Strawberry Shortcake With Sourdough Biscuits

If you have a jar of sourdough discard sitting in your fridge this is the recipe to get it out for and use it up! These sourdough biscuits are buttery and light and get turned into a strawberry shortcake with fresh strawberries and homemade whipped cream.

Is there anything better than strawberry shortcake for dessert in the summer time? It’s one of those desserts that I always had a kid growing up. Hot summer nights = grilled dinner finished with a fresh strawberry shortcake.

But I’m elevating this dessert I had as a kid. Although the strawberries were fresh, the “shortcake” part was anything but. I hate to say I grew up on those spongy cakes from the store. Rarely was it actual homemade biscuits. And although cakes are fine, I love my strawberry shortcake dessert served on top of a buttery, fluffy biscuit.

Yes I’m team biscuit all the way when it comes to my strawberry shortcake. And I decided to take it one step further by making my strawberry shortcake biscuits with my jar of sourdough discard. Because why not? Discard is just two things. Flour and liquid. So why not replace some of the flour and liquid (in this case buttermilk) with my discard?

Lo and behold…delicious sourdough biscuits to serve with my strawberry shortcake just in time for all my summer grilling days.

Why You Will Love This Dessert

• Easy way to up your discard. If you’re making sourdough bread on the regular then you definitely have some discard laying around! Maybe even too much? Tell me I’m not alone on this. But this is an easy way to use it up.
• Quick To Make. As always biscuits are so quick to make.
• Easy One To Freeze. Let’s face it baking in the summertime isn’t always that much fun. So why not whip up a batch of these and freeze them to have on hand whenever you need a quick, easy dessert to present.

Are biscuits the same as scones?

Simple answer. No they aren’t. Now here’s the longer answer…

Scones, like my blueberry scones, have eggs. Biscuits do not have eggs. 

Ingredients Needed

Ingredients Notes

• Unsalted butter – I always recommend unsalted butter vs. salted butter so you can control the amount of salt and it’s fresher. But if you only have salted don’t let that stop you from making this dessert! Just reduce the salt.
• Buttermilk – A great biscuits calls for buttermilk to give it that tenderness. If you don’t have any, you can make a homemade buttermilk (won’t be quite the same but will do the trick in a pinch!)

Sourdough Discard

These are of course sourdough so we are using our discard from when we feed our starter. When I feed my starter fresh flour and water I remove half of the original starter and move it to a second jar. That jar is my “discard” and I keep this in my fridge for about a month. 

I keep a jar of discard in the fridge and when I have enough built up I use it in a discard recipe. So this means it’s not “active” and isn’t what is responsible for making our baked goods rise, but replacing some of the flour and liquids called for in our recipe. I usually keep a jar going for a month, then start it over again.

We will use baking powder and baking soda to help our biscuits rise instead. The sourdough discard may give the biscuits a hint of sourdough flavor. The amount of “sourdough” taste will depend on how sour your discard is to begin with.

How to make this dessert

Make the strawberry filling

1. Stem and quarter the strawberries.
2. Combine the strawberries and sugar in a bowl. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Make the biscuit dough

1. Combine dry ingredients. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.    
2. Cut in butter. Using your fingertips, two knives, or a pastry blender, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter is pea-sized.
3. Combine wet ingredients. In a small measuring cup or bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, vanilla, and discard. and
4. Add wet ingredients to dry. Stir in buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients to form a shaggy, wet dough.

BAKING 101: You want to make sure to use COLD ingredients (cold butter and buttermilk) to keep the butter as solid as long as possible. If you have time, pop your flour in the freezer for 30 minutes before starting! The butter will then melt once it’s in the oven, and the water in the butter turns to steam pushing apart your layers creating flaky biscuits.

Shape And Cut Biscuits

1. Knead the dough. The dough will be pretty wet and sticky at this point. Just scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Bring the dough together with your hands. Then you want to knead the dough by pressing the dough down and fold in thirds (like a book). Repeat this 3 times to create flaky layers.
2. Cut out the biscuits. After you have kneaded the dough together a few times then pat the dough into a 3/4-inch to 1-inch thick circle. Cut out the biscuits using a 2 ½ to 3 inch biscuit cutter.
3. Press scraps together and cut out remaining biscuits. Try to handle the dough as little as possible.
4. Bake the biscuits. Arrange biscuits onto either parchment lined cookie sheet, in a round baking dish or in a cast iron. Brush the tops with heavy cream and a sprinkle of turbinado sugar. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.

Make the whipped cream

1. Combine the heavy cream, vanilla, and powdered sugar together in a cold mixing bowl. I chill my bowl and beaters in the freezer for 10 minutes before starting.
2. With an electric mixer, whip cream, sugar and vanilla on low then increase to medium-high until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes. Make sure not to over-beat, cream will then become lumpy and curdled looking.

HEATHER’S BAKING TIP: As long as your cream hasn’t turned to butter, if it’s slightly overbeaten, just work in a few tablespoons of cream to smooth it back out.

