I wanted one pie crust that could handle everything I asked of it, from a mounded apple pie with a heavy crumb on top to individual heirloom tomato galettes that hold together in one hand, and I wanted it made with real butter and the sourdough discard that is always sitting in my fridge waiting for a job. This sourdough discard pie crust is the one I kept coming back to, because a few simple folds turn a shaggy pile of flour and butter into a dough with visible layers that bakes up flaky and tender while staying sturdy enough to crimp, fold, and fill without slumping in the oven.
Below you will find how I landed on this crust, why the discard gets thinned with ice water before it ever touches the flour, why I grate cold butter and cut it in using a baking dish, how to fold the dough with parchment so your hands barely touch it, how to shape my scalloped edge, and the flour sack towel trick that made rolling and moving a crust so much easier for me when I was first learning. When you are ready to mix, the recipe card at the bottom has every measurement in grams with cup conversions next to them.
Table of Contents
- Why You Will Love This Sourdough Discard Pie Crust
- How I Landed on This Crust
- Why Sourdough Discard Belongs in Pie Crust
- Ingredient Notes
- Grating and Cutting In the Butter
- Adding the Discard Mixture
- Folding the Dough with Parchment
- Shaping, Chilling, and Rolling
- Shaping a Scalloped Edge
- Watch How To Scallop Your Edge (video)
- More Edge and Design Ideas
- Ways to Use This Sourdough Discard Pie Crust
- No Sourdough Version
- Make Ahead and Freezing
- Expert Tips
- Shop This Recipe
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The Recipe
- More Recipes to Try
- Subscribe
Why You Will Love This Sourdough Discard Pie Crust
This is the crust I reach for whether the filling is sweet or savory, and it earns that spot for a handful of reasons.
- Real, visible layers. The folding method stacks sheets of butter and dough on top of each other, and you can see those butter pockets in the dough as you roll it and the layers again in every baked slice.
- All butter, no shortening. You get the flavor and the browning that only butter gives, along with a texture that shatters instead of crumbling.
- It uses up your discard. A generous amount of discard goes into every batch, which makes this one of the most useful places to put it.
- Sturdy enough to work with. The dough holds a crimped or folded edge in the oven, which matters when you have put time into making the pie look beautiful.
- Your hands barely touch it. A baking dish, a pastry blender, and a sheet of parchment do the work, so the butter stays cold and the dough never gets overworked.
- Easy to double. One batch makes a single crust, and doubling it gives you a double crust pie or a second disc for the freezer.
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How I Landed on This Crust
This crust started with my heirloom tomato galettes this summer, where I needed a dough sturdy enough to hold a cottage cheese filling and sliced tomatoes in one hand without going soggy, while still baking up flaky enough to be worth eating on its own.
My first idea was to thin the discard with a tablespoon or two of cold water so it would spread through the flour faster, and that turned out to be nowhere near enough, because the discard still clumped in spots. I kept adding water until the discard became a smooth, milky liquid, and that is where the ice water in the recipe comes from. Even then, I usually have a little of the mixture left in the jar, which is why I now hold back a tablespoon from the start and only add it if the dough truly needs it.
I also had the pastry dough from my strawberry pop tart bars to compare it against, and I chose to stick with this one. The first galette bake came out with a crisp bottom and layers you could see in the cross section, and when I later put the same crust under a mounded apple crumb pie loaded with raw apples and a thick oat crumb, the bottom still baked up with flaky layers you can see in the forkful above.
The rest of the changes came from the way I actually like to work. I grate cold butter instead of cubing it, I give it a short chill in the flour before cutting it in using a flat glass baking dish, and I fold the dough using a sheet of parchment so my hands stay off it, and every one of those steps is about keeping the butter cold and the handling to a minimum.
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Why Sourdough Discard Belongs in Pie Crust
Discard is flour and water that has been fermenting, so when it goes into a pie crust it replaces part of the liquid you would normally add while bringing a little more to the table than plain water does. It is not there to make the crust rise, which is why unfed discard straight from the fridge works perfectly here.
The fermentation gives the crust a deeper, more rounded flavor and helps it brown nicely in the oven, and the mild acidity in the discard helps keep the finished crust tender rather than tough. The crust does not taste sour, so it fits a sweet apple pie just as well as a savory tart.
The one thing I do differently from most discard crusts is thin the discard with ice water before it goes in. Discard on its own is thick and sticky, and if you try to work it straight into flour and butter it clumps in a few spots while the rest stays dry, which tempts you into handling the dough far longer than you should. Whisking it with the ice water first gives you a smooth, milky liquid that spreads through the flour quickly and evenly, so the dough comes together with less handling, the butter stays cold, and the gluten stays relaxed.
