Flaky, buttery, sourdough pie crust is hands-down our favorite. It makes the perfect foundation for your favorite pie.
The nights have started to cool down, which has me dreaming about fall. That puts me in a baking mood pretty quickly.
I don’t know about you, but fall is my favorite season. Not just for the weather, or the changing fall leaves, or even the pumpkin spice lattes (try this tea version, if coffee isn’t your thing).
Really, it’s the food. I’m here for it. The light summer foods can take a back seat to all the comfort foods of fall. Pumpkin, squash, and apples gracing the table is the best part, and it looks pretty, too.
Sourdough pie crust is the perfect backdrop to the real showstopper, which is the filling. Whether it be for apple pie, pumpkin pie, pear, peach, or even chicken pot pie, you’re going to find yourself choosing sourdough pie crust from now on.
The fermentation of the sourdough starter with the grains yields the delicious, signature, sourdough flavor, and then it’s paired with all butter to make the flakiest crust. Print out this recipe or write it down and keep it in your recipe holder.
It is so versatile and delicious.
Why you will love this recipe:
Fermented: Some recipes call for sourdough discard (in which case, you could just mix this up, chill, and bake), but fermented grains are healthier and easier to digest.
Flaky: This all-butter crust is super flaky. Since the dough is fermented, the extra rise increases the flaky, tender texture, making your pie crust especially memorable.
Sweet or savory: This versatile recipe can go sweet or savory. Use it to make your favorite fruit or pumpkin pie, or use it for shepherd’s pie or chicken pot pie. Think of it as the canvas for your painting. I’m feeling pretty artsy today, apparently, with all my creative comparisons.
Sourdough Pie Crust Tips:
- You want everything cold before baking. After the dough has mixed together and fermented, place it in the refrigerator or freezer to cool before rolling out and baking. This will also help the crust be nice and flaky.
- If you are new to sourdough and need a starter, make sure to check out how to make a sourdough starter. It is easier than one might think. You simply need a little time and patience.
- This recipe makes a double crust. If you are only making a pie with a single crust, just wrap one half in plastic wrap and place in the freezer until you need it. You’ll be glad you did!
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Tools you may need:
Grain mill (optional) – I buy all my grain in bulk and freshly mill it.
Food processor or pastry blender
Large bowl
How to Make Sourdough Pie Crust
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.
Work in the butter, being careful to not over mix. The easiest way is to use a food processor. You can also use a pastry blender or just a fork.
Add in the starter and stir until combined.
Divide the dough in two and shape each half into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.
Sprinkle a clean countertop with flour and roll out the dough until it is approximately 12″.
To roll out into a circle, I like to press my rolling pin down the middle of the dough ball. Roll it back and forth, and then turn the disc about a quarter turn, roll back and forth, continuing to do so until you get a circle. Add a touch more flour to the surface if the dough starts to stick.
Drape it over a 9″ pie plate.
Add pie filling.
Roll out the other half and drape it over the filling (I made an apple filling).
Trim the excess.
Optional: Crimp the edges and add a design to the middle for steam release. You can do this by making slits in the top or by using small cookie cutters to cut out a design before placing the second crust on top.
To make an apple pie:
Peel and slice 7 medium apples into a large bowl.
Sprinkle the apples with fresh lemon juice to prevent browning.
Combine 3 Tbsp flour (or 1/4 cup einkorn), 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup cane sugar, and 1 tsp cinnamon.
Mix it all together, stir in the apples, and pour into the pie crust.
Dot with 1 Tbsp butter in the center.
Add the top pie crust.
Whip one egg white and brush it on top.
Bake for 40 minutes at 375 degrees. The crust should be golden brown. If you find the edges are browning too fast and the filling not ready yet, cover the edges with tin foil.
Find More Sourdough Favorites:
- Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls With Cream Cheese Topping
- Long-Fermented Sourdough Biscuits
- Einkorn Sourdough Bread
- Peach Cobbler
- Easy Cinnamon Maple Sourdough Apple Pie
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you gave it 5 stars! Thank you!
