Maple Bacon Sourdough Scones {Easy Discard Recipe}

Maple bacon sourdough scones topped with maple icing and bacon bits are flaky and delicious. The perfect flavor pair of savory and sweet.

*In a hurry? Pin this recipe for later!

 
 C
Maple bacon sourdough scones topped with maple icing and bacon bits are flaky and delicious. The perfect flavor pair of savory and sweet.c

‘

This post contains affiliate links. By using these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you on qualifying purchases. See full privacy policy here.

Equipment to Make Maple Bacon Sourdough Scones

• Large mixing bowl or stand mixer with a paddle attachment
• Kitchen scale
• Wooden spoon or Dough whisk
• Pastry blender or Food processor
• Measuring cups and measuring spoons
• Baking sheet
• Parchment paper
• Cheese grater
• Sifter or sieve 
• Bench scraper, sharp knife, or a biscuit cutter
• Pastry brush

Tips for Maple Bacon Sourdough Scones

For the best scones, keep everything cold

When making any of my scone recipes, I like to keep my butter and dough cold for nice flaky, buttery scones that do not fall apart when baking. 

Using room temperature butter will give you a scone dough that does not hold its structure very well.

For the best results, grate frozen butter into small pea-sized pieces into the dry ingredients.

Then stir well to coat the butter and create coarse crumbs in the dough. 

This method is a great way to get that bakery-like, tender, flaky texture that makes for the best sourdough scones.

If using a food processor

A food processor is a great option to keep the process of making scones quick and keep the dough rustic and shaggy. A food processor is also a great option if you do not own a pastry blender.

If using a food processor, instead of grating your butter, cut the frozen butter into small cubes and add over the dry flour mixture into the food processor. You can also use a cheese grater attachment here if you have one. 

Proceed with the recipe, incorporating the ingredients using small pulses as the dough forms. 

​The Best Homemade Bacon Bits

The best method I have found to cook up crispy bacon with little clean up is to bake it in the oven. 

To a rimmed prepared baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spread out your bacon in a single layer. 

Bake the bacon at 400 for 10-20 minutes until desired crispness. It’s easy to burn bacon, so keep an eye on it after 10 minutes to avoid burning. 

Remove the bacon from the oven and immediately transfer the slices to a paper towel lined plate or a wire rack with parchment paper underneath for easy clean up.

A delicious addition to this bacon is to slightly candy the bacon by sprinkling a little bit of brown sugar over the top of the raw bacon before baking. 

After the bacon is fully cooled, chop it finely to incorporate it into the recipe and top your scones. 

My favorite brand of bacon to crisp up is Hempler’s Uncured Zero Sugar Bacon.

Maple Bacon Sourdough Scones Recipe

Makes 8 large scones

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons (40g) of maple (or granulated) sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/3 cup (75g) cold sourdough discard (or active sourdough starter)
• 2 cups (300g) of unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons of frozen grated butter
• 1 teaspoon maple extract
• 1/2 cup (105g) heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 8 slices of low or no sugar bacon (cooked crispy and crumbled into small pieces) or 1 cup of bacon bits of choice (1/4 cup set aside for topping)

Maple Icing Ingredients

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon maple extract
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon heavy cream 
• 1 tablespoon of maple syrup

Baking Instructions

Step 1: Freeze the baking sheet and mixing bowl

First, you want to start by putting your baking pans and bowl in the freezer for at least 20-25 minutes.

It is important to keep the butter cold and keep your scone shape intact when baking. 

Step 2: Cook up the bacon

To a rimmed prepared baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spread out your bacon in a single layer. 

Bake the bacon at 400 for 10-20 minutes until desired crispness. It’s easy to burn bacon so keep an eye on it after 10 minutes to avoid burning. 

Remove the bacon from the oven and immediately transfer the slices to a paper towel lined plate or a wire rack with parchment paper underneath for easy clean up.

A delicious addition to this bacon is to slightly candy the bacon by sprinkling a little bit of brown sugar over the top of the raw bacon before baking. 

After the bacon is fully cooled, chop finely to incorporate into the recipe and top your scones. 

You will want the bacon bits fully cool before incorporating to the dough. Placing the bacon bits in the freezer for 10-15 minutes can help the bacon cool faster. 

Step 3: Mix dry ingredients

Then, in a large bowl, add flour, 1/2 tsp salt, and baking powder.

Step 4: Grate frozen butter

Next, using a cheese grater, grate in 6 tablespoons of frozen cold butter. The very cold butter should be about the size of peas. 

Combine flour and small pieces of butter.

Mix (or pulse in the food processor) until the butter is covered in the dry ingredients. 

Step 5: Add in bacon bits

Add the bacon bits to the flour and butter mixture.

Place bowl of flour mixture in the freezer between steps to keep butter cold.

Step 6: Mix the wet ingredients

In a separate bowl add in the egg, sugar, sourdough discard (or active starter), maple extract, vanilla extract and heavy cream. Whisk until well incorporated. 

Then, remove the bowl of flour from the freezer and add in the wet ingredients. Stir until well incorporated being careful to not over work the dough. The dough should look shaggy, yet have no dry parts remaining.

Step 7: Shaping the disc

Next, roughly pat the scone dough into a disc about 1 inch thick.

Wrap the disc in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 15 minutes. 

Step 8: Preheat the oven

While the scones are in the freezer, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Step 9: Cut the scones

After 15 minutes in the freezer, remove the discs from the freezer and cut each into 8 equal triangles. I like to use a bench scraper but a sharp knife will work as well. This will result in 8 regular sized scones.