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Ingredient Notes
There are only five ingredients in this crust, so each one matters, and here is what each one is doing.
Bread flour. I use King Arthur Organic Bread Flour because it is what I keep on hand for everything, and its strength helps the folded layers and the crimped edge hold their shape in the oven. Every flour absorbs liquid a little differently, so whether you use bread flour or all purpose, plan on holding back about a tablespoon of the discard mixture and adding it only if the dough needs it.
Unsalted butter. You need one full stick, cold from the fridge and grated, and butter is the reason this crust is flaky, because the pieces that stay intact turn to steam in the oven and push the layers of dough apart. If you only have salted, use it. Just reduce the salt in the crust a little.
Sourdough discard. Unfed discard from the fridge is perfect, and active starter works the same way if that is what you have. I keep my starter at equal parts flour and water, so if yours is much thicker or thinner you may need to adjust the water slightly.
Ice water. Cold water keeps the butter firm while you work, and it is what thins the discard so it blends in quickly.
Fine salt. Salt is what makes the crust taste like something on its own rather than a plain vessel for the filling. I use fine Redmond Real Salt.
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Grating and Cutting In the Butter
I grate the butter instead of cubing it, straight from the fridge on the large holes of a box grater, because the shreds spread through the flour evenly and start out thin and flat, which is exactly the shape you want for flaky layers. I use cold butter rather than frozen, since I have lost more knuckle skin to grating frozen butter than I care to admit, and cold butter grates just fine.
Toss the grated butter into the flour and salt with a fork so every shred gets coated, and then slide the whole dish into the fridge for about 15 minutes. Grating warms the butter a little, and that short rest firms it back up before you start cutting it in, which is one of the easiest ways to keep those flat pieces of butter intact all the way to the oven.
When it comes out of the fridge, cut the butter in with a pastry blender. I do this in a flat rectangular glass baking dish instead of a mixing bowl, because the flat bottom and straight sides let the pastry blender press down on every piece of butter, while a round bowl lets the butter slide up the curved sides and escape the blades.
The goal is variety. Smaller bits of butter coat the flour and keep the crust tender, while the larger, flattened pieces are what create the flaky pockets you can see when you break into a slice, so stop while you still have plenty of flat flakes of butter scattered through the dish.
If you would rather use a mixing bowl, it works too, so go with whatever you have. You will just need to scrape the butter back down from the sides every so often so it all gets cut in evenly.
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Adding the Discard Mixture
While the butter chills, whisk the discard and ice water together in a jar until the mixture is smooth and milky, then set about a tablespoon of it aside before you start.
Once the butter is cut in, pour the rest of the discard mixture over the crumbs and gently move it around with a fork or the pastry blender, just enough to moisten everything. This is a quick, gentle mix rather than kneading, and the dough should still look rough and shaggy with a few dry patches when you stop. If a handful will not hold together when you squeeze it, add some of the reserved liquid a little at a time. Depending on your flour and the humidity in your kitchen, you may not need any of it, and that is exactly why it gets held back rather than poured in at the start.
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Folding the Dough with Parchment
This is the step that turns an ordinary pie dough into one with real layers, and it is also the step that replaces kneading, so the dough comes together without ever getting tough. I do it on a large sheet of parchment, which lets me lift and fold the dough without my warm hands ever touching the butter.
Tip the shaggy dough out of the dish onto the middle of the parchment. It will look like it could never become a pie crust, and that is fine.
Lift one side of the parchment and use it to fold that side of the dough over onto the center, then press down through the paper so the layers stick together. Peel the paper back, then do the same from the opposite side, then the top and the bottom, the same way you would wrap a present.
Loose crumbs will fall away during the first round, so tuck them back into the folds as you go. After the first full round, the dough will be crumbly at the edges but already holding together in layers. If the crumbs just won’t stick, add a few drops of of cold water and gently mix it in. Start small.
Repeat the folds two or three more times. Stop as soon as the dough holds together with long streaks of butter showing, even if it is not perfectly smooth, because every extra fold warms the butter and works the gluten.
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Shaping, Chilling, and Rolling
I shape the dough right after folding rather than chilling it first and reshaping it later, because the dough is still soft enough at this point to press any stray pieces back in without a fight. If you doubled the batch, this is also the time to divide it in half by weight.
One batch weighs about 420g, depending on how much of the discard mixture your flour takes. Shape it into a flat disc about an inch thick and smooth the edges with your palms, since a round disc rolls out into a round crust far more easily than a square block does. Wrap it and give it at least an hour in the fridge so the butter firms back up and the flour has time to absorb the liquid evenly.
