Many people get upset about throwing their leftover sourdough starter away when they refresh it. It can be so useful for baking with if you prefer not to discard it.
This recipe uses your unrefreshed leaven to add flavour and texture to your scones. They are light, golden, have a slight crunch on the outside and the addition of the sourdough gives them a better keeping quality.
Unrefreshed sourdough is slightly acidic, so it reacts with the baking powder in the self raising flour and gives you lighter scones.
Makes 8
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Freeze: Yes
Ingredients:
- 225g organic self-raising flour
- 75g slightly salted butter, chilled, cut in small pieces
- 50g Fairtrade sugar
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 125ml buttermilk (but ordinary full fat milk is also fine)
- 100g of unrefreshed starter
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 3–4 tablespoon milk
- Extra flour, for dusting
- sugar, for sprinkling
- 1 egg, beaten with a tablespoon of milk for the glaze
- *Fresh Cultured Cream & strawberry or raspberry jam to serve
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/355F/Gas Mark 4.
2. Put the flour, butter, salt and sugar into a bowl. Mix well. Make a well in the centre. In a large jug whisk the sourdough starter and the buttermilk and lemon juice together then pour into the centre of your dry mix. Bring the mixture together to form a dough. If the dough seems a bit too dry, add a drop more milk slowly just a few drops at a time, if it is too sticky then add a dusting of flour to handle it more easily.
3. Turn out onto a floured work surface and use your hands to form a 2.5cm round. Cut out shapes from this, depending on your preference, and put them on a baking tray.
4. Glaze the scones with the beaten egg and bake for 18–20 minutes and sprinkle with sugar.
5. Cool on a wire rack. If you want to freeze these scones, do so as soon as they are cool.
Note: Scones are normally best enjoyed the same day, but these are just as lovely the next day. Keep wrapped in a linen cloth.
*Vanessa’s Cultured Cream recipe can be found on page 72 of ‘The Sourdough School Sweet Baking: Nourishing The Gut & The Mind’.