Sourdough Scones

[Beth]

I finally found the recipe and got a few minutes to type it up, so with my apologies to those who have been waiting for this, here's another way to keep your sourdough starter going.

Sourdough Scones (from The Wooden Spoon Bread Book)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Sift into a large bowl

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1 T sugar

Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut into the flour

7 T butter (I have a note that I cut it to 1/3 c)

With a fork, stir into flour mixture

1-1/4 cups sourdough starter

Turn onto a floured surface and toss until no longer sticky. Divide into four parts. Pat each part into a round shape, 1/2 inch thick. Cut each round into 4 equal wedges. Place wedges on a lightly greased or nonstick baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Makes 16 scones.

I usually brush the tops of my scones with milk and sprinkle them with coarse ground sugar. I have made these with a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar.

[Mamasue]

Yay! Thanks Beth for another recipe to use my starter. I am adding to my "Beth's Sourdough collection" and will be making these real soon. :D

[Kate B]

OK, now I'm forced to get a starter going. I LOVE scones! Thanks for posting the recipe.

Anyone have an easy recipe for one (starter) that's also fairly easy to maintain? I'm worried about killing it.

Thanks!

Kate

[Beth]

Kate, I would suggest doing a search with Sourdough in the titles only. You will get a list, and I know several starter recipes have been posted. There are variations with yeast, yogurt, milk, potatoes, grapes, raisins, beer, hops, rye and more. You can start with any of them, but using bottled water or water that has been boiled and cooled to reduce the chlorine and other additives that might be in your water and suppress the yeast.

I know there is at least one starter on the Sourdough Starters thread starteed by Laura B and general instructions under sourdough notes. I think there is another thread with a copuple of other starters -- I think an old one even has the two I tried. I spent too much time typing the recipes I just posted and have to move on to other things. If you have trouble finding them, I can try to help you further later or someone else might be able to point you straight to them.

The scones are a traditional scone with a bit of a twang. They would probably be good with berries, dried or fresh, added to them.

[Kate B]

Thanks, Beth!

I'll do a search this afternoon and see what I find. I had a starter that I kept alive for a long time, but let it go maybe a year ago. I'm ready to start a new one!

The scones will be my first recipe I make with it.

Thanks again! I appreciate it.

Have a good day,

Kate

[yomomma]

Thanks for posting the sourdough scone recipe. Have you noticed a difference in the results if the starter is cold as opposed to being room temp and recently fed?

[Beth]

I haven't tried this recipe with it newly fed and room temp since I haven't made them for a while. This recipe relies on the butter cut into the flour for the flakiness of the scone, and I see the sourdough starter more as a substitute for the milk and egg. Being newly fed and rev'd up might give the dough a little more oomph when being baked and they might be a little lighter since the starter tends to be a little lighter when newly fed, active and bubbly, but I wouldn't expect it to be as pronounced in this recipe as in others. Let me know if you experiment with it and I'll do the same.

[Mamasue]

I made these scones today with newly feed, room temp starter and they are very good. The newly feed starter gave the scones the proper rise as baking powder would. I halved the recipe and added a handful of dried blueberries from Michigan. The dough was a little dry so I also added a few tablespoons of FF half and half to get the right consistency. The sprinkling of sugar on top gave the scones a "just right" sweetness. I think without the sprinkling you would have a biscuit more than a scone. Thanks again Beth. ;)

[badunnin]

Beth! I just made these this morning, and they are perfect! I was trying to find a scone recipe that was "neutral," no fruit or spice flavours involved, as I wanted them mainly as a carrier for my jams. ;) These fit the bill perfectly!

[Beth]

Great! I'm glad they worked for you. I need to get my starter out -- it went on a sabatical while the heat set in and I just didnt want to baks anything. I think it's time to rev it up again, and I will need to make something that doesn't rely on a lot of leavening fromteh starter. These would be good, and DH has been talking about taking in goodies to work some morening soon. Sounds like a plan!