If you already have a favorite way to roll out pie crust, whether that is on a floured counter or between two sheets of parchment, stick with it. If you are new to it, though, this is the trick my home economics teacher taught me, and it helped me so much when I was first starting out. Dust a tightly woven cotton towel, like a flour sack towel rather than a fuzzy terry one, with flour and roll the crust out right on top of it. The towel grips the dough just enough to keep it from cracking and sticking, and when it is time to move it, you can use the towel to lift and guide the whole round into the pan instead of trying to peel a thin sheet of dough off the counter.
Let the chilled disc sit on the counter for about 10 minutes first, then roll the edge along the towel like a wheel to seal it, since most cracks start at a ragged edge. Roll from the center outward, give the dough a quarter turn every few passes so it stays round, and ease off your pressure on the last inch so the edge does not get thinner than the middle. If one side starts running flat, roll toward that side only, and pinch any cracks closed as soon as you see them.
Once it is rolled out, look at the surface of the dough and you will see pockets and streaks of butter all through it. Those are the folds doing their job, and every one of those pockets turns to steam in the oven and lifts the crust into flaky layers.
Set your pie pan upside down on the dough to check the size, since you want about an inch and a half of extra dough all the way around.
Use the towel to help lift the dough into the pan, then ease it into the corners rather than stretching it, since stretched dough shrinks back in the oven.
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Shaping a Scalloped Edge
If you have a crimp you already love, use it here, but this is how I get the scalloped edge you see on my pies, and it starts with an even rim.
Bring all of the dough up to the lip of the pan and gently tuck anything left over underneath, then go around the outside edge patting it down so the rim is smooth and an even thickness all the way around.
Next, snip into the rim with kitchen scissors about every half inch, cutting on a slight angle.
Take one flap at a time and curve the top of it over with your fingers, then press the pointed tip that is left down against the crust and give it a final shape so it forms a scallop. Work your way around the pan one flap at a time.
When you are done, give the shaped crust a short chill before it gets filled so the edge holds its shape in the oven.
Watch How
Watch how the flap gets curved over and the pointed tip pressed down to form one scallop, then repeat it all the way around the pie.
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More Edge and Design Ideas
The scalloped edge is my favorite, but this dough holds whatever shape you give it, so it is worth having a few other looks in your back pocket for different pies and different holidays.
For my blueberry crumb pies, I used a variation of the scalloped edge. Snip the rim the same way, but instead of curving every flap toward the front, curve one flap toward the front and tuck the next one behind it, then keep alternating front and back all the way around the pan. The finished edge ends up looking like a twisted rope, and it holds its shape in the oven just like the scallops do.
For a custard pie like pumpkin, a classic fluted edge is always a good choice, and it only takes your fingers. Place two fingers against the outside of the rim, then use one finger from the inside to push the dough out between them, and keep working your way around the pie until the whole edge stands up in tall points.
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Ways to Use This Sourdough Discard Pie Crust
One batch gives you one bottom crust for a 9 inch pie, which is exactly what you need for a crumb topped apple pie, and doubling it covers a double crust pie or two single crust pies.
For my apple crumb pie, the raw apples get piled high into the chilled crust, and it bakes in a metal pan on a preheated sheet pan on the lowest rack, which is what lets the bottom bake through under all that fruit. You will find the full method in my APPLE CRUMB PIE.
It also makes wonderful individual tarts. For six handheld tarts, I make a double batch and portion the dough by weight before chilling so every tart comes out the same size, then roll each piece into a round. For a fancy edge, score a circle with a ring cutter, cut slits from the outer edge in to that line about an inch apart, add the filling, and fold each tab over the last one all the way around, which is exactly how I make my heirloom tomato galettes with cottage cheese.
For sweet pies, you can add a teaspoon and a half of sugar to the flour, which helps the crust brown a little deeper. For savory tarts, leave it out.
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No Sourdough Version
If you do not keep a starter, you can still make this exact crust by swapping the discard for the flour and water it is made of.
Discard kept at equal parts flour and water is half flour and half water by weight, so replace the 79g of discard in this recipe with
- 40g of extra flour (1/3 cup) and
- 40g of extra ice water (2 3/4 tablespoons).
That brings the totals to 230g of flour (1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons) and up to 85g of ice water (1/3 cup plus 1/2 tablespoon). Everything else stays the same, including the butter, the salt, the chill, and the folding.
Hold back a tablespoon of the water just as you would the discard mixture, because you will very likely need less than the full amount. The crust will bake up just as flaky, with a slightly simpler flavor than the sourdough version.
