Flaky Sourdough Pie Crust Recipe | Sweet or Savory

A flaky, buttery, perfect sourdough pie crust that melts in your mouth. The added sourdough gives a tangy flavor to the crust that compliments and adds an old-world flare to any pie filling you pair it with. You can use it either for sweet or savory pies.

Sourdough Starter is a part of our daily routine in the kitchen. Alas, we get busy and we don’t get bread dough started when we thought we would. Sometimes we are left with a big jar of inactive starter.

Fear not! It just means we get to bake up something delicious, usually a breakfast dutch baby, or this Old-fashioned Sourdough Apple Cake. Homemade pie crust comes in handy for so many things!

A pie on top of a colorful tea towel.

Below, is the printable recipe card for this sourdough pie crust recipe.

If you scroll further, you will find the long-form version of this recipe and Frequently Asked Questions. Please comment with any further questions, I’m always here to help! Enjoy!

📖Printable Recipe

Sourdough pie crust pie on a tea towel.

Sourdough Pie Crust

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A flaky, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth sourdough pie crust. The tangy sourdough flavor compliments and adds old-world flare to any pie filling.
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Prep Time 2 hours 40 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Additional Time 1 hour
Total Time 4 hours 40 minutes
Servings 2 pie crusts
Calories 860

Equipment

  • 1 Box Grater or Food Processor
  • 1 Large bowl
  • 1 kitchen scale or measuring cups and spoons
  • 1 Ziploc bags or plastic wrap
  • 1 Rolling Pin
  • 1 9 inch pie plate
  • 1 scissors or pastry cutter

Ingredients 

  • 226 grams frozen butter (2 sticks)
  • 408 grams all-purpose flour
  • 5 grams salt
  • 15 grams maple sugar or regular sugar
  • 200 grams sourdough starter active or discard
  • 70 grams cold vodka or ice water (full shot glass)

Instructions

  • Grate 2 sticks of frozen butter into a large bowl. If using butter and lard, grate 1 1/2 sticks of butter and cut 8 tablespoons of lard into chunks.
  • Add 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp. salt, and 2 tbsp. maple sugar to the bowl. Mix lightly with your hands to distribute the butter and lard.
  • Stir in 1 cup of sourdough starter. Gradually add 70g cold vodka or ice water, just enough until the dough comes together. Form into two balls without overworking the dough.
  • Place each ball in a Ziploc bag, press into disks, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 4 days. Freeze if not using soon.
  • Before baking, let the dough sit on the counter for 15-30 minutes until slightly pliable.
  • Roll out one disk on a floured surface to a 12-inch circle. Place in a 9-inch pie plate, trim excess dough to 1/2 inch overhang.
  • For a single crust, tuck the overhang under and form a fluted or ridged edge. For a double crust, add the top layer later.
  • Preheat oven to 425℉. Freeze the pie shell while the oven heats.
  • Fill the pie, place on a baking sheet, and reduce oven to 375℉. Bake for 30 minutes to 1 hour, watching for the crust to brown and the filling to set.
  • If using a top crust, add it, trim and pinch edges, and freeze for 20 minutes before baking. Cover edges with foil if they brown too quickly.
  • Cool on a rack after baking.

Notes

If you are in the middle of preparing this pie crust, and you need to step away, put the bowl and other ingredients in the fridge. Working with cold ingredients is an important factor in making a successful pie crust. 
Tried this recipe?Mention @tinadoessourdough

Nutrition

Serving: 1pie crust | Calories: 860kcal | Carbohydrates: 182g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 0.3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Sodium: 975mg | Potassium: 239mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 7g | Calcium: 38mg | Iron: 10mg

Ingredients

Ingredients for sourdough pie crust on a wooden table with dinner table in the background.
  • Frozen Butter or Butter and Lard: Using frozen keeps the crust flaky. You can choose all butter for richness or mix in some lard for an extra flaky bite.
  • All-Purpose Flour: It’s the main ingredient for the crust, making it sturdy but still tender.
  • Salt: A bit of salt brings out the flavors in the crust.
  • Maple Sugar: This adds a slight sweetness to balance the tangy sourdough.
  • Sourdough Starter: Active sourdough starter and discard both work in this recipe. It gives the crust a delicious tangy flavor. Starter straight from the fridge is even better than a room temperature one!
  • Cold Vodka or Ice Water: Helps bind the dough without making it tough, making the crust super tender.
  • Simple, right? Mix these together for a tasty, tangy pie crust that’s perfect every time.

See recipe card above for quantities.

How to Make Sourdough Pie Crust

Before making this pie crust preemptively make sure the butter and lard are cold. And the vodka and/or water should be ice cold. Sourdough crust follows the same principle as any other pie crust.

Step 1. Grate Frozen Butter, Divide Lard

Using cold butter is a consequential step in preparing a pie crust. It creates the flakiness you desire. The box grater or the grating blade on a food processor is the best way to get an even distribution of butter throughout the pie dough.

Start by grating 2 sticks of frozen butter into a large bowl. If using a combination of butter and lard: grate only 1 1/2 sticks of butter and divide 8 tablespoons of lard into 4 chunks.

Step 2. Measure/Wiegh Dry Ingredients

Next, measure or weigh the flour, maple sugar, and salt into the bowl with the grated butter and lard.

Using clean hands, mix the dry ingredients into the grated fat, resulting in a mixture of flour with pea-sized amounts of butter and lard evenly distributed throughout the mixture.

