Sourdough Pie Crust, where have you been all my life? This pie crust is tender, flaky and tastes amazing. This just might become your go-to pie crust recipe.

closeup shot of a pie showing the flaky sourdough pie crust

If you’re a sourdough-bread baker, you know how painful it is to throw away a whole cup of hard-earned yeasty goodness every time you need to replenish your starter.

This recipe is a great way to use that discard to make an incredible pie crust. Yes, it is convenient and satisfying to use the discard in this recipe rather than tossing it in the trash. But that’s not why you should make this recipe.

Make this recipe because that little bit of sourdough discard does amazing things for the flavor and texture of a basic flaky pie dough.

If you don’t already have one, I can show you how to make a sourdough starter and how to feed a sourdough starter.

Why Sourdough Pie Crust is so good:

Each time you “feed” your sourdough starter you need to discard a portion of that starter. Obviously, this recipe is a great way to use sourdough discard.
I based this recipe on my starter which is fed with equal weights of starter, flour and water (that is 100% hydration). You may need to adjust the amount of starter in the recipe based on the moisture of your starter.
Sourdough starter is acidic. Acidic ingredients tenderize gluten. Sourdough discard helps keep this pie crust tender. No one likes a tough pie crust.
As the crust bakes there is a tiny bit of lift from the natural yeast in the sourdough starter. I find that lift helps make the crust even flakier as the air pockets in the dough poof up a bit and separate the layers of dough.
Sourdough Pie Crust smells amazing as it’s baking in the oven. The yeasty, bready smell is totally tempting.

Scroll through the step by step photos to see how to make Sourdough Pie Crust:

a bowl of flour with slices of butter scattered on top — Mix the fat in two stages. First mix in the shortening, then toss in the slices of cold butter.

a cup of sourdough discard pouring into a bowl of pie dough mix — Add the sourdough discard to the flour/butter mixture. There is no other water in the crust other than the water in the starter.

a spatula mixing a bowl of sourdough pie dough — Mix with a spatula until the dough starts to come together.

a hand mixing sourdough pie dough — Use your hands to gather the dough together until the all the loose flour is mixed in.

a hand holding a ball of sourdough pie dough — Gather the dough into a “shaggy” mass. Do not knead.

a packet labeled sourdough pie crust — Wrap the dough and refrigerate for several hours or over night before rolling. This will give the flour time to absorb the water in the dough.

a sheet of dough for sourdough pie crust on a work surface — The bits of butter and a little extra lift from the starter will help form the flakes.

a slice of pear pie with sourdough crust on a plate

I used Sourdough Pie Crust to make a sensational Vanilla Pear Pie and the best Chicken Pot Pie ever.

Since you’ve got your starter fed, peruse the entire list of My Best Sourdough Recipes. Have fun!

I know you hate to throw away that sourdough discard. Check out these recipes that use sourdough discard.

If you love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a 5-star review.

Sourdough Pie Crust

Name: Sourdough Pie Crust
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 2 h 10 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: baked goods
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups (7.5 oz, 210g) all purpose flour (see note); 2/3 cup (3.5 oz, 100g) cake flour; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 tablespoon granulated sugar; 1/2 cup (4 oz, 115g) vegetable shortening, cold; 1/2 cup (4 oz, 115g) butter, very cold and sliced into 1/4" thin slices; 1 cup (8 oz, 224g) sourdough discard, see note (100% hydration)

Yield: 2 crust pie

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Chilling Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes

A Perfect Pie Crust is a thing of beauty. The addition of a little sourdough discard adds an intriguing depth of flavor to a basic pie dough.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups (7.5 oz, 210g) all purpose flour (see note)
2/3 cup (3.5 oz, 100g) cake flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 cup (4 oz, 115g) vegetable shortening, cold
1/2 cup (4 oz, 115g) butter, very cold and sliced into 1/4" thin slices
1 cup (8 oz, 224g) sourdough discard, see note (100% hydration)

Instructions

Combine the all purpose and cake flour with the salt and sugar. Whisk together to mix the ingredients evenly.
Using your fingers, cut the shortening into the flo7aur mixture until it resembles coarse corn meal. Using your fingers, toss the butter into the flour mixture. Allow the slices of butter to break up into slightly smaller pieces into the flour. Work quickly so the butter doesn't get warm. Don't break the butter down completely. There should be some large flakes remaining.
Pour the sourdough discard onto the flour all at once and toss to combine. Gently press the dough just until it comes together. It will look a little dry in spots. The moisture will redistribute in the dough as it rests.
Wrap the dough and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours before using.

Notes

I based this recipe on my starter which is fed with equal weights of starter, flour and water. You may need to adjust the amount of starter in the recipe based on the moisture level of your starter.

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Donna Reardon

Wednesday 24th of November 2021

Hi, I'm making this for my pumpkin pie. Do I need to prebake the pie crust?

Eileen Gray

Thursday 25th of November 2021

For pumpkin pie I would blind bake the crust so it doesn't end up soggy.

Kim

Monday 22nd of November 2021

Any suggestions for doing this with a wheat-free discard? My daughter loves pies and I’ve made her a wheat-free starter but it’s a lot thicker than the normal one even though I do the same ratio of ingredients. I made this recipe over the summer with the regular discard and it was so good, I wanted to use it for pumpkin pie this week, but I feel bad not letting her eat the crust (it’s my favorite part!) Thanks!

It was extra crumbly so I added more water (not sure how much, a few splashes until it seemed good). I did have to mix it more though because I didn’t realize how crumbly until after I took it out of the fridge. And I had run out of shortening which is hard to get here (in the UK) so used more butter. Daughter had a taste as I was transferring her mini pies to another container and she said it was good, so it probably turned out fine. In future, I will just add some more water at the start. Thanks again!

@Eileen Gray, yeah, it does. It’s not gluten that’s the problem (common mix-up, you can actually have one without the other!)

About to give it a try! We’ll see how it goes. She usually eats most things without complaining, so that’s good.

Hi Kim, sorry I don't have experience with wheat free recipes. Maybe someone else can make a suggestion? Would the entire recipe have to be wheat free?

Ryan

Wednesday 13th of January 2021

Hello! I'm a huge sourdough starter fan and am so happy I found your website! One of my cookbooks is a book all about bacon and one of the recipes in the cookbook calls to use clarified bacon fat to make a pie crust. I'd love to make a pie crust using both sourdough starter and bacon grease! In your opinion, do you believe replacing the vegetable shortening for clarified bacon fat (cold) could work?

Yes. I almost always use leaf lard instead of vegetable shortening when I make pie dough.

Jenn

Saturday 28th of November 2020

I'm 'babysitting' the sourdough starter from work and need some discard recipes to try. This looks simple and delicious. Is it possible to make without the shortening, just substitute more butter? Thanks!

Yes!

Alexandra Moellmann

Tuesday 6th of October 2020

Looks good and I'm about to try your recipe. But why perpetuate the myth that you need to discard starter? Sure there's a period in the beginning when it makes sense not to feed the whole developing starter, but after that, there's no reason to throw any starter away. Just keep the amounts small and then there's no waste. Make more if you want unfed starter.

There are a million ways to make and keep starter. For those who prefer not have less discard I recommend keeping a small starter.