If you would like to start your own starter so you always have discard on hand, my minimal waste sourdough starter guide walks you through it from day one.
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Make Ahead and Freezing
This dough is made for planning ahead, and having a disc ready in the freezer makes a weeknight pie feel completely doable, which is a good reason to double the batch.
In the fridge: Wrapped discs keep for up to 3 days. Let the dough sit on the counter for about 10 minutes before rolling so it does not crack.
In the freezer: Wrap each disc tightly in plastic wrap and then foil or a freezer bag, and freeze for up to 3 months. You can also roll it out, fit it into a pie pan, crimp the edge, and freeze the whole crust in the pan wrapped well. Thaw discs overnight in the fridge before rolling.
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Expert Tips
These are the small things that make the biggest difference between a good crust and a great one.
- Try a flat dish. A rectangular glass baking dish lets the pastry blender reach every piece of butter instead of chasing it up the sides of a bowl, though a bowl still works if that is what you have.
- Grate cold butter, not frozen. Cold butter grates easily into thin flat shreds, and it is a lot kinder to your knuckles than frozen butter.
- Chill before you cut in. Fifteen minutes in the fridge after tossing the grated butter with the flour firms it back up so the flat pieces survive the mixing and folding.
- Hold back a tablespoon of liquid. Every flour absorbs a little differently, so add the last tablespoon only if the dough will not hold together when you squeeze it.
- Mix gently and stop early. Move the liquid around just until the crumbs are moistened, and never knead it, since the folding is what brings the dough together.
- Fold with parchment. Lifting the dough with the paper keeps the warmth of your hands off the butter.
- Roll on a floured flour sack towel if you are new to pie crust. A tightly woven cotton towel keeps the dough from cracking and sticking and makes it easy to move the crust into the pan, but your favorite rolling method works just as well.
- Use a scale. Flour measured by volume can vary wildly, and weighing it is the easiest way to get the same crust every time.
- Do not stretch it into the pan. Lift the edges and let the dough settle into the corners on its own so it does not shrink in the oven.
- Food processor shortcut. You can pulse the flour, salt, and butter in a food processor if you are short on time, though the crust will be a little less flaky and will take less liquid. My POP TART BARS walks through that method.
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Shop This Recipe
These are the tools I use every time I make this crust. Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission at no cost to you, and it helps support the blog so I can keep sharing recipes like this one.
- Box grater: The large holes turn a cold stick of butter into thin, flat shreds that spread evenly through the flour.
- Rectangular glass baking dish: Gives the pastry blender a flat surface to cut the butter in evenly, and slides right into the fridge for the short chill.
- Pastry blender: Cuts the cold butter into the flour quickly without the heat of your hands softening it.
- Parchment paper: Does all the lifting and folding during the layering step so your hands never touch the dough.
- Flour sack towels: A tightly woven cotton towel dusted with flour is the easiest surface I know for rolling out a crust and moving it into the pan.
- Wooden rolling pin: Rolls the chilled disc into an even round.
- Kitchen scale: Weighing the flour is what makes this crust turn out the same every time.
- 9 inch metal pie pan: A metal pan conducts heat quickly, which helps the bottom crust bake through under a juicy filling.
- King Arthur Organic Bread Flour: The flour I use for this crust and nearly everything else I bake.
Frequently Asked Questions
These are the questions that come up most often about making pie crust with sourdough discard.
Can I use active sourdough starter instead of discard?
You can, because the starter is not there to make the crust rise, so active starter and unfed discard work exactly the same way in this recipe.
Will the crust taste sour?
It will not, because the discard adds a deeper, more rounded flavor and helps the crust brown without making it taste sour, so it works for sweet pies as well as savory ones.
Can I use all purpose flour instead of bread flour?
All purpose flour works well, though it absorbs a little less liquid, so hold back the last tablespoon of the discard mixture and add it only if the dough will not hold together when squeezed.
Why is my dough too crumbly to hold together?
It usually needs a little more liquid, so add some of the reserved discard mixture a teaspoon at a time and keep folding until it holds. Some loose crumbs during the first fold are normal, since the folding is what brings them together.
Why do you use a baking dish instead of a bowl?
The flat bottom of a baking dish lets the pastry blender press down on every piece of butter, while the curved sides of a bowl let the butter slide out of the way, so the dish cuts the butter in faster and more evenly and keeps it colder. A bowl still works if that is what you have, as long as you scrape the butter down from the sides as you go.
How do I move a pie crust into the pan without it tearing?