More Biscuit Baking Tips

• Do not overwork the dough! Knead the dough a few times for perfectly flaky layers. But be sure to not knead the dough too much. If you keep playing with the dough then it will warm up the butter too much. 
• Do not twist your cutter. When you cut out the biscuits, press straight down and up. Don’t twist the cutters. Otherwise, the biscuits will come out lopsided.
• Flaky layers are key.  You want to create flaky layers with biscuits. I achieve this by flattening the dough (rolling pin or the palm of my hand) and then folding the dough in half. I repeat this about 3-4times. 
• Place the biscuits close together when baking. This creates fluffy pull apart biscuits as opposed to ones with crispy edges. 

Recipe FAQ’s

More Recipes To Try

• Buttermilk Biscuits
• Blueberry Biscuits
• Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits
• Sourdough Blueberry Muffins
• Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry shortcake with sourdough biscuits

The best strawberry shortcake dessert made with homemade sourdough biscuits made using discard.

4.93 from 14 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 servings

Calories: 443kcal

Author: Heather Perine

Ingredients

For the strawberry filling:

• ▢ 1 ½ pounds of strawberries stemmed and quartered
• ▢ 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar

For the shortcake biscuits:

• ▢ 2 1/2 cups (300 g) all purpose flour
• ▢ 5 teaspoons baking powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• ▢ ½ teaspoon table salt
• ▢ ½ cup (8 Tablespoons, 113 g) unsalted butter cold and cut into cubes
• ▢ ¾ cup (180 mL) cold buttermilk
• ▢ ½ cup + 2 Tablespoons (120 g) sourdough discard sourdough discard
• ▢ Coarse sugar for sprinkling on top

For the whipped cream:

• ▢ 1 cup 240 mL heavy cream cold
• ▢ 2 Tablespoons confectioners sugar (powdered)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

For the strawberry filling:

• Combine strawberries and sugar. In a large bowl, stir together the strawberries and sugar. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

For the biscuits:

• Preheat and prepare pan. Preheat your oven to 450°3F/230°C. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat, or you can bake these in a cast iron, or lightly greased round cake pan.
• Combine dry ingredients. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
• Cut in butter. Using your fingertips, two knives, or a pastry blender, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter is pea-sized. Stir in cold buttermilk and sourdough discard, and stir to combine.
• Knead the dough. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface And bring the dough together gently with your hands. Pat the dough down into about a 1/2-inch thickness and fold the dough in half (or thirds like a book). Repeat this process 3 more times.
• Cut out the biscuits. Pat the dough into a 3/4-inch to 1-inch thick circle. Cut out the biscuits using a 2 ½ to 3- inch biscuit cutter. Press the scraps together and cut out remaining biscuits. Try to handle the dough as little as possible. I usually get about 8 biscuits (I like mine on the thicker side.)
• Bake the biscuits. Arrange biscuits onto either parchment lined cookie sheet, in a round baking dish or in a cast iron. Place them close together edges touching for fluffy pull apart biscuits. For crispier edges space them apart from each other. Top with a sprinkle of turbinado sugar. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.

For the whipped cream:

• Chill beaters and bowl for 10 minutes before starting the recipe.
• With an electric mixer, whip cream, sugar and vanilla on low then increase to medium-high until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes. Make sure not to over-beat, cream will then become lumpy and curdled looking.
• Can be made up to 1 day ahead, just cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Assembling the shortcakes:

• Cut open one biscuit, across the middle. Spoon on strawberries. Top with whipped cream. Top with second half of the biscuit. Serve immediately.

Notes

• Making ahead: I would recommend up to 3 days ahead of time for the biscuits, or you can also freeze for up to 3 months (thaw first before serving). I would recommend 1 day ahead of time for the strawberry filling, and 1 day for the whipped cream (although I’ve had the whipped cream hold for longer, up to 3 days!)
• Freezing: You can freeze the biscuits in an airtight container for up to 3 months. I love putting them in a sealable plastic bag and squish as much air out as possible. They will thaw pretty quickly at room temperature. I also love warming them up in the microwave for about 15-30 seconds. Or freeze unbaked! I freeze them solid first on a baking sheet and transfer to a sealable bag. Bake frozen and add a few minutes of baking time.
• Pan: You can bake these shortcake biscuits on a cookie sheet, in a round or square baking pan, or in your cast iron as I did. If using a cast iron, you may want to grease it first with a little melted butter or vegetable oil (no need to preheat).
• Gluten free: You can use a 1:1 gluten free flour mix, but keep in mind your starter may not be gluten free depending on what flour you used to feed it. 
• Buttermilk: Cold buttermilk is key. If you don’t have any, make a homemade buttermilk version instead. 
• Cold ingredients: You want to use COLD ingredients to make sure the butter doesn’t get too warm and absorb into the dough. This will create flaky biscuits. If you have time, even pop the flour in your freezer for 30 minutes!

Nutrition

Calories: 443kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 74mg | Sodium: 255mg | Potassium: 481mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 839IU | Vitamin C: 50mg | Calcium: 177mg | Iron: 2mg

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