Sourdough Pie Crust

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Buttery, flaky, and next-level flavorful, my sourdough pie crust recipe can be made with discard or active starter. It comes together quickly and easily (use a pastry cutter or a food processor) and works equally well for sweet and savory pie recipes.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Makes one pie crust but easily doubles for two, which you’ll need if you use this recipe for my easy apple pie(coming soon!).
Very versatile crust that’s so easy to handle. You can use it for so many recipes, from my classic chicken pot pie (coming soon), apple dumplings, or really ANY recipe that uses a pie crust, even pie crust cookies.
INCREDIBLE depth of flavor. The sourdough discard works similarly to the sour cream in my easy pie crust recipe, adding wonderful flavor (without being overwhelming).
Can be made with whatever tools you have in your kitchen. My preference is to use a food processor (does the job quickly, easily, with less mess, and results in a more uniform dough), but a pastry cutter works fine, too. Or you can grate the butter, like I do with my biscuits!

Just in time for Thanksgiving pie baking, my sourdough pie crust incorporates sourdough discard (or starter, see my notes below) into pie dough for an incredibly flavorful, flaky crust.

What You Need

Overhead view of labeled ingredients including sourdough discard, flour, butter, and more.

Sourdough discard. If you are maintaining a sourdough starter, you’ll have some of this in your kitchen. If you don’t, check out my post on how to make a sourdough starter.
Sugar. I don’t recommend skipping the sugar, even if you use this recipe for a savory recipe like quiche lorraine; the crust just doesn’t taste as good. If you’d like, you can substitute the granulated sugar for coconut sugar (the resulting sourdough pie crust will be darker in color though).
Flour. Regular all-purpose flour works just fine here, or use a heritage grain flour (I like Sunrise Flour Mill flour a lot for my sourdough recipes). You’ll also need some for dusting your surface when rolling out your dough!
Butter. Unlike many of my recipes, I like to use salted butter here. I have a whole post on using salted vs unsalted butter if you’d like to read more about this.
Salt. For flavor! If you use unsalted butter, you will need to increase the salt in the recipe to ¾ teaspoon.

SAM’S TIP: Brushing egg wash (1 tablespoon water or milk + 1 beaten egg) over your pie crust before it goes in the oven will encourage a golden brown exterior (and gives some pretty sparkling sugar a way to stick, if you want to add that!). If you have an egg allergy (or are just out of eggs), you can skip this or brush the crust with a bit of heavy cream (it won’t brown as much though).

This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!

How to Make Sourdough Pie Crust

This pie crust can be made with a pastry cutter or a food processor. Personally, I like using a food processor (it’s just easier!), but either will work fine. Here’s how you do it (both ways)!

Using a pastry cutter to work butter into a flour mixture for pie sourdough crust. — Cutting in butter with a pastry cutter

Overhead view of a food processor with dry ingredients and butter pieces inside. — Cutting in butter with a pastry cutter

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl or the basin of a food processor. Scatter the butter (remember it should be very cold and cubed) overtop, then work it into the dough until the butter is in pea-sized pieces.

Bowl of shaggy pie dough made with sourdough discard. — Stirring in sourdough discard by hand

Overhead view of a shaggy sourdough pie crust in a food processor. — Stirring in sourdough discard by hand

Add the sourdough starter, then stir or pulse (pulse in 1-second intervals — don’t just blitz it without pausing or it won’t combine properly) until you have a shaggy dough that starts to cling to itself. If you can’t get the dough together, add ice water a teaspoon at a time until it comes together.

Hands holding a shaggy pie dough made with sourdough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and form into a cohesive disc with your hands. If you used a pastry cutter, the dough will be more shaggy and dry and you’ll have to work it together with your hands. Work it into a smooth, flat disc.

Wrap the dough in plastic and place in the fridge to chill for at least an hour or up to 3 days.

Overhead view of a pie dough made with sourdough discard.

Roll into a 12″ circle on a lightly floured surface. Make sure to move the dough frequently as you roll it out and add flour (on top of and beneath the dough) as needed during this process so it doesn’t stick to your counter.

Hands pinching a crimped edge on a pie crust.

Transfer the crust to your pie plate (tip: roll it onto your rolling pin for easy transfer!) and crimp/flute the edges as desired. You can use this recipe for a blind baked pie crust or fill it right away–just follow whatever your recipe says.

SAM’S TIP: Want to get fancy? I have a tutorial on how to make a lattice pie crust if you want a step-by-step guide. Note: you will need to double this recipe for a lattice crust.

Overhead view of a pie made with sourdough pie crust.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make the dough in advance and freeze it?

Yes! The dough can be frozen for several months; simply wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and place in the freezer until needed. The night before you plan to use it, remove the dough from the freezer and place in the fridge to thaw overnight.

Do you taste the sourdough?

Yes, but not in the way you may think. Sourdough pie crust isn’t sour like sourdough bread, but it does have an amazing depth of flavor and slight tang that you don’t get from a traditional pie crust. In my opinion, it’s better!

Can I use active sourdough starter?

Yes! Just make sure you stir the bubbly starter down before you measure it in your measuring cup, that way you have an accurate measurement. You won’t need to worry about this if you are measuring with weights (just another reason to learn how to use a kitchen scale 😉).

How can I use this sourdough pie crust?

This crust fits neatly into a 9-10″ pie crust. You can use it absolutely anywhere you would use a traditional pie crust. I like it for my easy apple pie, lemon meringue pie, pumpkin pie, chocolate pie, French silk pie, pecan pie, blueberry pie, or any of my pie recipes that use a classic pie crust. It can be used for blind baking or used for a lattice topping, or for non-traditional pie recipes that call for pie crust (like apple turnovers, apple dumplings, hand pies, or homemade strawberry pop tarts). The options are endless!