I fed my starters again, so I had a significant amount of discard to use. That was fine. Incorporated into my scone recipe, the discard gave my scones lightness, moisture, and extra flavor. The discard scones turned out puffy, slightly sweet, and I think better than the traditional biscuit-type scones. These discard scones are subtly flavored with cinnamon and orange zest as well as golden raisins and need no jam or extra butter to make them moist. They are perfect "as is" with a cup of tea or coffee. The scones also keep well and are great all week. Just pop one or two into the toaster to reheat for breakfast or a snack. Sure, you can use regular raisins, but the golden raisins are more subtle, softer, and a little different. The flavor of the golden raisins also complements the tang of the sourdough. If you'd like to substitute something else for the golden raisins, go for apricots. They're good, too.
Sourdough Golden Raisin Scones -- Makes 12-16
2 cups of white whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup of sugar, divided
2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1-2 teaspoons of grated orange zest
1/2 cup (1 stick) of cold butter, cut into small pieces
1- 1 1/4 cups of sourdough discard, stirred down
1/4-1/2 cup of milk, plus extra for brushing
1/2 cup of golden raisins
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or coat it with non-stick cooking spray. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, 1/4 cup of sugar, the baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and orange zest. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until you have a mixture of fine crumbs, pea-size crumbs, and a few larger than pea-size crumbs. Stir in the starter with a wooden spoon. It will be hard to incorporate at first, but keep working at it. Dribble in the milk a bit at a time until the dough just comes together. The dough shouldn't be too dry, but you don't want it super-sticky, either. The amount of milk you'll need will depend on the moisture-level of your discard (the more wet your discard, the less milk you'll need).
Turn the dough out onto a large piece of waxed paper or parchment paper sprinkled with couple of tablespoons of the remaining sugar. Pat the dough out into a rectangle about 1-inch thick. Sprinkle the top of the dough with another tablespoon or two of the sugar and, using the waxed paper or parchment, if necessary, fold the dough in half, over on itself. Sprinkle more sugar on the waxed paper or parchment and pat the dough back into a 1-inch thick rectangle. Sprinkle the top with sugar and cut the dough into 6-8 squares. Cut each square in half to form triangles. Place the triangles at least an inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. Brush the top of each triangle with a little milk and sprinkle on the remaining sugar. Bake the scones for 18-23 minutes or until set, golden on the bottom, and just beginning to color on top.
