Best Sourdough Discard Pumpkin Scones – Easy Recipe

These sourdough discard pumpkin scones are the perfect blend of cozy fall flavors and sustainable baking. Made with leftover sourdough starter, these scones are moist, tender, and packed with the warm spices of pumpkin and cinnamon. Whether you’re looking for a delicious breakfast treat or a comforting snack to enjoy with a cup of coffee, this recipe will quickly become a favorite. Plus, it’s a great way to reduce waste by using your sourdough discard! Follow along for a step-by-step guide to making these easy and flavorful sourdough pumpkin scones.

Background & Inspiration

This month has been a flurry of house guests for us! Before a house guest arrives, I like to ask them “what’s your favorite baked good?” A creature of habit, I tend to have trouble thinking of new baking ideas, so it helps when I can make something special for our guests.

Our most recent guest is a lady that I volunteer with, and her favorite baked good is a scone. My experience with scones is narrow with the only one I’ve tried being the blueberry scone from Starbucks.

In honor of the fall season (or me trying to usher it in sooner), I decided to make sourdough discard pumpkin scones! These were easy to make, knocking them out in an afternoon. After baking, she tried one with the intention of only eating half and ended up eating a whole one with butter and jam.

This recipe produces the best scones with flaky layers. Pumpkin sourdough scones are a great make-ahead option for fall parties and potlucks. Customize these delicious scones with your favorite add-ins like chocolate chips or top it with a maple glaze! Need more sourdough pumpkin recipes? Try my sourdough pumpkin bread!

@renaissance_lana

♬ Monster Mash – Bobby “Boris” Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers

Tools

• Glass Mixing Bowls
• Baking Sheet
• Parchment Paper
• Bench Scraper

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

Butter: I buy my butter in bulk from Sam’s Club since I do a lot of baking. Salt is my kryptonite, so I use salted butter. Feel free to use unsalted butter! You can easily switch out the butter with coconut oil to make this recipe vegan (it does change the taste a bit)

Egg: I used pasture-raised eggs that were at room temperature. You can easily switch the eggs with 1/4 cup of applesauce per egg to make this recipe vegan!

Sourdough Starter Discard: I used a sourdough starter discard that was a few days old that I had stored in my refrigerator. You can use an active starter in place of discard. You will get a tangy flavor with discard than with active sourdough starter, which I prefer! A tangy sourdough starter will have been in the fridge for 3+ days.

Pumpkin Puree: I used the canned pumpkin from Walmart that’s used for pumpkin pie filling. 100% pumpkin, no extra ingredients/preservatives! As we get into the fall season and pumpkins are coming out, making a homemade pumpkin puree would be perfect here too (and you can keep the pumpkin seeds as a snack)!

Vanilla Extract: Vanilla is the perfect complement for extra flavor.

Heavy Cream: I used Straus Organic Heavy Whipping Cream from Sprouts. Its only ingredient is milk. Unfortunately, most heavy creams have polysorbate 80 and carrageenan. I prefer to stick to the most basic ingredients.

Dry Ingredients

All-Purpose Flour: I like to use King Arthur All-Purpose Flour for baking, but my homemade sourdough starter is made with whole wheat flour. You could switch out the AP flour for whole wheat for a grainer textured blondie. Bread flour can be substituted here as well.

Granulated Sugar: I used organic granulated cane sugar. If you’re interested in using maple syrup instead, replace the 1 cup of white sugar with 2/3 cup of maple syrup.

Baking Powder: I like to use baking powder that has no added aluminum (I’m not a fan of aluminum foil either)!

Salt: If you haven’t tried Redmond’s Real Salt, you’re missing out!

Pumpkin Spice: cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger to make your own pumpkin pie spice.

How to Make Sourdough Discard Pumpkin Scones

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, spices, and sugar. Using the large-hole side of a box grater, grate the cold butter into the flour mixture. Toss the grated butter with the flour, gently rubbing it in until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set the butter mixture aside.

In a separate large bowl, whisk together the sourdough discard, egg, pumpkin puree, vanilla extract, and heavy cream until smooth and well combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture and use a spatula to fold everything together until no dry streaks remain

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it gently until it just comes together. The dough will be slightly sticky, so add more flour as needed.

Pat the dough into a small rectangle. Transfer the dough to a floured plate, cover with plastic wrap, and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes.

After chilling, remove the dough from the freezer and fold it in thirds like a business letter, using a bench scraper to help as needed. Flip the dough over so the seam side is down. Roll it out into a 12×4-inch rectangle. Place the dough back on the floured plate, cover with plastic wrap, and freeze for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Once chilled, remove the dough from the freezer and use a bench scraper (or pastry cutter) to cut out 8 scones. You can create whatever shape you’d like (triangle, square, etc.)

Arrange the unbaked scones on a parchment-lined, prepared baking sheet and brush the tops with heavy cream. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the scones are golden brown on top and bottom. I tend to bake closer to the 25-minute mark because I live in high altitude. Remove from the oven and transfer the scones to a cooling rack.

I couldn’t wait and ate one right out of the oven! Remove from wire rack and store in an airtight container at room temperature for 5-7 days (if they last that long).