Mixture for pie crust in a bowl.

Step 3. Measure/Weigh the Starter and Cold Vodka

You will have to press the dough into itself to get two even-sized dough balls. But, not overworking it! 

Dough shaped into discs in a zip lock bag.

Place each ball into quart-sized Ziploc bags or wrap it in the piece of plastic wrap. Let all the air escape from the bag before zipping closed. Then with the balls inside the bags, press the balls down into smooth round discs.

Place the Ziploc bags in the fridge for at least 2 hours and up to four days. I love sourdough recipes where I can do most of the prep work and make most of the mess one day,  pop it into the fridge, and magically pull it out on a different day to bake. I have other recipes that bode well for this method, like these Sourdough Ciabatta Rolls.  When you are ready to bake a pie, take the dough out of the fridge and place it on the counter for 15-30 minutes. If it is especially hot in your kitchen, in the summer months, for example, 10 minutes on the counter will do.

If you will not be using the dough right away place it in the freezer. Transfer to the fridge the night before you want to use it, and continue as normal.

Pie dough o a wooden table, waiting to be rolled out.

Step 4. Roll out the Dough

Woman in the kitchen rolling out dough on the wooden table.

On a lightly floured counter, take one pie dough disc, and begin rolling the dough out with a lightly floured rolling pin.

Dough rolled out on a wooden table.

Turning the dough in a circle to get an even 12-inch circumference of dough. Turning the dough:

  1. To Keep the circle of dough at an even thickness
  2. Continually shifting the dough helps to keep it from sticking to the counter.
Pie dough fitting into a dish.

Once you have rolled the dough into a 12-inch circle, roll the dough around your rolling pin, unrolling in the center of your 9-inch pie plate.

Pie dough in a dish of a table.

Step 5. Trim the edges

Once you have placed your pie dough on the pie plate, carefully press the dough around the edges of the bottom of the pie plate, and lightly press.

With scissors trim the edges of the pie plate so that 1/2 inch of dough hangs over the lip of the pie plate.

Sourdough pie dough in a dish.

Step 6. Creating an Edge

If you are making a single pie crust your next step will be to create an edge:

Tuck the 1/2-inch overhang under itself to create a thick edge that sits on top of the lip of the pie plate. Then you will finish the edge with either a fluted edge or a ridged edge.

Edge of a pie dough and a fork on the table.

Fluted Edge: Pinch the edges of your dough onto the lip of the pie plate using your two pointer fingers and thumbs, turning the plate and pinching all the way around to get a nicely even and pretty crust.

Ridged Edge: Use the tines of a fork and press them flat against the rim of the pie, all the way around.

Both edges have an aesthetic appeal, whichever you choose is a preference. Both methods ensure that the dough is of even thickness and will bake evenly and properly.

If you are making a double crust pie (as opposed to a single crust pie), also known as the lid, you don’t have to worry about pinching the edges yet, you can leave the edges raw until you place the top crust on.

Unbaked pie on a tea towel on the table.

Step 7. Preheat oven, freeze pie 

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place your pie plate in the freezer while the oven preheats. This is a great time to prepare your pie filling or get the second pie crust (or lid) prepared.

Next, take your pie crust out of the freezer and add filling. Place the pie plate on a shefet pan and get in the oven, immediately turning the oven down to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Depending on the pie filling you will bake between 30 minutes to 1 hour. Keep an eye that the filling has set and the crust on the edges is golden brown.

If you are using a top crust (lid), roll it out the same way you rolled out the first crust and place it on top. Trimming the edges and then pinching the same way you would with the first pie crust. Place it bake in the freezer for 20 minutes, before transferring it to the oven.

If the crust on the edges looks like it’s burning, gently place a sheet of foil over the top of the pie until the filling has set—about 1 hour.

Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack to cool slightly, depending on the filling.

Bon Appétite!

Tools You’ll Need

  • Box Grater or Food Processor
  • Large Bowl
  • Measuring Cups/Spoons or Kitchen Scale
  • Ziploc Bags
  • Rolling Pin
  • 9 Inch Pie Plate
  • Scissors or pastry cutter

FAQ

How do you keep pie crust edges from falling?

Your pie crust edges are falling or drooping because they are melting before having a chance to set (stay pretty) in the oven. You need to shock the crust before it has a chance to sag! You can achieve this by:
1. Freeze your prepared pie crust before placing it in the oven
2. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and then turn it down once you add the pie

How do I keep pie crust from sticking to the counter?

To keep your pie crust from sticking to the counter, lightly flour your work surface and the rolling pin. Rotate the pie dough after every roll, and every four rolls flip it over.

Can I freeze this sourdough pie dough?

Yes, if you will not be using it within the first 4 days of making it, I highly suggest freezing the pie dough in a disc shape, in a freezer Ziploc bag. When you’re ready to use it, transfer the frozen pie dough disc to the fridge 24 hours before you want to make a pie.
What causes a pie crust to be flaky?
1. Cold Butter/Fat ingredients
2. Cold Liquid ingredients
3. Cold Dough when rolling it out
4. Not over-working the dough

More Sourdough Discard Recipes

Looking for other sourdough discard recipes like this? Try these:

I hope this post was helpful and of the utmost value to you, if you have any questions please leave them in the comments below, and I’ll be sure to answer!

This post was written as a guest post by the most amazing Chelsea from Little Fisher Farmhouse!

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