Sourdough Shortcrust Pastry for savory pies & tarts

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This easy & delicious shortcrust pastry can serve as the base for savory pies & tarts, and it's a great way to use sourdough starter discard!

I'm tinkering with ways to use my sourdough starter discard again. Yes, there's gingerbread, pumpkin cake, dinner rolls, bagels (both basic and no-boil), and pretzels.

But what about pies and tarts?

Can we adapt a simple shortcrust pastry recipe to use unfed sourdough starter?

(Do we need to ask?)

Sourdough Shortcrust Pastry is a flavorful way to use your weekly sourdough starter discard!

Jump to:

• What makes shortcrust pastry different from pie crust?
• Adapting shortcrust pastry for sourdough
• The recipe doesn't change...much
• The method stays the same
• How thick should I roll out the dough?
• How to blind bake your shortcrust pastry without pie weights
• Recipes using sourdough starter discard
• 📖 Recipe

What makes shortcrust pastry different from pie crust?

Basic shortcrust pastry, like most crusts, is very versatile and can be used for both sweet and savory preparations.

Shortcrust pastry at its core is an enriched pie crust. That is to say pie crust that has an egg whisked into the liquid before adding it to the flour and butter mixture.

What enriching the pastry dough does is give it sturdiness. That’s why a tart can be released from a tart pan and still stand up…a pie crust can’t.

So, shortcrust pastry is used for any type of filled item that’s going to be free-standing. Think pies, tarts, and quiches.

Adapting shortcrust pastry for sourdough

Since sourdough starter is (usually) equal parts flour and water, adapting a simple shortcrust pastry recipe just means replacing that amount of flour and water with the starter.

The trick is to reduce the flour used by half the weight of the discard, and replace most (or all) of the water by that same amount.

So, for a normal weekly discard of 1 cup unfed starter (8 oz or 227g), you'd reduce the flour by a scant cup (4 oz, 113 g) and the water by ½ cup (4 oz, 113g).

This is why using a kitchen scale is so important when baking. It's so much easier to rely on the weight measurements for more accuracy than the volume.

My recipe below originally used ½ cup of water already, so all the water is being replaced by the starter. Simple, right?

The recipe doesn't change...much

The way to make Sourdough Shortcrust Pastry is mostly the same as your typical sweet shortcrust pastry recipe, but with a couple of changes.

First, there's no sugar in the recipe. Here the sweetness would be covered up by the tanginess of the sourdough starter. Save the sweet uses for a normal shortcrust pastry recipe.

Second, my basic shortcrust pastry includes vinegar in the dough. The acid tenderizes the dough so it's not too hard or chewy. Here, the sourdough starter is acidic enough to take care of this for us.

Third, there's less salt in this recipe. Again, the starter adds its flavor instead.

The method stays the same

Making Sourdough Shortcrust Pastry is just like making the basic version.

The recipe for shortcrust pastry dough exactly mimics that of pie dough (no surprise there). Mix flour and salt, then cut in butter to form pea-sized clumps.

I like to toss the butter into the flour mixture as I grate it. That way it doesn't turn into a big blob of butter that you then have to cut in. 

You can use a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a food processor to make the dough. Just be mindful to pulse the ingredients quickly and don’t overwork it. You want that butter to stay cold and to keep the flour from developing too much gluten so the crust will be flaky.

Whisk the egg yolk into the starter, then fold the liquid into the flour mixture until you get a shaggy dough. Turn the dough out onto a pastry mat and give it a quick kneading to bring it all together.

Squeeze a small amount of dough between your fingers and if it is very crumbly, add ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time (2 tablespoons maximum).

Shape the dough into discs, cover with plastic wrap, and chill for at least 1 hour or up to overnight. You want that butter to get cold again from all that manipulation.

When the dough is chilled, roll it out and use it on whatever pan your recipe requires. Here I'm using a 10-inch tart pan to make a Chicken & Broccoli quiche tart.

How thick should I roll out the dough?

The best way to roll out shortcrust dough is to use even pressure and roll out from the center in all four compass directions, north, south, east and west. Turn and loosen the dough occasionally as you continue to roll the pastry out into a circle or square shape (unless, like me, you end up with a blob-shape).

A good thickness starting point is approximately ¼-inch thickness, about the height of two stacked quarters. You can go thicker or thinner based on your recipe.

How to blind bake your shortcrust pastry without pie weights

Here's a trick I learned from Smitten Kitchen to successfully blind bake pie dough and shortcrust pastry. Freeze the crust in its pan tightly covered with foil.

You don't need to use pie weights or dried beans using this frozen-foil method.

1. Tear off a piece of foil that fits over the entire pan with overhang (or add extra foil as needed).
2. Spray the foil with baking spray to keep it from sticking to the dough.
3. Press the foil into the pan and tightly up against the sides. Bring the foil up over the rim and mold it to the sides of the pan.
4. Freeze the crust for 15 minutes.
5. Bake the crust with the foil on for 20 minutes. At this point the crust is par-baked.
6. Carefully remove the foil from the crust. If the crust has puffed up, gently press it back down. Any tears or cracks in the crust can be repaired with dough scraps. Return the crust to the oven and bake the crust until golden brown, 5 to 10 minutes more.

There you have it. No more slumping sides or messing around with dried beans.

I'm all in for that!

The aroma of the blind-baked crust reminded me of sourdough bread. Needless to say, the house smelled wonderful.

For those looking for ideas to use your weekly sourdough starter discard, here's another arrow in your quiver.

Now go forth, make a Sourdough Shortcrust Pastry, and charge into the world knowing you have a delicious savory tart in your future!