Sourdough Discard Pop Tarts are an easy, flaky treat that you can make with your sourdough discard at home. Homemade sourdough pop tarts taste a million times better than any store-bought version. Made with a few simple ingredients from your pantry and then filled with your favorite pop tart flavor or homemade jam, this a delicious snack for all ages.
Why you’ll love this sourdough discard pop tart recipe
We all have childhood memories of certain foods that we love. We seldom had Pop-Tarts, but we loved them as a sugary treat! If you love sourdough comfort food, this recipe will be on repeat for your family. Making this sourdough discard pop tarts recipe from scratch will be a labor of love, but totally worth it. They remind me of homemade hand pies but with a sweet glaze on top.
Clean Ingredients
You know exactly what is in this recipe! No high fructose corn syrup. No seed oils. No artificial flavors or yucky food dyes. Just some good old flour, sugar, salt, butter, sourdough discard, eggs, and jam. Sounds so wholesome and simple! Something that you won’t mind if your kids take a second helping, unlike store-bought pop tarts.
Delicious Flaky Layers
This recipe was created using my sourdough discard pie crust recipe. You will love the buttery goodness of layers upon layers of flaky crust. This is way better than any toaster pastry, with a colorful glaze to make it look like a fun treat.
A fun way to use up sourdough discard
We all know that sourdough starter discard can sometimes pile up quickly. This quick sourdough recipe will use up that extra sourdough discard. For those who love to plan ahead, make a double batch and put the second one into the freezer for a quick, healthy after-school treat.
Tips
- Make sure your butter is very cold. It will create that delicious flaky crust.
- Don’t overwork the dough. It makes for a tough crust
- Let the pop tarts cool completely before adding the glaze. If you add the glaze while they are still warm, it will melt and slide off the top. A cooled pop tart holds the glaze nicely on top.
- Use an egg wash to seal the edges and crimp with a fork to prevent the filling from leaking out.
- Refridgerate the pop tarts before baking. It lets them firm up and helps keep the flaky texture.
- Add a tbsp of jam to your icing to make a fun glaze without harmful food coloring.
Ingredients for Homemade Sourdough Discard Pop Tarts
Sourdough discard pastry crust
All-purpose flour
Salt
Sugar
Butter
Sourdough Discard – (you can also use active sourdough starter)
Egg yolk
3-5 tbsp cold ice water
Filling
Homemade Blueberry or Strawberry Jam. You can use any filling you like such as leftover pie filling or homemade thickened fruit filling.
Start by making the pastry crust
Take a medium-sized bowl and add your dry ingredients. Flour, sugar and salt.
Take your very cold butter (it can be half-frozen) and grate it with a cheese grater.
Mix the grated butter with the dry ingredients until the butter is coated with flour.
Next, I like to use a bench scraper to cut the butter into the dry ingredients. You can also use a pastry cutter or your fingers. It should form pea-sized crumbles.
Add the sourdough discard and egg yolk to the bowl. Mix with a fork.
Take a 1 cup measuring cup and fill it with very cold water. Add 2 ice cubes to keep it cold. You will be adding water by the tablespoon until the crust comes together nicely. Be careful not to add too much water.
Press the mixture together with your hands until you can’t see any more flour mixture. Slowly add a tbsp of water. Keep working the dough until it forms a nice dough ball. Add another tablespoon of water if it is still too crumbly or dry. (approximately 3-5 tbsp of water) Don’t overmix. Stop as soon as the dough doesn’t crumble apart.
Divide the dough into 2 discs.
Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, refrigerate for 1 hour to let the dough chill.
Tip
It is very important to keep the dough as cold as possible. It prevents the butter or fat from melting too soon. When the butter melts before baking, your crust won’t be flaky or hold its shape nicely. Warm pie dough gets greasy and tough. We are aiming for a light, flaky crust. When the butter melts in the oven at high temperature, it creates those delicious air pockets and flaky layers.
Roll and Fill
Take one portion of the dough from the fridge and place it on a lightly floured surface. Press the dough into a small rectangular shape. Use a rolling pin to roll it into a rectangle shape, about 1/8″ thick. Use more flour as needed. Work as quickly as you can so the dough doesn’t get too warm. Trim the edges and divide the rectangle into 4 equal long rectangles. You can use a pizza cutter or a very sharp knife.
Put 1 tbsp of jam or filling of your choice on one end of the dough. If you are using a homemade fruit filling, make sure it is not too runny or it will leak out of the pop tarts. Leave some room around the outer edges. Make an egg wash (whisk 1 egg with a tbsp of water.) and brush the outer edges of the Pop-Tart dough. Take the other end of the dough and fold it over the jam. Use a fork to crimp the edges to prevent the filling from running out.
Prick the tops (not all the way through) of the pastry crust with a fork a few times to allow steam to escape.
