A high-rising, golden, crispy and flaky vegan sourdough pie crust for your holiday mains and desserts! This mouthwatering pie crust is perfect for both sweet and savory dishes. Sourdough discard makes the crust indescribably flaky and crispy--more so than your average pie crust--and I'll show you a nifty folding technique, which will make the crust rise even higher and flakier.
If you are baking up a storm for the holidays, add to all that deliciousness by stirring in some sourdough!
If you've followed me for a bit you know I am nuts for recipes with sourdough. In fact, I stir up my trusty sourdough starter into anything I can think of, from vegan cranberry scones to vegan sourdough biscuits to sourdough rotis to vegan sourdough chocolate chip cookies, and more. This pie crust was my latest experiment, and what a success it was.
This pie crust was flaky and crispy and golden beyond my wildest imagination. It was so good that it even outshone the delicious squash and kale filling I baked it up with (I'll share that recipe with you next). Both Desi and Jay were brimming with compliments, which happens far less often than you'd think. 😉
You can use this pie crust instead of a regular vegan pie crust in any pie or tart recipe. And making it is rather easy, especially if you're used to making pie dough. But even if you're not, there's no better time than now to start. The holidays are almost here and just imagine surprising your near and dear ones with a knock-out vegan dish topped by the most golden, delicious crust they ever saw?
Table of Contents
Why you'll love this vegan sourdough pie crust
- It's delicious. You won't really taste a lot of sourdough flavor in this, but it'll add a lovely and unexpected depth. And like I said above, it'll help the crust rise higher and flakier.
- It's a great use for your sourdough discard. I know you hate throwing out sourdough discard, I do too. You can use the discard in this recipe, although if you have a more recently fed sourdough starter that's fine too.
- It's versatile. This crust is great for both sweet and savory pies. If you're making a sweet pie, you can stir in a tablespoon of sugar into the flour, but it's not necessary.
- It's easy to make. Making a pie crust might appear tedious, but there really is nothing to it. But you won't know that until you try making one, will you?
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour. I've only tried this pie crust with all purpose flour. You can sub half the flour with whole wheat although keep in mind that the crust will be more dense. You can also just try making the vegan whole wheat puff pastry crust I shared recently.
- ½ cup sourdough discard (recently fed starter is fine too)
- ½ teaspoon salt.
- 2 sticks (16 tablespoons or ½ pound) vegan butter. Use buttery sticks from any vegan brand, not the spreadable kind from the tub.
- Ice cold water. This helps keep the butter cold and keeps it from melting as you make the dough.
- Optional, for a dessert crust: 1 tablespoon sugar
How to make the vegan sourdough pie crust
- Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Add the sourdough and mix it in with a spoon or your fingers until it's evenly dispersed.
- Cut the cold butter into small cubes and add to the bowl. Cut it into the flour with a fork.
- Drizzle in ice cold water and mix with a fork until the dough comes together. Try not to overmoisten--add just a little water at a time.
- Divide the dough in two. Place each half in a piece of cling wrap and, as you wrap it, shape it into a disc. Try not to handle the dough with your hands because you don't want the butter to melt. Refrigerate the discs of dough for at least half an hour and up to a day. For longer storage freeze and thaw in refrigerator before using.
At this point your pie crust is ready and you can just roll it and use it in a pie. But I promised you my puff-pastry-like folding technique which will create a nice layered look and make the crust even flakier. Here it is.
- To create a layered look in your pie dough, take one disc of the refrigerated dough and roll it out on a floured surface to a rectangle approximately 10 inches long and eight inches wide.
- Flip it over so the floured side is facing you. Fold the rectangle as you would puff pastry--bring one edge up and to the middle, and then fold the other edge over it.
- Flour the surface, then roll out the dough again to a rectangle 10 by 8 inches. Flip over and once again fold the pastry as described above. Repeat two more times. Wrap the folded dough in cling wrap and refrigerate again for at least 30 minutes. When making the pie, remove from the fridge and roll out as you would pie dough.
Top Tips
- Always keep everything that comes in contact with the dough cold. Use butter straight from the fridge, use ice cold water and a steel fork to mix the dough and don't handle the dough with your hands as much as possible. As soon as you've wrapped the dough, refrigerate it.
