Maple Sourdough Discard Scones

These maple sourdough discard scones topped with maple icing, are soft and delicious. Perfect to pair with morning coffee or afternoon tea.

Why Sourdough?

Digestibility + Probiotics

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.

Maple Sourdough Discard Scones Recipe

Makes 8 large scones or 16 petite scones

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons (40g) of maple (or granulated) sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/3 cup (75g) 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

Icing

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

Directions

First, you want to start by putting your baking pans in the freezer. This is important to keep the butter cold and your scone shape intact when baking.

Then, to a large bowl add in flour, salt and baking powder.

Next, using a cheese grater, grate in 6 tablespoons of frozen butter. Mix until the butter is covered in the dry ingredients. Place bowl in the refrigerator or freezer between steps to keep butter cold.

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.

Next, roughly pat the shaggy dough into 2 discs for petite scones. Each disc should weigh around 341g. You can also eyeball this step so the discs are close to equal. If you want larger scones, pat dough into one disc about 1 inch thick.

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

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

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 or 16 miniature (or petite) scones.

Then, place triangles 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.

Remove pan from the freezer and place into the 375 degree oven for 15 minutes. The scones will be ever so slightly 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.

Icing

The final (and most delicious) step for these maple 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.

Add the icing to your scones and allow the icing to set.

These scones will be good on the counter for up to 5 days! Place in the fridge for a longer shelf life.

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

Enjoy!

Have you made scones before? My friend over at Tana’s Table gave me the tip to use a cheese grater for grating the frozen butter. It really makes a big difference and I can never go back to the way I chopped up butter before! Had you heard of this tip?

For more sourdough recipes, you may enjoy:

• Sourdough Discard Lemon Berry Muffins
• Brown Butter Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love having easy baked goods on hand for an afternoon tea time or a treat for having guests over. These maple sourdough discard scones are simple to throw together in a pinch and delicious with a cup of coffee. I made another version with bacon and sent them with my husband to his men’s bible study. They loved them! Me and the kiddos really enjoyed the mini maple scones best 😉

Did you make these? Have another favorite flavor of scone you would like to see here? Let me know in the comments below!