
For the tastiest berries, head to your local farmers market. There, produce is picked right before it is sold, given time to ripen on the vine. Much of the produce that finds its way to our grocery stores have been picked early for travel, ripening off the vine, producing a fruit or vegetable that often lacks flavor and vibrancy.
A little tip.
When making berry scones, an easy way to make them so you can actually see the berries after they are baked is to line a cake pan with plastic wrap or parchment. Place a layer of fresh berries on the bottom of the pan. (There are also berries in the scone dough as well).
Then gently press in your scone dough over the berries. Freeze for a couple of hours. Invert, then cut into wedges. This way, the berries are on the top of the scone. Cutting them into wedges when frozen makes it easy to get uniform pieces. If the dough is too hard to get the knife through, just let thaw for 15-20 minutes on the counter.
Let them mostly thaw on a parchment– lined baking sheet before baking.
A baking tip:
Whenever you follow a recipe calling for flour, make sure to mix the container of flour before measuring, fluffing it up. If flour sits for too long in the bag or canister, it will settle and get heavy and dense. Giving a quick mix with a wooden spoon will add air to it and will ensure that you don’t end up with too much flour in the recipe. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup.
The basic recipe is easy, just read it over once over before starting.
Make sure to use cold butter, and don’t leave out the lemon zest.
Don’t overwork the dough, which will release the gluten in the flour and cause the scones to be chewy.
Feel free to add seeds, nuts, or even cooked quinoa for some added protein.
Place wedges on a parchment-lined baking sheet, let thaw, and bake for 18-24 minutes.
Sourdough Scones with Blackberries & Lemony Glaze
An easy recipe for Sourdough Scones with Berries and Lemon Glaze using Sourdough Starter! Plus an easy tip to help keep your berries in tact! Vegan Adaptable!
- Prep Time: 170
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 2 hours 50 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: breads, scones,
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: pacific northwest
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
Scones:
- 2 cup Fresh or frozen blackberries (or raspberries or other berries)
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (see notes)
- zest from one lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup cold butter- sliced into 8 pieces ( or vegan butter)
——-
- 1 cup sourdough starter
- 1/3 cup milk or cream (or nut milk, plus more if necessary)
——-
1 beaten egg, for brushing, optional
Lemony Glaze:
- 1/4 C Fresh Lemon Juice
- 1 Cup powdered Sugar
- 1 T butter (optional)
Instructions
- Line an 8-inch cake pan with parchment and fill with 2 cups fresh berries. If your berries are very tender, freeze for 30-60 minutes beforehand, this way they will hold their shape ( and not smash) a little better.
- In a food processor, pulse flour, lemon zest, salt, baking powder, baking soda and sugar. Pulse in cold butter until mixture resembles coarse sand.
- In a small bowl mix milk and sourdough starter together. Add the starter mixture to the food processor and pulse until it just forms a ball (just a few times) adding a little more milk only if necessary. Dough should be heavy and thick. Don’t overwork it.
- Spread the dough over the berries and press down gently, into all the corners with your fingers. Place in the freezer for 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 400F. Remove dough from the freezer and invert on cutting board. Let sit a few minutes or longer until thawed enough to cut. Cut into 8 equal size pie shape wedges. Brush with beaten egg (optional). Place on parchment lined baking sheet, let thaw 20-30 minutes and bake for 25 minutes, or until golden brown.
- While baking, make the glaze. Stir sugar into lemon juice in a small pot on the stove until dissolved. Whisk in butter (optional). Set aside. Drizzle over warm scones.
Notes
If using frozen berries, no need to freeze the dough, just gently mix them in the dough. This will greatly reduce overall time.
If subbing other flours- just start with 1/2 cup. (For example 1/2 cup whole wheat mixed with 2 cups white.) You can tweak it from there, the next time. 🙂
Nutrition
- Calories: 325
Keywords: sourdough scones, blackberry scones, how to makes scones with starter, best blackberry scone recipe
Hi I followed recipe exactly for the scones but used raspberries! I found they expanded so so much in oven and was wondering what I could do differently next time! Maybe my sourdough starter was too active?