- When rolling out the dough try and do it on a cool surface. I often use a baking sheet, bottom side up, that I refrigerate for a few minutes first.
- Don't make the dough too wet and sticky--if you are new at this, better to err on the side of a drier dough. You just need everything to come together. Do not knead the dough--you don't want to encourage the gluten to form.
- When rolling the door flour the surface and the rolling pin and keep moving the dough to make sure it isn't sticking.
- When transferring the dough to the pie plate, fold it in half and then one more time. Place it in the center of the pie plate and unfold, then proceed to fit it in the plate.
- Don't cut out any excess, overhanging dough. Tuck it underneath before you crimp the edges. That way you won't waste any of that flaky goodness.
Decorating and baking the crust
You might need different baking temperatures and times depending on the type of pie you are baking and the filling inside. But broadly speaking a preheated 400-degree oven at 45 minutes or so should do the trick.
To decorate the crust, I usually just flute the edges or crimp them with a fork. If you're looking to make an extra decorative crust, you can try a lattice top, like in this Vegan Peach Berry Pie or a star-studded top made with a cookie cutter, like the one in this Vegan Strawberry Pie.
Make-ahead and storage instructions
You can make this crust several weeks ahead--wrap the dough in cling wrap, place in a freezer-safe bag or container and freeze for up to three months. Thaw in the refrigerator before rolling.
You can also make it a couple of days ahead and just store in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
Delicious vegan pie recipes
Vegan Sourdough Pie Crust
Equipment
- Rolling pin
Ingredients
- 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- ½ cup sourdough starter (discard is perfectly fine)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ pound vegan butter (1 cup or 16 tablespoons)
- Ice cold water
Instructions
- Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Add the sourdough and mix it in with a spoon or your fingers until it's evenly dispersed.
- Cut the cold butter into small cubes and add to the bowl. Cut it into the flour with a fork or pastry cutter.
- Drizzle in ice cold water and mix with a fork until the dough comes together. Try not to overmoisten--add just a little water at a time.
- Divide the dough in two. Place each half in a piece of cling wrap and, as you wrap it, shape it into a disc. Try not to handle the dough with your hands because you don't want the butter to melt. Refrigerate the discs of dough for at least half an hour before you are ready to use them. Your pie dough is now ready to use. Or, for a more layered, puff-pastry-like crust, see additional directions belpw.
Optional instructions for a folded, puff-pastry-like crust:
- Take one disc of the refrigerated dough and roll it out on a floured surface to a rectangle approximately 10 inches long and eight inches wide.
- Flip it over so the floured side is facing you. Fold the rectangle as you would puff pastry--bring one edge up and to the middle, and then fold the other edge over it.
- Flour the surface, then roll out the dough again to a rectangle 10 by 8 inches. Flip over and once again fold the pastry as described above. Repeat two more times. Wrap the folded dough in cling wrap and refrigerate again for at least 30 minutes. When making the pie, remove from the fridge and roll out as you would pie dough.
Recipe notes
- Always keep everything that comes in contact with the dough cold. Use butter straight from the fridge, use ice cold water and a steel fork to mix the dough and don't handle the dough with your hands as much as possible. As soon as you've wrapped the dough, refrigerate it.
- When rolling out the dough try and do it on a cool surface. I often use a baking sheet, bottom side up, that I refrigerate for a few minutes first.
- Don't make the dough too wet and sticky--if you are new at this, better to err on the side of a drier dough. You just need everything to come together. Do not knead the dough--you don't want to encourage the gluten to form.
- When rolling the door flour the surface and the rolling pin and keep moving the dough to make sure it isn't sticking.
- When transferring the dough to the pie plate, fold it in half and then one more time. Place it in the center of the pie plate and unfold, then proceed to fit it in the plate.
- Don't cut out any excess, overhanging dough. Tuck it underneath before you crimp the edges. That way you won't waste any of that flaky goodness.
- You can make this crust several weeks ahead--wrap the dough in cling wrap, place in a freezer-safe bag or container and freeze for up to three months. Thaw in the refrigerator before rolling.
Barbara Birch
A trick for cutting in butter is to freeze it, then grate the butter into the dry ingredients, tossing lightly as you go. Makes short work of the cutting in process!
Vaishali
Awesome tip!