Gluten Free Sourdough Pie Crust - Sourdough Discard Recipes (2024)

This Gluten Free Sourdough Pie Crust is a game changer. Seriously. It's so buttery, flaky, and tender. An egg wash gets it perfectly golden brown on the outside while being soft and flaky on the inside. Use it for savory or sweet recipes - use older discard or ferment the dough in the fridge for savory recipes, optional.

You will need gluten-free sourdough starter discard to make this pie crust, and preferably from a superfine brown rice flour or sorghum flour starter. If you don't have a gluten-free sourdough starter, you will first need to make one and can find out how with my guide on How to Make a Gluten Free Sourdough Starter.

You can find the chicken pot pie filling recipe here.

As me and my husband would say; Holy heckinhouk, this one's a keeper.

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Looking for more Gluten Free Sourdough recipes?

Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies | Gluten Free Sourdough Discard Recipes

Gluten Free Sourdough Banana Bread | Sourdough Discard Recipes

Gluten Free Sourdough Bread Recipe | Dutch Oven Method

Gluten Free Sourdough Discard Crackers | Best Gluten Free Cracker Recipe

Gluten Free Sourdough Pizza Crust - Best Sourdough Discard Recipes - one of my favorite ways to use up discard!

What is sourdough discard?

Sourdough discard is the inactive portion of starter that gets removed before every feeding. Remember, you don't actually throw this portion away but store it in a jar in the fridge.The discarded portion of starter is considered inactive.This is because the wild yeast and bacteria have already consumed all of the energy - the flour and water - and no new energy is added to it.Because the discard is no longer active, it can be used in recipes that don't need yeast to leaven them.Think of all the baked goods you can make that don't need rise time - brownies, cookies, banana bread and other quick-breads, crackers, etc.

This pie crust is a favorite way of mine to use up gluten-free sourdough discard.

What are the benefits of eating gluten free sourdough?

Sourdough is well known and upheld for its health benefits.While sourdough does contain the gut-friendly bacteria lactobacillus, these probiotics don't make it through baking so it doesn't translate to probiotic absorption. However, sourdough is still a fermented food, meaningthe bacteria and wild yeast living within the starter predigest the starches in the flour, making the food easier to digestfor you as well as potentially keep your blood sugar more stable. For these reasons, it is believed that sourdough can improve or help ease the gut.

For those living with Celiac Disease (like myself), we tend to ingest a lot of rice in many different ways and forms. Sourdough can give you the opportunity to ingest more different types of grains, including sorghum, millet, or buckwheat.

Ingredients for Gluten Free Sourdough Pie Crust:

• Gluten-free sourdough discard (the unfed portion removed from the starter, up to two weeks old). Tip: Use cold discard in this recipe to make the pie crust even colder, which helps with flakiness.
• High quality gluten-free all purpose flour containing xanthan gum. Tested and photographed with Bob's Red Mill GF Baking Flour (the blue bag).
• Unsalted butter, cold from the fridge
• Granulated sugar
• Vinegar or freshly-squeezed lemon juice. Don't skip this! It makes the pie crust tender and flaky. Even though this is a sourdough crust, it still needs the vinegar/lemon. It will not make the pie crust overly sour.
• Milk, or dairy-free milk. Milk fats help provide a richness in flavor and aid the crust in turning golden brown.
• Salt
• An egg wash (1 egg + 1 tablespoon milk)

Want to make a chicken pot pie with this crust like I did? Here's the recipe for the filling.

How to Make Gluten Free Sourdough Pie Crust:

• Add the gluten-free flour, sugar, and salt to a large mixing bowl. Whisk together until well-combined.
• Add in the cubed, cold butter and use a dough cutter to work the butter into the flour until it resembles small peas. Tip: If you don't have a dough cutter, you could grate the cold butter over top of the bowl with a cheese grater.
• Add in the discard, vinegar/lemon juice, and 1-2 tablespoon of milk to the mixture and use a fork to incorporate into large crumbles. Switch to using your hands and press the dough together until there are no dry bits. Add additional milk one tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together to form a ball or disc. I used 5 total tbsps. The disc will feel dense and compact, but will still yield flaky layers.
• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill while preparing the filling for the pie. Chill for at least 20 minutes, or 2 hours - overnight, up to 3 days. Tip: Chilling overnight can long ferment the dough to make it a little more sour. This is helpful with newer discard and savory recipes. Certain sweet pies (like fruit pies - cherry especially) do well with a sourdough tang, but I would avoid it with certain flavor profiles like cinnamon or lemon pies, etc.