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I wonder! I’ll have to try this again!
The scones turned out fabulous! I followed the recipe except I used Huckleberries instead of the blackberries. (Just a 1 1/2 C. as a little goes a long way.) Another PNW favorite berry.
Mouth drooling deliciousness!
★★★★★
Huckleberries! LOVE IT!!!
I love these scones.
I always try a recipe the first time as close to as called for by the recipe as possible. I used frozen raspberries, put dough in freezer for about an hour before cutting and baking, and I made the glaze. I was pleased with the results.
I think the best part of this recipe is the dough base. I love the zest in it. Since first bake, I’ve made this with frozen mixed fruit, frozen raspberries, and frozen blueberries.
I do see what others talk about with having a tiny bit of a raw doughy texture under the berry after 20 minutes of cooking in the oven. I’ve bumped the time in the oven, I’ve also just taken them out and let them sit to cool and, honestly, they’re fine either way.
Were not huge sweets fans , so we don’t use the glaze.
A favorite variation is, instead of using fresh fruit on top, mix in dried cranberries. I eyeballed the amount, sorry. But I used orange flavored dried cranberries and baked for 18 minutes and they turned out amazing.
Thank you
This remains a favorite
★★★★★
Great to hear- thanks so much Margaret!
Thank you for the recipe. I did a strawberry scone with a strawberry lemon glaze on top. They were delicious.
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Sounds yummy!
Made these scones with mixed frozen berries and they turned out amazing! I never made scones before but will be from now on.
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Made these for mothers day and they were delicious! Used discard sourdough starter, and a mix of frozen raspberries and blueberries as that’s what I had on hand. Had to add a bit of extra milk to get the right texture, but definitely add it slowly, and I stopped when it was even still a bit crumbly (figured the sourdough in it would help it coalesce as it sat and it did). I froze it for closer to an hour and a half, and it was the perfect texture to cut right out of the freezer. Baked an extra five minutes after checking and they came out perfect. Will definitely be a repeat recipe, and will try veganizing it sometime in the future using mykonos butter and nut milk!
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Thanks Autumn!!!
Loved these!
★★★★★
Hi! loving your sourdough recipes. Currently working on my own sourdough starter using your post (things were going well, until they didn’t). I’m doing some troubleshooting now but, I have been using the discard (pancakes and biscuits).
I love this recipe. The scones look so lovely. Can you make this recipe with sourdough discard?
yes you can!
Great recipe. Needs longer bake time. I suggest 25 minutes. I substituted erythritol and monkfruit, latter added to milk, for sugar and skipped the glaze, just used powdered erythritol with fresh lemon zest. I used Costco frozen berry mix.
★★★★
Thanks so much- updated the recipe, appreciate this!
These collapsed into one giant scone while baking despite baking still frozen – not sure what I did wrong, but what a sad attempt at my first scone. I used the yogurt rather than sourdough starter. Any ideas what went wrong?
Hummmm- that is strange. So they didn’t puff up?
They puffed up a little but mostly grew sideways into one another in the oven. I had frozen them overnight, then waited about 30 mins before cutting. They still tasted absolutely amazing though, despite losing their shape. I’ll try them again – there’s always a chance I made a mistake. Thank you!
★★★★★
Hmmm.. this happened to me the first time I made them. Used yogurt instead of sourdough. I should have added the yogurt/milk slowly and kept the dough more stiff.
My second attempt with sourdough was more stiff–good tasting yet have to set the temperature slightly slower unless the scones are completely defrosted. The bottom of scones got too dark.
Delicious! Ours needed to bake longer (maybe b.c the sourdough starter and frozen berries made it wetter on top?) But amazing flavors and texture!
★★★★★
They need more baking time. I baked them for thirty minutes, then left the pan in the oven for another ten-twelve after it was turned off, and the top was raw dough.
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Do you feed your starter beforehand for this recipe or can I use my discard that I have been storing in the fridge without feeding it prior?
It is supposed to work with unfed discard.
Would it be okay to freeze this dough overnight? I found myself making these later in the day than I wanted and would love them warm in the morning 🙂
★★★★★
Yes!