How to Make Pie Crust with Sourdough Discard
Learn How to Make Pie Crust with Sourdough Discard with this easy recipe. This all butter pie crust uses sourdough discard for a delicious depth of flavor compared to your traditional pie crust.
If you love making pie as much as I do, be sure to check out some of my other favorite recipes like Honey Pecan Pie, Vanilla Bean Apple Pie, Rustic Sourdough Peach Galette, Blueberry Slab Pie Without Eggs, Peach Crumble Pie, or Orange Blossom Honey Apple Pie.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: How to Make Pie Crust with Sourdough Discard
- Ready In: 15 minutes
- Makes: 1 double pie crust or 2 bottom only (or galettes) or 5 mini pies
- Main Ingredients: butter, all purpose flour, sourdough discard
- Flavor Profile: buttery, tangy
- Dietary Info: eggless, no seed oils
- Difficulty: Easy!
- Why You’ll Love It: reduce waste and use sourdough discard for pie crust
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Uses Sourdough Discard: You will love this easy all butter pie crust made with sourdough discard. I love using sourdough discard in recipes because not only does it eliminate waste, but it also brings a slightly tangy, delicious depth of flavor to baked goods!
- Easy AF: Learn how to make pie crust with sourdough discard with this easy recipe! If you're looking for a regular pie crust (no sourdough discard) check out How to Make Pie Crust in a Mixer.
- Sourdough Flavor: Making pie crust with sourdough discard is just like making traditional pie crust. The only difference is adding the sourdough discard. The best way to do this is to dissolve the discard in water, then add the mixture into the flour just like you’d add water to pie crust. It’s that easy!
Learn how to make sourdough discard pie crust with this simple recipe. If you love reducing waste and using up your sourdough discard, this will be your new favorite pie dough recipe! You can use this sourdough discard pie crust for any pie or galette recipe.
I love making homemade pie at home because I can choose my favorite ingredients to indulge in. This easy sourdough pie crust recipe can be used for everything from classic Sourdough Apple Pie to Caramel Apple Pie, Eggless Strawberry Honey Galette, or even savory pies like Hearty Meat Pie With Chuck Roast.
Ingredients
You only need a handful of ingredients to make organic pie crust at home. This sourdough discard pie crust uses traditional pie ingredients butter, flour, sugar, and water, but with the addition of sourdough discard.
- Butter: Use your favorite high quality butter, I love Sierra Nevada for pie. Read more about my butter testing for pie crust in Best Salted Butter for Baking.
- All Purpose Flour: My favorite is Cairnspring Mills.
- Cane Sugar: I use a little bit of organic cane sugar for sweetener if I'm making fruit pies or galettes. If you're doing a savory crust, you can leave out the sugar.
- Sourdough Discard: You can use your sourdough discard straight from the fridge. Turn what would have been waste into delicious organic pie!
- Water: You'll need cold water, same as traditional pie crust. Cold water is what makes helps create a flaky pie crust.
*For a full list of ingredients and measurements, visit the recipe card below.
Baker's Tips for Sourdough Pie Crust
- Weigh ingredients, this will always give you a better result!
Make sure your butter is cold. This is key for a buttery and flaky crust. - The smaller you cut the butter cubes, the flakier the crust!
- You can leave pie crust in the fridge for up to 48 hours. If you don't make your pie in that time frame, be sure to store it in the freezer. You can store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Just thaw in the fridge for 24 hours before using.
How to Make Pie Crust with Sourdough Discard
- Measure your flour and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer. Or if you are not using a mixer, measure into a large bowl. Mix together to combine the flour and sugar.
- Add the cold water and sourdough discard into a separate bowl. Mix together using a spoon or fork. It helps to incorporate the sourdough discard into the water so you don’t end up with chunks!
- Cut the butter into small cubes. The smaller the cubes, the flakier your crust will be. Just like with traditional butter pie crust. I prefer to cut my butter sticks into at least 4 pieces, in half, and in half again. If I cut wrong and end up with a large piece, I’ll even cut it again! Then cut into cubes from there.
- Add the cold, cubed butter into the bowl with the flour. If you are using your stand mixer, mix on low with the paddle attachment until the mixture looks like wet sand. If using your hands, you can squish the butter and the flour together with your fingers to combine, until it looks like wet sand. You can also use a pastry cutter, if you have one.
- Once the mixture looks like wet sand, immediately add in all the water and sourdough discard mixture. If using your mixing, continue mixing on low just until it’s combined, do not over mix.
- If using your hands, squish the flour into the liquid and continue to do so until a stiff dough forms. Do not knead and do not over mix. As soon as the dough comes together, it’s done.
- Form the dough into the portions you need for your recipe. If making a traditional double crust (top and bottom), separate dough into disks that weigh about 200 grams and 300 grams. For 2 galettes, separate into 2 disks that weigh about 250 grams each. If making 5 mini galettes, separate dough into 5 portions that weigh about 100 grams each and form into disks.