After the dough has chilled:

• (Optional) Use a dough cutter to cut the disc into sections (cut into 4 for 4 mini pies). You do not need to cut the dough if making a single top or bottom crust.
• Place a piece of parchment paper on the counter, set the disc or one section of dough on top of it, and add an additional piece of parchment paper over top of the pie crust. Use a rolling pin over top of the parchment paper to flatten and roll out the dough into the desired width and preferably ¼-inch to 3/16th of an inch thick. The parchment paper prevents sticking to the rolling pin or counter, and makes it very easy to pick up the rolled-out dough and place into the pie pan.

• Another method you could try is roll out your dough on parchment, then place the greased pie dish on top of the crust and cut around the rim. This will give you precise measurements. Then hold onto the bottom of the pie pan and flip the parchment and pie crust over into the dish.
• Peel off the first piece of parchment paper and set aside. Pick up the bottom piece of parchment paper and flip the pie crust into a greased pie pan. Trim the edges until they are neat and up the sides of the pie dish. You can also use the back of a fork to imprint a design.

• Repeat with any remaining sections of dough.

• Brush with egg wash before baking.

• For baking instructions, proceed with your pie recipe directions. Tent with foil if at any point the crust is getting too brown to prevent from burning. For the mini chicken pot pies, I baked at 425 F uncovered between 25-40 minutes, until golden brown and the filling was bubbly.

Equipment

You only need basic kitchen tools to make this Gluten Free Sourdough Pie Crust. I recommend:

• A glass pie dish (ceramic works, too) or mini pie pans (my favorite for chicken pot pie as well as cobblers/crisps). I bought the Pioneer Woman mini pie pans, but they're currently out of stock.
• A French rolling pin. I recommend French rolling pins for gluten-free baking because they have tapered ends, meaning it won't leave any imprints or get stuck on the dough.
• A dough cutter for cutting the dough into sections, if needed.
• A basting brush for the egg wash.
• Parchment paper is always a must when rolling out gluten-free dough. It's seriously a lifesaver.
• Don't want to make a starter from scratch? This Sourdough Starter Culture packet gives you a head start with a dehydrated gluten-free sourdough starter culture and directions to follow to maintain it for years to come. I love this website because there's also cheesemaking, yogurt, kombucha, and fermented vegetable kits. (Use the code WONDERS15X on Cultures For Health's website to get 15% off!) The GF starter is also available for purchase on Amazon here.

How to Store Gluten Free Sourdough Pie Crust:

You can store Gluten Free Sourdough Pie Crust at room temperature or in the refrigerator depending on your pie recipe. Ex: Chicken pot pies must go in the fridge but a cherry pie is fine at room temperature.

If you are refrigerating your pie, it's best to reheat it again in the oven at 350 F. This will help it to crisp up again and not lose the flakiness. When I reheated the mini chicken pot pies, I cooked for 25-30 minutes at 350 F. Tent with foil if at any time the pie crust appears to be getting too browned.

Additionally, you can store the unbaked pie crust in the freezer for up to 3 months. This is especially helpful to make in advance and freeze to use for upcoming holidays, cutting down on prep time. Simply thaw in refrigerator overnight before rolling out.

Notes on Gluten Free Sourdough Pie Crust:

• In savory recipes like my gluten free chicken pot pie, I prefer using older sourdough discard for this recipe (aged 2 to 3 weeks) for a classic sourdough tang. If you don't have aged discard, you can also ferment the dough (in other words, leave chilled in the refrigerator) overnight or up to 2 days to develop a sour flavor.
• To make the mini pot pies, I used only a top crust cut thick, around 3/16th of an inch. It was the PERFECT flakiness and thickness.
• The chicken pot pie filling recipe will be coming soon!
• The mama pie in the oven is my chicken pot pie with regular GF pie crust (not sourdough) - recipe also coming soon!

Can you tell how flaky the outside is while the inside of the pot pie has that quintessential gravy-saturated, soft and tender bite? I'm sad I already finished this pie. 🙁

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