Step 10: Last freeze

Then, place scones on a parchment lined baking sheet. Place the entire sheet into the freezer for 15 more minutes. This will allow the pan to stay cold. If you skip this step, it could result in the butter melting too much too soon in the oven.

Step 11: Bake

Remove pan from the freezer, brush the tops with a light layer of heavy whipping cream, and place into the 375 degree oven for 15 minutes. The scones will be ever so slightly golden brown around the edges. 

After taking the pan out of the oven, allow the scones to cool on the pan for 10 minutes. Then, move them to a cooling rack to cool completely before icing.

Maple Icing

The final (and most delicious) step for these maple bacon sourdough discard scones is adding the icing. 

To a small bowl, sift in the powdered sugar. 

One at a time, add in the maple and vanilla extracts. Whisking well between additions. 

Next add in the maple syrup. Whisk until no dry bits of powdered sugar remain. 

Finally, add in the heavy cream to your desired consistency. I like using just a teaspoon for the thicker icing to rest on top of the scone. If you like more of a thin drizzle, add in an additional 1/8th of a teaspoon of heavy cream at a time until you have reached your desired consistency. 

Step 12: Ice + Top

Add the icing to your scones, sprinkle with the remaining bacon bits, and allow the icing to set. If you wait too long to add the bacon bits, they may not stay on top of the scones well. It’s best to add them immediately to set with the icing. 

Storing Leftover Scones

These scones will be good on the counter in an airtight container for 3-5 days. Alternatively, place them in the fridge for up to a week. 

If you want to freeze these scones, they freeze well at the dough disc stage or after being baked. Just save the icing step for after removing the baked scones from the freezer or after baking the dough.

Baking scones from frozen

First, remove the frozen unbaked scones from the freezer.

Then, allow the dough to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes for easier cutting.

Next, cut scones to the desired shape and size and bake as directed.

Finally, add maple glaze to the cooled baked scones, top with bacon bits, and serve.

Baking a double batch and freezing these delicious scones is a great way to quickly bake up a treat to enjoy with afternoon tea or a cup of coffee. 

​Happy baking!

Maple Bacon Sourdough Scones FAQ

Why Sourdough?

Digestibility + Probiotics 

I am not a medical professional, and this is not medical advice. Please seek out professional advice for further health information.

Sourdough is a fermented food. This means that it includes beneficial live cultures and wild yeasts. These yeasts allow bread to rise as well as break down phytates in the wheat grain, making the flour more digestible and less inflammatory. 

Here is an excerpt from the book Real Food for Fertility by Lily Nichols RDN, CDE and Lisa Handrickson-Jack FAE, HRHP:

“In wheat, rye, and barley, the process of traditional sourdough fermentation reduces the level of the protein gluten as well as compounds called phytates, both of which can be irritating to the digestive tract and impair mineral absorption. Sourdough fermentation also changes the structure of starches and increases the levels of organic acids, which contributes to a lower glycemic index of the resulting bread (meaning that sourdough bread typically doesn’t spike your blood sugar as much as regular yeast bread).” pg. 82

• probiotics for gut health
• lower glycemic index
• improved digestibility of grains
• less inflammatory

By using the longer fermentation methods of sourdough baking, delicious baked goods and breads can be a little more digestible, good for gut health and have a lower glycemic index than other breads. 

Flavor 

Next to the delicious flavor, the nutritional benefits of sourdough make it a great grain option to be consuming above typical commercially produced breads.

How do I get started with sourdough?

Making your own sourdough starter

If you are new to sourdough or are wanting to get started, I created this simple step-by-step guide to help you! You can check out my simple sourdough starter recipe here.

In the process of getting a sourdough starter established, you end up with some extra starter called sourdough discard.

You may also end up with extra starter when feeding your established sourdough starter.

Sourdough discard recipes are the best way to use up the extra. 

For more sourdough discard scone recipes, you may enjoy:

• Maple Sourdough Scones
• Blueberry Sourdough Scones
• Chocolate Chip Sourdough Scones

active sourdough starter vs. sourdough discard

Active Starter

When a sourdough starter has been fed and reaches its peak bubbliness and fermentation, this state is considered “active starter”. This is the perfect state of sourdough starter when making an artisan sourdough bread loaf or a recipe where you want a nice rise in your bread.

The primary leavening agent in sourdough scones is the baking powder which means we don’t need to worry about how active the sourdough starter is. Using sourdough starter in it’s active or discard state will give you the benefits of digestibility and flavor we are looking for.

Sourdough Discard

From this point of peak rise of the sourdough starter, it starts to become less bubbly and die down a bit leaving sourdough discard. 

​Why cold butter?

The frozen butter cut into the flour mixture allows the butter to remain in a solid state and not melt into the scone dough too easily. Cold butter grated into the flour using a pastry cutter or box grater, creates the flaky layers, and tender consistency for the best scones. 

​Unsalted Butter vs. Salted Butter

I prefer to use salted butter in my baking but if you prefer unsalted butter, you may want to add a 1/4 teaspoon more of sea salt to the recipe. 

Why brush the tops with heavy whipping cream before baking?

Brushing the top of the scones lightly with heavy whipping cream creates a nice golden brown top as well as tender scones tasting fresh from the bakery. The heavy whipping cream will help the tops to not become dried out and create the delicious sourdough scones we want. 

Did you make these? Do you have another favorite flavor of scone you would like to see here?

Let me know in the comments below!