Sourdough Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour, 280 grams
- 2 teaspoons sugar, 8 grams
- 1 teaspoon salt, 11 grams
- 1 cup cold butter, cubed (227 grams)
- 1 cup sourdough starter discard, 285 grams
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine flour with salt and sugar.
- Work in the butter, being careful to not over mix.
- Add in the starter and stir until combined.
- Divide the dough in two and shape each half into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.
- Sprinkle a clean countertop with flour and roll out the dough until it is approximately 12″.
- Drape it over a 9″ pie plate.
- Add pie filling.
- Roll out the other half and drape it over the filling
- Trim the excess.
- Optional: Crimp the edges and add design to the middle for steam release.
Notes
- You can use active sourdough starter or discard.
- You can cover with towel and allow to sit at room temperature to ferment for at least 8 hours or overnight, then refrigerate or freeze for a few hours before rolling out and baking. But I recommemnd just fermenting in the fridge for a few days to give a flakier crust.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I am making your sourdough starter now and I can’t wait to try all your lovely recipes. I am new to sourdough, but not to baking. For all those folks in the comments asking if they can sub out the butter for another fat, I have made excellent pie crusts with lard, with Crisco, and with a combination of half Crisco and half butter. I have also done all butter, but prefer the results from the options I listed. Not sure about coconut oil, but worth a try. My mother in law swore lard made the best crust and refused to use anything else. Lots of options out there. Bake a few pies and figure out what you like best! 🙂
Can you just skip the top layer and use this for a quiche?
So I combined this recipe with my mom’s Tenderflake recipe to use both lard and sourdough. This is what I ended up doing to get a nice dough:
4 cups flour
2 cups lard
2tsp salt
1 cup sourdough
1 egg, beaten
I tried just subbing in the lard a previous time and found the dough almost too delicate to work with. I think it needs the addition of an egg to help it bind together.
This crust was delectably flaky! I made cheddar broccoli bacon quiche. I blind baked the crusts at 375 for 15 mins then took the weights out, pricked the bottom and baked for another 7mins. Then baked the quiche as usual at 350 putting pie shield(foil) over the edges towards the end of baking to not over brown. Not only was the finished product amazing, the dough was so easy to make and easy to work with. I made it in my food processor and it came out perfect. I’m definitely saving this recipe for all my sourdough pie crust creations!
I wanted to post this in the comments as well as the reviews.
Quick question about the pie crust…What if I accidentally overmixed it before the fermenting process and it looks like whipped potatoes? lol. Is there any saving it? I got busy and forgot my mixer was going.
This pie crust recipe is delicious. Can you give some tips….I found it hard to roll out after removing from the refrigerator. It broke up into pieces. To help I let it rest and warm up until I could easily work with the dough. Is this what you do? Thank you.
I had the same challenge! Mine is in the oven now for a chicken pot pie. I hope it turns out well despite not being very aesthetically pleasing!!
Hey a lot of the best recipes turn out that way anyhow 🙂
Delicious. My first time making pie crust and it was flaky and crispy. Used half to make an Apple galette & froze the other half, hopefully it freezes well!
This pie crust amazed me! I didn’t have high hopes for it because the process of making it was so unlike any other pie crust recipe I’ve made before! Usually, you try to keep everything cold but this recipe requires fermentation overnight because of the sourdough. The next day when I went to use it it was popping away and so active! I even recorded a video because I thought it was so cool! After chilling it everything was like it was supposed to be for pie crust and it turned out so flaky and buttery and delicious! This has possibly become my go-to now that I can use my sourdough starter with it!
Great recipe. I have tried this numerous times already! its very flaky! thanks for sharing.
Is this really 1 and 1/4 cups of butter per 2 cups flour?? Just wanted to make sure before i make…that seems like a lot of butter for such a small amount of flour…sounds delicious…just want to double check..thanks