Use a flat spatula to carefully place the pop tart onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Place into the fridge while you work on the other half of the dough.
Repeat with the other half of the dough. Place into fridge while you preheat your oven. This will allow the pop tarts to firm up again because they have been in the warmth for a while now.
Bake
Remove from the fridge and brush the tops of the pop tarts with the remaining egg wash. Bake the sourdough pop tarts at 350 F for approximately 25 to 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Transfer the baked pop tarts to a cooling rack until completely cool. Don’t add the glaze while the pop tarts are still warm, the glaze will slide off the top of the pop tart.
Glaze
In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, milk, and filling of choice. (I used my homemade blueberry jam.) The glaze should have a thick spreadable consistency. Top the cooled pop tarts with icing and enjoy!
Different Sourdough Pop Tart Flavors and Variations
Strawberry Delight – Use 1-2 tbsp of strawberry jam per pop tart. You can also add homemade strawberry jam to the sweet glaze for light pink strawberry glaze.
Frosted Blueberry – Use 1-2 tbsp of blueberry jam per pop tart. Add blueberry jam to the glaze to make a light purple blueberry glaze.
Nutella Filled. Use 1-2 tablespoons of Nutella per pop tart.
Apple Cinamon –Use 1 to 2 tbsp of apple cinnamon preserve per pop tart. Add cinnamon to the glaze for extra flavor.
Add sprinkles for some pop-tart fun!
How to store and freeze Homemade Sourdough Pop Tarts
Store the sourdough discard pop tarts in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. To reheat, just pop them into the oven for 5 minutes and serve.
Freezing pop tarts. These can easily be placed into an air-tight container and frozen until ready to use. Just make sure the pop-tarts are unglazed. Unbaked pop tarts freeze well. Let them thaw and bake according to the directions above.
Craving something sweet? Try my other Sourdough Discard recipes
White Chocolate and Cranberry Sourdough Scones
Chewy Sourdough Discard Oatmeal Cookies
Are you looking for Sourdough Side Dishes for supper?
Try my Sourdough Cheesy Bread or Sourdough Flatbread or my soft Sourdough Discard Pretzel Bites
Homemade Sourdough Discard Pop Tarts
Ingredients
Pop tart pastry dough
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 cup butter
- 1/2 cup sourdough dicard or active starter
- 1 egg yolk
- 3-5 tbsp cold ice water
Filling
- 3/4 cup homemade blueberry jam or filling of choice
Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp milk
- 1 tbsp blueberry filling
Instructions
Make the crust
- Take a medium-sized bowl and add your dry ingredients. Flour, salt and sugar.
- Take your very cold butter (it can be half frozen) and grate it with a cheese grater.
- Mix the grated butter with the dry ingredients until the butter is coated with flour.
- Next, I like to use a bench scraper to cut the butter into the dry ingredients. You can also use a pastry cutter or your fingers. It should form pea-sized crumbles.
- Add the sourdough discard and egg yolk to the bowl. Mix with a fork.
- Take a 1 cup measuring cup and fill it with very cold water. Add 2 ice cubes to keep it cold. You will be adding water by the tablespoon until the crust comes together nicely. Be careful not to add too much water.
- Press the mixture together with your hands until you can't see any more flour. Slowly add a tbsp of water. Keep working the dough until it forms a nice dough ball. Add another tablespoon of water if it is still too crumbly or dry. (approximately 3-5 tbsp of water) Don't overmix. Stop as soon as the dough doesn't crumble apart.
- Divide the dough into 2 discs.
- Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour and let the dough chill.
Roll and Fill
- Take one portion of the dough from the fridge and place it on a lightly floured surface. Press the dough into a small rectangular shape. Use a rolling pin to roll into a rectangle shape, about 1/8″ thick. Trim the edges and divide the rectangle into 4 equal long rectangles. You can use a pizza cutter or a very sharp knife.
- Put 1 tbsp of jam or filling of your choice on one end of the dough. Leave some room around the outer edges. Make an egg wash (whisk 1 egg with a tbsp of water.) and brush the edges of the pop tart dough. Take the other end of the dough and fold it over the jam. Use a fork to crimp the edges to prevent the filling from running out.
- Prick the tops of the dough and carefully place the pop tart onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Place the pop-tarts into the fridge to keep cool while you work on the second half of the dough.
- Repeat with the other half of the dough. Place the pop tarts into the fridge while the oven preheats.
Bake and Glaze
- When the oven is preheated, remove the pop tarts from the fridge and brush with the remaining egg wash. Bake the pop tarts at 350 F for approximately 25 to 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Transfer the baked pop tarts to a cooling rack until completely cool. Don't add the glaze while the pop tarts are still warm, the glaze will slide off the top of the pop tart.
Glaze
- In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, milk, and filling of choice. (I used my homemade blueberry jam) Top the pop tarts with glaze and enjoy!
Notes
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