If you love lemon then these Triple Lemon Sourdough Scones are the scones for you! A lemon scone topped with a buttery lemon streusel and drizzled with a lemon glaze - yes, please! And all of that lemon is perfectly complemented by the slight tanginess of sourdough starter. This recipe can be made with active sourdough starter or unfed sourdough discard straight from the fridge. And they can be baked same day or they can be frozen to bake later.
I created these lovely scones for my sweet husband's birthday. They are a variation of my Sourdough Discard Scones. He requested lemon scones for his birthday this year and of course I had to sourdough them. And of course I had to take them over the top and give them the triple lemon treatment. Only the best for the sweetest man in the world. As soon as he tasted them he said, "you have to put these on your blog." So here we are - I was happy to oblige. If you really want to take these over the top, serve them with my Homemade Lemon Curd.
If you are new to sourdough, be sure to check out my Easy How to Make a Sourdough Starter Guide for Beginners. And grab my 10 Best Sourdough & Sourdough Discard Recipes Ebook for a handy reference as you're starting out on your sourdough journey!
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Step-by-Step Instructions
Make the Lemon Streusel
Add sugars and lemon zest to a bowl
Rub the lemon zest into the sugar with your fingertips until the mixture becomes very fragrant.
Add flour, salt, and butter
Rub butter into other ingredients
Once you have a crumbly mixture, place in the refrigerator.
Make the Sourdough Lemon Scones
Mix wet ingredients and set aside
Add sugar to a large bowl and rub the lemon zest into the sugar with fingertips.
Add remaining dry ingredients, mix, then add cold butter
Press butter between finger tips
Create flat petals of butter throughout the dry mixture
Pour wet mixture into dry and stir gently
Mix until you have a slightly moist, shaggy dough. It is ok if you have a little bit of dry flour left. If you have a lot add a tablespoon more of cream at a time as needed.
Dump dough onto work surface and press into a rough rectangle.
Fold right third of dough into the middle.
Fold left third of dough into the middle.
Turn dough a quarter turn and fold it in half over itself to form a rough, thick square.
Shape dough into a ball
Pat or roll the dough out into an 8-inch flat circle. Freeze for 30-60 minutes.
After freezing, cut dough into 8 wedges.
Admire those layers you worked so hard to build.
Brush with cream
Top with streusel
Bake, cool slightly, glaze
Make-Ahead and Storage
Scones are always best fresh, but they will keep covered at room temperature for 3 days. Rather than baking and freezing, I recommend freezing the dough and baking scones as needed. Here's how:
After freezing and slicing the scones, place them back in the freezer in a single layer until frozen solid. Transfer to freezer bags and bake from frozen within 3 months. Freeze the streusel in a separate bag and top the scones just before baking.
More Sourdough Discard Recipes
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
- Sourdough Discard Chocolate Muffins
- Sourdough Discard Blueberry Muffins
- Sourdough Hawaiian Rolls
- Sourdough Carrot Cake
Triple Lemon Sourdough Scones Recipe
If you love lemon then these Triple Lemon Sourdough Scones are the scones for you! A lemon scone topped with a buttery lemon streusel and drizzled with a lemon glaze - yes, please! And all of that lemon is perfectly complemented by the slight tanginess of sourdough starter. This recipe can be made with active sourdough starter or unfed sourdough discard straight from the fridge. And they can be baked same day or they can be frozen to bake later.
- Total Time: 1 hour plus chilling
- Yield: 8 large scones
Ingredients
Lemon Streusel
- ¼ cup or 55 grams brown sugar
- ¼ cup or 50 grams white granulated sugar
- zest from one lemon
- ½ cup or 70 grams all purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons or 56.5 grams butter
Scones
Wet Ingredients
- ½ cup or 140 grams sourdough starter, stirred down before measuring
- ⅓ cup or 76 grams heavy cream (plus a bit more for brushing)
- ¼ cup or 56 grams lemon juice (about 2 lemons - zest them before juicing)
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients
- ½ cup or 100 grams granulated sugar
- zest from 2 lemons
- 3 cups or 420 grams all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 12 tablespoons or 169.5 grams butter, very cold, cubed
Lemon Glaze
- 2 cups or 226 grams powdered sugar, sifted
- juice of one lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
- 1-2 tablespoons heavy cream, as needed to thin the glaze
Instructions
First make the streusel
- Combine sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl. Use your fingertips to rub the lemon zest into the sugar for about a minute.
- Add remaining streusel ingredients and rub the butter into the other ingredients until you have a crumbly texture with some larger crumbs.
- Place in the refrigerator while you prepare the scones.
Prepare the Scones:
- Mix all wet ingredients in a small bowl or glass measuring cup and set aside.
- In a large bowl add sugar and lemon zest. Rub the lemon zest into the sugar just as you did with the streusel. Next add remaining dry ingredients and stir to combine.
- Add butter to the dry mixture. Coat all butter pieces in flour mixture and begin pressing the butter between your fingers to form flat butter petals. Continue until all butter pieces have been flattened.
- Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir gently with a fork until you have a moist, shaggy dough. It's fine if you have a small amount of dry ingredients remaining, but if you have a lot, add a tablespoon more of cream as needed to moisten. You do not want a wet dough - just a lightly moistened dough.
- See photos for reference while shaping: Dump dough onto lightly floured surface and press into a rectangular shape. As if you were making an envelope, fold the right third of the rectangle over onto the middle of the dough. Fold the left third over onto the middle as well. Rotate the dough ¼ turn and fold it again so you have a thick square of dough. Now, shape this square into a ball and flatten it into an 8-inch round disk.
- Place the dough into the freezer for 30-60 minutes before cutting into scones.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F during last 10 minutes of freezing time.
- Remove dough from freezer and cut into 8 wedges. Space the wedges out onto a large baking sheet.
- Brush with cream and top with a generous amount of streusel.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes in preheated oven. Tent with foil after 15 minutes to prevent the streusel from browning too much.
- Make the glaze while the scones bake by combining all glaze ingredients in a bowl and whisking to form a smooth glaze. Add more cream as needed to thin or add a touch more powdered sugar to thicken.
- When scones have cooled slightly, drizzle with lemon glaze and enjoy.
Notes
To make ahead: After freezing and slicing the scones in step 8, place them back in the freezer in a single layer until frozen solid. Transfer to freezer bags and bake from frozen within 3 months. Freeze the streusel in a separate bag and top the scones just before baking. The glaze is best made fresh.
I almost always use salted butter, but feel free to use unsalted or salted - whichever you have and prefer.
If you want to use active starter and get some fermentation, you can leave the dough disk out at room temperature for 2 hours and then refrigerate for up to 3 days before freezing and proceeding with the recipe. Make sure it is wrapped tightly to prevent drying.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes plus chilling
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: sourdough discard recipes, sourdough scones
- Method: baking, sourdough
- Cuisine: American
Michael Jason Soule says
These are by far the best tasting scones I have ever eaten. They came out thick, moist, soft, and exploding with lemony flavored goodness. They are my most favorite scone now.
Thank you so much for posting this recipe, Anita! You are truly a creative and talented lady, my beautiful wife!