Roll it out on a tightly woven cotton towel, like a flour sack towel, dusted with flour. The towel keeps the dough from sticking to the counter, and you can use it to lift and guide the whole round into the pan. Rolling the crust loosely around your rolling pin and unrolling it over the pan works well too.
Why are there streaks of butter in my dough?
Those streaks are exactly what you want, because they turn to steam in the oven and separate the dough into flaky layers, so do not try to work them in.
Can I make this pie crust in a food processor?
You can, though the crust will be a little less flaky and will need less liquid, and the method in my POP TART BARS walks you through it.
Is this recipe for a single or double pie crust?
This recipe makes about 420g of dough, which is one bottom crust for a 9 inch pie. Double it for a double crust pie or two single crusts.
Do I need to blind bake this crust?
It depends on the filling. For a juicy fruit pie like my apple crumb pie, I bake it without blind baking in a metal pan on a preheated sheet pan on the lowest rack, which crisps the bottom. For a no bake filling, the crust needs to be fully baked first, and that pie’s recipe will walk you through how.
Can I make this pie crust ahead of time?
Wrapped discs keep in the fridge for up to 3 days and in the freezer for up to 3 months, and frozen dough should thaw overnight in the fridge before you roll it.
Can I add sugar to this pie crust?
For sweet pies, add 6g (1 1/2 teaspoons) of granulated sugar to the flour along with the salt, and leave it out for savory pies and tarts.
Recipe
Flaky Sourdough Discard Pie Crust
Equipment
- kitchen scale
- Box Grater
- Rectangular glass baking dish or large bowl
- Pastry blender
- Jar with a whisk
- Parchment paper
- plastic wrap
- Flour sack towel (optional)
- Rolling Pin
- Kitchen scissors
- 9 inch pie pan
Ingredients
- 190 g bread flour 1 1/2 cups plus 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp
- 3.5 g fine salt a heaping 1/2 tsp
- 113 g cold unsalted butter grated (1/2 cup, 1 stick)
- 79 g sourdough discard cold (1/3 cup plus 1 tsp)
- 45 g ice water 3 tbsp
Instructions
- Whisk the flour and salt together in a rectangular glass baking dish or a large bowl.
- Grate the cold butter on the large holes of a box grater and toss it into the flour with a fork until every shred is coated.
- Place the dish or bowl in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm the butter back up.
- While the butter chills, whisk the sourdough discard and ice water together in a jar until smooth and milky with no lumps of discard left. Set about 1 tbsp of the mixture aside.
- Cut the chilled butter into the flour with a pastry blender until it is broken into small flattened pieces, with plenty of larger flat flakes still scattered through the flour.
- Pour the rest of the discard mixture over the crumbs and gently move it around with a fork or the pastry blender just until everything is moistened, without kneading. If a handful will not hold together when squeezed, add the reserved liquid a little at a time. You may not need all of it.
- Tip the shaggy dough onto a large sheet of parchment paper.
- Lift one side of the parchment to fold that side of the dough over onto the center and press down through the paper. Peel the paper back and repeat from the opposite side, then the top and the bottom, tucking any loose crumbs into the folds.
- Repeat the folds 2 to 3 more times, stopping as soon as the dough holds together with long streaks of butter visible, even if it is not perfectly smooth.
- Shape the dough into a flat disc about 1 inch thick while it is still soft enough to press in any loose pieces, smoothing the edges with your palms. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days.
- To roll, let the chilled disc sit on the counter for about 10 minutes. Dust a flour sack towel or your counter with flour, set the disc on it, and roll from the center outward into a 12 inch round about 1/8 inch thick, giving the dough a quarter turn every few passes.
- Use the towel or your rolling pin to lift the dough into a 9 inch pie pan, easing it in without stretching it. Bring the dough up to the lip of the pan, tuck any excess underneath, and pat around the outside edge so the rim is an even thickness.
- For a scalloped edge, snip into the rim with kitchen scissors about every 1/2 inch on a slight angle. Curve the top of each flap over, press the pointed tip down against the crust, and shape it into a scallop, working all the way around. Or finish the edge with your favorite crimp. (See the blog post for a video showing you)
- Chill the shaped crust for 15 minutes before filling and baking according to your pie recipe.
Notes
More Recipes to Try
If you love baking with apples and fall spices as much as I do, these are a few more recipes from the blog to keep you busy this season.
- Heirloom Tomato Galettes with Cottage Cheese (Sourdough or Classic)
- Caramel Apple Pie Pull-Apart Focaccia (Sourdough or Yeast)
- The Easiest Apple Cinnamon Swirl Sourdough Bread
- Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls (Sourdough)
- Easy Microwave Caramel Sauce
- Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice
- How to Create a Sourdough Starter
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