Sourdough Ham & Cheese Scones {For Discard Starter} (2024)

One of my favorite Saturday morning breakfasts, and by morning I mean anything after 9 am, is Sourdough Ham & Cheese Scones and a plate of scrambled eggs with a piping hot pot of Irish Breakfast Tea.

To be perfectly honest, that’s my second favorite Saturday breakfast.

Myfavorite favorite is Eggs Benedict and Mimosas. But that’s a totally different post…

One particularly wet and dreary winter morning I was feeding my sourdough starter and decided that I really needed more sourdough discard recipes.

I already had the Sourdough Waffles, Sourdough Biscuits, and Sourdough Blueberry Lemon Muffins, but as they say, variety is the spice of life.

So I began to play around in the kitchen like I do.

And thus was born these Sourdough Ham & Cheese Scones.

Sourdough Ham and Cheese Scones

• 2 cups unbleached flour
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/4 stick cold butter (10 Tbsp)
• 1/2 cup diced cheddar cheese
• 3/4 cup diced ham
• 3 Tbsp minced fresh chives (OR 1 Tbsp dried)
• 1/2 cup sourdough starter (unfed)
• 1/3 cup heavy cream (OR regular milk)
• melted garlic butter for topping (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Grab your favorite medium mixing bowl. Whisk together the flour, sea salt, baking soda, and baking powder.

Cut your cold butter into small pieces. Using a pastry blender or 2 forks, cut the butter into the flour mixture until you have crumbs about the size of a pea.

Now mix the ham, cheese, and chives into the flour & butter mixture until it’s all evenly distributed.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the sourdough starter and the heavy cream.

You want to mix it well here so that you don’t have to mix the dough a lot. Too much mixing will make the scones tough.

Now with a fork stir the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients just until moistened. The dough will be dry.

Press the dough into a ball.

Then turn it out onto a VERY lightly floured cabinet. You need just enough so that it doesn’t stick.

Pat out the dough until it’s about 1/2″ thick.

Grab your favorite biscuit cutter. I love these round fluted ones.

Dip your biscuit cutter in flour and cut out as many scones as you can. Lightly rework the dough and pat it out again and cut out some more until you have used all the dough.

Reworking the dough more than twice will cause the scones to be tough.

Put the scones onto a baking stone or a greased or parchment lined baking sheet.

I love using a baking stone with all my baked goodies from breads to these scones. It makes the bottoms crispy and ensures that everything cooks evenly.

I recommend this rectangle baking stone for scones and biscuits.

If your kitchen is warm, you can put the scones into the fridge for 30 minutes. But don’t ever put your baking stone in the fridge.

Put 2 Tbsp of butter into a tiny saucepan. Let it melt and add about 1/8 tsp garlic salt and mix it up with a pastry brush.

I like to melt my butter in my cast iron sauce pan while the oven is preheating.

Now brush the top of the scones with the melted garlic butter, then put them in the preheated oven and bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until these luscious sourdough ham and cheese scones are golden brown.

Let cool slightly on a wire rack.

This recipe makes 8 to 12 scones based on the size of the biscuit cutter you use.

Serve warm.

These are great to go with fried or scrambled eggs, or even on their own with your favorite hot beverage.

Here’s more amazing sourdough goodies you should make: