These Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Scones smell like heaven, and they taste even better! Perfectly delicious ANY time of year!
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These Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Scones smell like heaven, and they taste even better! Plus, while they’re baking, your house will smell warm and cozy and utterly spectacular!
I’m not usually a Pumpkin Spice Girl. I don’t rush out when the first leaf of Autumn hits the ground in search of Pumpkin Spice Pringles and the like. (Yes. They are a real thing.) Honestly, I can take it or leave it, beverage or otherwise. But give me something baked and flakey and all dolled up in a delicious glaze of warm, cozy spices, and I am all in.
POST UPDATED: April 5, 2020. This post was originally published October 15, 2013.
So What Exactly is a Scone, Anyway?
Scones are a moist, delicious marriage between biscuit and muffin. Scones can be sweet or savory, and they are most often eaten for breakfast or brunch.
Americans inherited scones from the English. English scones lean toward the biscuit side; cut round, with a denser texture, and maybe a little less sweet. American scones, on the other hand, tend more toward a muffiny texture; a little lighter and a bit sweeter. They are often baked in wedges, as are those in this recipe.
(We won’t even talk about Utah scones. Are they delicious? Yes!!! But “scones” might be pushing the definition.)
Tips for Making Perfect Sourdough Scones
- Use Sourdough Discard or Unfed Starter for this recipe. When using Discard for this recipe, it should must be from a healthy, vigorous Starter that is regularly fed. If using Unfed Starter, it should be healthy, vigorous starter that has not been fed for 12 hours or more. (DO NOT use neglected Starter that hasn’t been fed in weeks.)
- Use very cold (or frozen) butter. Cold butter is what yields those lovely, delicious layers in the dough.
- Grate or shred your butter instead of cutting it. This will allow you to work your butter into the dough easily and avoid overworking it when you add the wet ingredients.
- Do not play with the dough! Mix your scone dough just until it all comes together. It is just fine if the dough is lumpy.
- Refrigerate the dough for 15-20 minutes after you form the scones and before you bake them. This will keep them from spreading out all over the pan while they are baking.
Grating or shredding your butter (instead of cutting it) allows you to work it into the dough more easily and avoid overworking it when you add the wet ingredients.
This simple sourdough scone recipe is a perfect way to use up your sourdough discard. Sourdough adds a subtle, tangy flavor to your scones, and gives them amazing lift in the process.
Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Scones
Equipment
- Wooden Spoon
- Grater
Ingredients
Sourdough Scones
- 2 ½ cup flour
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup cold butter
- 1 cup Sourdough Starter [100% Hydration] Use Unfed Starter or Discard [See Notes]
- ½ cup canned pumpkin
- 1 tablespoon. molasses
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon fresh orange zest optional
- 2 tablespoons milk only as needed
Pumpkin Spiced Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon canned pumpkin
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 2 tablespoon milk
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
Sourdough Scone Dough
- Stir together flour, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
- Using a grater, shred the butter. Mix the shredded butter into the dry mixture using a fork, pastry blender, or your fingers. (OR, Cut the butter into ¼ cubes and blend together.)The mixture should look like very coarse crumbs.
- In a separate bowl, mix sourdough starter, pumpkin, molasses, orange zest, and vanilla.
- Stir wet mixture into dry mixture in the bowl. Once it is somewhat mixed in, turn the contents of the bowl out onto a clean board. The mix may seem a little dry at first. Knead it a few times before you decide to add milk.
- Gently knead the dough on the board, adding milk if necessary, just until it holds together in a soft ball. The dough should soft like a biscuit dough. Once you've kneaded it enough for it to pull together, Just form a ball and leave it alone. The less you work with it, the tenderer your scones will turn out. Allow the dough to rest for 5 minutes.
- Form a 9-inch wheel with the dough dough.
- Transfer the wheel of dough to the prepared baking sheet. With a long knife, cut the dough wheel into eight pieces, like a pizza. Separate pieces so that they are ½-inch away from one another.
- Brush the top of the wheel with milk.
- Put the scones on the baking sheet in the freezer.Set your oven to 400° F.
- When the oven is fully up to temperature, take the scones out of the freezer. Put the scones into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Remove from oven and cool on wire rack for 15 minutes.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine Pumpkin Spice Glaze ingredients. Mix until smooth.
- Drizzle the glaze over the scones.
Notes
- Discard should must be from a healthy, vigorous Starter that is regularly fed.
- Unfed Starter should be healthy, vigorous sourdough starter that has not been fed for 12 hours or more. (DO NOT use neglected Starter that hasn’t been fed in weeks.)
Nutrition
Cycle of a Healthy Sourdough Starter
Use Sourdough Discard or Unfed Starter for this recipe.
- Fed Starter – Fed Starter is active, healthy starter that has been fed within about 2 hours. By hour 2, it will be producing little bubbles on the surface.
- Active Starter – Starter is Active about 5 hours after feeding. By hour 5, you should be able to watch large bubbles actively rising through the Starter and making their way to surface.
- Ripe Starter – Starter is considered Ripe about 8 hours after feeding. The volume has doubled, and the top is just beginning to show signs of sagging under its own weight.
- Unfed Starter – Unfed Starter is healthy, vigorous Starter that has not been fed for 12 hours or more. By hour 12, it collapsed after Ripening, and is ready to be fed again or put in the fridge until next time. (Note that this is NOT neglected Starter that hasn’t been fed in days.)
- Discard – Sourdough discard is the portion of your sourdough starter that you get rid of when you do a feeding. It should be healthy and vigorous, with some small bubbling activity.
If you aren’t up to making bread, you can always use up extra Starter (i.e., Discard) by making pancakes, waffles, etc.
DID YOU KNOW?
National Pumpkin Spice Day happens every year on October 1st, unofficially ushering in what has become known as Pumpkin Spice Season, or the period of time that stretches from the moment the first leaf falls each autumn until crack of dawn on Black Friday.
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