Summer marks the beginning of berry season here in the Northwest. Strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, black caps and of course huckleberries begin their glorious arrival.
This recipe for Blackberry 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, you don’t need sourdough starter for this recipe — yogurt or sour cream can easily replace it — but if you have sourdough starter on hand, and want to use it for something other than bread, it gives the scones an earthy robust flavor which 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 it way to our grocery stores have been picked early for travel, ripening off the vine, producing a fruit or vegetable that often lacks in 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. 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 few 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.
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.
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 and bake for 16-20 minutes.
Blackberry Sourdough Scones with Lemony Glaze
An easy recipe for Blackberry Scones with Lemon Glaze using Sourdough Starter! Plus an easy tip to help keep your blackberries in tact!
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: breads, scones,
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: pacific northwest
Ingredients
Scones:
- 2 1/2 cups flour
2 C Fresh or frozen Blackberries
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
1 cup sourdough starter or sour cream or plain greek yogurt ( or soy yogurt)
1/3 C milk or cream (plus more if necessary)
lemon zest of one lemon
1 beaten egg, for brushing, optional
Glaze:
- 1/4 C Fresh Lemon Juice
1 Cup powdered Sugar
1 T butter (optional)
Instructions
Line a 8 inch cake pan with plastic wrap and fill with 2 Cups blackberries. If your berries are very tender, freeze before hand, this way they will hold their shape a little better.
In a food processor, pulse flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and sugar and lemon zest. Pulse in cold butter until mix resembles course sand. In a small bowl mix milk and sourdough starter ( or sour cream or yogurt) together. Add 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 over work.
Spread the dough over the blackberries and press down gently, into all the corners. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer over night, or for 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 400F. Remove from freezer, remove saran, invert on cutting board. Let sit 15-20 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, and bake for 18-20 minutes, until golden brown.
While baking, make 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
Details
Prep time: 15 minutes plus 4 hours freeze time
Cook time: 20 mins
Nutrition
- Calories: 325
Keywords: sourdough scones, blackberry scones, how to makes scones with starter, best blackberry scone recipe
These are amazing. Ive been making them every summer with our blackberries.
★★★★★
Hello Sylvia, this is such an intrigueing recipe and I especially like the look of the scones and the trick with inverting it and using sourdough starter. Great idea to have the quantities doubled or tripled. However I have found that all amounts are either doubled or tripled except the lemon juice for the glaze and the flour in the scone mix. They just stay at the same amount. There is maybe a bug. You have a wonderful looking blog and I will come back again to check out more.
There must be a bug. Thanks for letting me know – I appreciate it.
could I make these ahead and keep in freezer for baking at a later date?
Absolutely!
Best scone I’ve ever had! I’m not exaggerating. I used fresh milled hard white wheat for the flour and sourdough starter in mine. Crumbly, so flavorful, and moist. ♥️
Jenny, thanks so much, appreciate the comment!!!
So glad to have found your site. Unfortunately, the link for printing the berry scone recipe doesn’t seem to be working. Hope that it will soon.
Thanks for letting me know, I just fixed it!
Just made this tonight (with a few minor modifications due to time and not having all the electrical gadgets to use) and it was AMAZING! I didn’t have time to freeze it for the 4 hours (I am a very last minute baker!) so I used parchment paper in the base and put a layer of fresh picked blackberries and then I put the dough over and then I pushed in a layer of blackberries in the top. I put it in the freezer for about 30-40 minutes while I finished making the rest of dinner. I heated the oven to 380 (my oven is sunny with temperatures) and then backed the whole thing for about 45 minutes. It felt quite soft to the touch at the end of 50 minutes so I turned off the heat and left it sit in the oven for another 20 minutes. When I cut it I was sure it was going to be mushy inside…but it wasn’t! This was one of the fluffiest creations I have ever made in all my 56 years! My guests put on a little maple syrup (as you do in Canada) and raved! Thanks for the great recipe.
I forgot to say that I cooked it like a cake, I didn’t cut individual scones.
Glad it turned out and you enjoyed it!
Just looking at my horrible spelling from last night’s comment! I should always have my glasses on AND the LIGHTS so I can see what I am typing! 😉
Ha ha I can relate!
Was I supposed to put berries in the dough- I don’t see that step but your pictures look like there r berries inside
Omg…..just ate the finished product-Amazing!!!!
our scones rose in the oven. And are something like some commmercial/bakery scones I have had but not like crumbly scones at all. Nor are they hard. We have a sour dough starter that is based on King Arthur flour, we have had for several years from a relative. Used mainly for bread and pancakes The dough was a little sticky,more tacky, but not runny and could be worked in to the pan, but was not hard or crumbly.
When cut open they are light and a little spongy with small air pockets.
Though they are quite good, they are not like other scones we have made which look more like your photos. Have never used the sourdough starter in scones..
We live at 3500 feet. The dough was not in clumps as yours appeared in the pictures, and pushing the dough in the pan did not crush the blackberries.
If you were going to add oats, how much would you add and how much of the flour would you use?
Jen, that is a great question and I would be guessing at this point….so don’t want to lead you astray. If you do try it, please let me know what you did and how it turned out!
these are good
parchment needed
note the oatsuggestion
Great move bringing the bold taste of sourdough to a scone, and thanks for the clever little tip about the berries.
Love that you can use sourdough here!
LOVE that you can use sourdough here!
How long would the dough hold up in the freezer uncooked? I want to make the dough and bake it when I get back from my trip. I’ll be gone approx 2 weeks.
Sorry for the late response! I think it would be fine for two weeks. 🙂
You have a wonderful blog and beautiful pictures! Do you mind me asking what you used for the backdrop in these photos? Thanks 🙂
I used a wood tray. Im not sure which ones you mean?
Your food photos are amazing. You can share your mouth watering photos with us at foodienewz.com and your photos published on FoodieNewz without any editorial review.
this is such a special recipe, and I happen to have some rye flour at home!
Your recipes are wonderful. I would love for you to share them with us at foodieportal.com. Foodieportal.com is a new food sharing site, we’re no photography snobs, we’re just foodies and we actually try hard to promote your pictures. At foodieportal.com all your food pictures will get accepted so I really hope you come and join us.
These are stunning! Love this recipe!
These are simply gorgeous!