- Wrap the pie dough in plastic wrap tightly and refrigerate for 24 hours. Then it's ready to roll out and use in any recipe you like.
Recipe FAQ's
Yes, if you only have unsalted butter and would like to use that, just add in a heaping ¼ teaspoon of salt into the flour and sugar step.
This Sourdough Pie Crust recipe will make one 9-inch pie double crust (top and bottom) by separating dough into disks that weigh about 200 grams and 300 grams. Or you can make 2 galettes, separate into 2 disks that weigh about 250 grams each. Or you can make 5 mini galettes, separate dough into 5 portions that weigh about 100 grams each and form into disks.
With pie crust, you always need to form your dough into the amounts you need before chilling. You want to work the dough as little as possible once it’s chilled to make sure it retains that buttery and flaky crust. So, you don’t want to be cutting up or adding pieces of dough to make up the portions you need, it’s not like cookie dough where you can easily do that! So, it must be done ahead of time before chilling.
No, you don’t need a mixer to make this Sourdough Discard Pie Crust! You can use a mixer, or you can also just use a bowl and your hands. I give directions for both ways in the recipe. While you can always make pie crust with your hands, making it in a mixer is so much faster and it’s how I prefer to do it.
This Sourdough Discard Pie Crust should be made 24 hours in advance of when you plan to use it, as it does need to chill in the fridge. If you aren’t going to use it right away, then freezing it is your best option – don’t leave it in the fridge. I have found pie crust to get weird if left in the fridge for more than 36 hours. If you don't plan to use within 24 to 48 hours, just freeze it. When removing pie crust from the freezer, just place it in the fridge to thaw for 24 hours before using.
Yes, just place the wrapped pie crust in the freezer, it will last for up to 3 months. To thaw, just place in the fridge for 24 hours and then it will be ready to roll out.
If you don’t have eggs, you can still achieve a golden brown pie crust with many other options! Or even if you have eggs and you don’t want to waste a whole egg on a pie. My favorite pie wash is a mix of water and honey (1 tablespoon water plus 1 tablespoon of honey). You’ll need to microwave for a few seconds to melt the honey so it can melt into the water, then just brush it on with a pastry brush. This achieves the most perfect golden brown pie crust ever; it is seriously my favorite! It does provide a slight honey flavor to the pie, so if you don’t want that, then opt for something else. You can also use heavy whipping cream, milk, or melted butter as options as well!
More Sourdough Discard Recipes
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How to Make Pie Crust with Sourdough Discard
Equipment
- Digital Food Scale
- Stand Mixer (optional)
Ingredients
- 255 grams all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cane sugar
- 43 grams sourdough discard
- ¼ cup cold water
- 170 grams salted butter (cold)
Instructions
- Measure your flour and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer. Or if you are not using a mixer, measure into a large bowl. Mix together to combine the flour and sugar.
- Add the cold water and sourdough discard into a separate bowl. Mix together using a spoon or fork.
- Cut the butter into small cubes. The smaller the cubes, the flakier your crust will be. Just like with traditional butter pie crust. I prefer to cut my butter sticks into at least 4 pieces, in half, and in half again. If I cut wrong and end up with a large piece, I’ll even cut it again! Then cut into cubes from there.
- Add the cold, cubed butter into the bowl with the flour. If you are using your stand mixer, mix on low with the paddle attachment until the mixture looks like wet sand. If using your hands, you can squish the butter and the flour together with your fingers to combine, until it looks like wet sand. You can also use a pastry cutter, if you have one.
- Once the mixture looks like wet sand, immediately add in all the water and sourdough discard mixture. If using your mixing, continue mixing on low just until it’s combined, do not over mix. If using your hands, squish the flour into the liquid and continue to do so until a stiff dough forms. Do not knead and do not over mix. As soon as the dough comes together, it’s done.
- Form the dough into the portions you need for your recipe. If making a traditional double crust (top and bottom), separate dough into disks that weigh about 200 grams and 300 grams. If making 2 galettes, separate into 2 disks that weigh about 250 grams each. If making 5 mini galettes, separate dough into 5 portions that weigh about 100 grams each and form into disks.
- Wrap the pie dough in plastic wrap tightly and refrigerate for 24 hours. Or, you can freeze it for up to 3 months.
Notes
- Weigh ingredients, this will always give you a better result!
- Make sure your butter is cold. This is key for a buttery and flaky crust.
- The smaller you cut the butter cubes, the flakier the crust!
- You can leave pie crust in the fridge for up to 48 hours. If you don't make your pie in that time frame, be sure to store it in the freezer. You can store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Just thaw in the fridge for 24 hours before using.
- High Altitude — Follow the recipe as noted.
Nutrition
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Love using sourdough discard to make pie crust!