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.

Eileen Gray at Baking Sense

Three times a year it is a #NationalPieDay, and one falls tomorrow, January 23rd! The other two days, (one official and one not so official), are March 14 #NationalPiDay and my birthday. All of these pie days are celebrated by eating pie, making pie, buying pies, and giving pies as gifts. Now do not be quick to dismiss pie day as I will explain two ways I have enjoyed it.

First, at work, the boss took pie orders several days before March 14th each year. Then just after lunch, he would arrive with a dozen or more varieties of pies from our local Village Inn. And it was then that I discovered that I did not just like my pie, but all pies. I would take of sliver of each to see which I really liked that Pi Day. Later in the day, I might return for a full slice of one if any were left and it was then I hatched an idea for my birthday.

I asked every local family member for their favorite pie, ordered it, and had them all on hand for my birthday BBQ last summer. After they sang happy birthday and I blew out candles, I presented them each with a pie. Then I asked them for half a slice and while they all got to take home whatever was left I got 3 ½ slices of pie to enjoy over the next few days. I was in heaven!

But when it comes to pie it is all about the crust, something I discovered when I was in my late 20’s while working at my job that took me to Millard, Sevier, and Wayne counties in Utah. There were great pies at Mom’s Cafe in Salina and a few other cafes around that region, but nothing beat Cula Ekker’s pies at her Sunglow Cafe in Bicknell, Utah.

I have no idea what I ate for that first lunch, but it was a “safe” pie that I remember having for dessert. But whatever she had filled it with, I didn’t care because it was the best crust I had ever eaten. Overtime. Aunt Cula, as we all called her, teased me into trying her buttermilk pie. Then it was a fudgy tasting pinto bean pie, which always gave me gas. But her pièce de résistance was the sweet pickle pie. It tasted of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Raving about her pies one day, she invited me into the kitchen to learn her secret. It was iced water, cold eggs, and cold lard! Who would have guessed? That day and forever, I learned how to make great pie crust!

But today we are going to help you take it a step higher with sourdough. Did you know that adding sourdough to a pie crust will make it more flaky, tender, and digestible? Not to mention it will impart an interesting tanginess that will be an amazing flavor companion to both sweet and savory pies.

Flakey Sourdough Pie Crust

Serving Size:
16 serving two single pie crust pies / 8 servings for one double pie crust
Time:
15 min prep and 15 min bake
Difficulty:
Moderate

Ingredients

  • 4 cups/525g all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons/25g granulated white sugar
  • 2 teaspoons/11g sea salt
  • 1-1/4 pounds (2-1/3 cups/475 g) frozen lard, grated like cheese
    Remember Aunt Cula says, “No substitutions please!“)
  • 2 cups/454 g cold sourdough starter or discard
  • 2 cold eggs

Directions

  1. In a mixing bowl, whisk flour, sugar, and salt together
  2. Using a cheese grater, grate the frozen lard into a second mixing bowl.
  3. Add the flour mixture using a pastry blender, food processor, or two knives, cutting in the grated lard until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
  4. Whisk together chilled stater and eggs straight from the fridge until well mixed.
  5. Add this cold liquid a tablespoon at a time, into the flour mixture, tossing lightly with a fork after each addition until pastry is just moist enough to hold together.
    (You may not need all the eggs/starter mixture, which means sourdough pancakes for breakfast.)
  6. Shape pastry into a ball, pat it into a flattened circle, and then roll it out into a thin crust.
  7. Fill and bake with your choice of fillings (see Aunt Cula’s Apple, Sweet Pickel, and Coconut Cream or Chocolate Cream Pie Filling recipes here.)
    OR
  8. To make an unfilled pastry shell, line a pie plate with rolled-out pastry; fill it with pie weights or prick bottom and sides of pastry with a fork to prevent puffing during baking.
  9. Bake in preheated 400°F/205°C oven for 15 minutes until golden. Cool and fill as desired.

While these pie days were new to me, I grew up on mom’s pies. They were amazing. Pumpkin or mince for the holidays, apple or berry for the summer. But the most renowned pie was her lemon meringue pie. Toasted to a brown perfection on top, the tart, yet sweet filling amazed anyone who ate it. But for me, it was her crust. However, it was a secret that I never learned, and now that I have Aunt Cula’s I’m all set.

Amy Duska at Little Spoon Farms offers this “fantastic recipe” for a single crust pie to use using “up extra sourdough starter. This pie crust has a lot of great flavor with a little tang which makes it perfect for savory pies and several sweet types of pie too. Using a food processor makes this recipe very easy ” too, she said.

If you want to take pie baking outdoors, to prepare for Pi Day in 2017 we recorded this simple recipe for baking pies in dutch ovens, But I’m sorry these are pre made store crusts, from long before I become a sourdough bigot.

Both #NationalPieDay and #NationalPiDay are celebrated by eating pie. What do you plan to eat tomorrow? Tell us in the comment section below.