Sourdough Apple Galette

This Sourdough Apple Galette features a freeform, flaky sourdough pie crust, and lots of apple flavor from fresh apples and apple butter.

If you’re short on time or looking for a more rustic Thanksgiving pie option, this sourdough apple galette is a great choice! It comes together much faster than traditional sourdough apple pie and doesn’t require you to precook the filling.

Learn how to make this recipe below with detailed tips, step-by-step photos, and ingredient information so you’ll have the best success.

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🛠 Tools Needed

• Baking scale
  • Flour and sourdough starter can weigh differently from person to person, so weighing your ingredients will make your baking more consistent and accurate.
• Mixing Bowl
  • I mix the sourdough pie crust by hand with a fork in a large bowl, but you can also use a food processor.
• Spatula, for mixing and stirring the apple filling.
• Rolling Pin, for rolling out the pie crust
• Pastry Brush, for egg wash
• Sheet Pan, lined with parchment paper.

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🛒 Ingredients Needed

Sourdough Pie Crust

• All-purpose flour
  • You can substitute some or all of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour.
  • Make the sourdough pie crust gluten-free by using cup-for-cup or measure-for-measure gluten-free flours.
• Salt
• Unsalted butter, cold
  • Keep your butter cold when making flaky pastry. The cold butter creates steam in the hot oven, ensuring you get a flaky crust.
  • For a richer flavor, use a European-style butter such as Kerrygold or Cabot Extra Creamy.
• Sourdough Discard
  • Similar to adding vinegar to pie dough, sourdough discard adds acidity to the pie crust, which reduces gluten development and results in a more tender crust. It also adds a slight tangy flavor.
  • If you don’t have an active sourdough starter, learn how to make one in a week by following my how-to make sourdough starter guide. See my top sourdough starter tips and other sourdough discard recipes.
• Ice Water
  • Helps bind the crust together.
• Egg, for egg wash
  • The egg wash gives the crust a perfect golden brown sheen and helps create a protective barrier to prevent fruit juices from leaking.
• Raw sugar, for a sparkly and crunchy crust

Apple Filling

• Apples
  • I recommend using a mix of various fresh apple varieties for this recipe to achieve the best flavor and texture, such as making Sourdough Apple Cider Upside-Down Cake.
  • Favorite apple pie baking apples include Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Honeycrisp, or heirloom apples such as Northern Spy, Braeburn, Cortland, and Gravenstein.
• Apple Butter
  • Learn how to make homemade apple butter for canning using my delicious recipe featuring oranges and spices.
  • Alternatively, use applesauce.
• Cinnamon
  • Apples and cinnamon always go together, but you can use other warming spices, such as apple pie spice, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cardamom, or allspice.
• Brown Sugar
  • Use light or dark brown sugar to add a little sweetness and molasses flavor to the apple filling.
• Apple Cider Vinegar
  • I like to use apple cider vinegar to add more acid and reduce browning in the apples, but you can also use lemon juice.
  • Note that apple cider vinegar is not the same as sweet apple cider used in recipes like Sourdough Apple Cider Donuts or Sourdough Apple Cider Upside-Down Cake.

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🥧 How to Make Sourdough Apple Galette

1. Make the Sourdough Pie Dough

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Toss in the cold, cubed butter and use your hands or a pastry cutter to cut it into pea-sized pieces.

Then, pour in the sourdough discard and toss it all with a fork to start forming clumps. Drizzle in the ice water until larger clumps form, but the dough is still shaggy and dry (image 1).

Dump the pie dough out onto a work surface and use a bench scraper to chop the dough, which will distribute the liquid. Then, use your hands and bench scraper to gather the dough together and gently knead it a few times to bring it together. Add any dry bits on top to incorporate, and only add more ice water if it’s not hydrating (image 2 & 3).

Bring the dough together using your hands until no dry spots remain and wrap in plastic wrap (image 4). Press the dough to the edges of the plastic wrap to shape it.

Chill the sourdough pie dough for at least two hours and up to 3 days.

2. Mix the Apple Filling

In a large mixing bowl, combine the sliced apples (no need to peel), brown sugar, cinnamon, and apple cider vinegar together until the apples are coated in the sugars and spices.

3. Roll Out the Pie Dough

Remove one chilled sourdough pie dough disc from the refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for 5 minutes to become pliable.

Then, use a rolling pin to roll out into a large 13-14″ round. While rolling out, rotate and flip the dough, flouring in between as necessary to prevent sticking.

4. Assemble the Sourdough Apple Galette

Preheat the oven to 400ºF (204ºC) and line a large sheet pan with parchment paper.

Beat an egg with a splash of water in a small bowl to make the egg wash.

Transfer the rolled out dough to the sheet pan.

Spoon apple butter evenly on top of the dough, leaving a 1 ½-2″ border around the edges. It’ll look like pizza!

Then, add the apple slices on top. For less gaps, layer the apples on top of each other in a circular, geometric fan pattern.

Brush the edges with egg wash to help prevent leaking and help the edges to seal.

Then, fold the edges up and inwards around the dough to create pleats that will seal in the pie. Remember that galettes are a rustic, freeform pie, so it’s okay if the shape isn’t perfect.

Finally, freeze the galette for at least 15 minutes while your oven preheats. Chilling the galette will create flakier layers like a Sourdough Croissants, Flaky Sourdough Biscuits, and Sourdough Pop Tarts.

5. Bake

Just before baking, brush more egg wash on the exterior of the crust and sprinkle with raw or turbinado sugar for a sparkly, crunchy topping.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until the apples are tender and bubbling slightly and the crust is flaky, golden brown. Cover with aluminum foil about 30 minutes into baking if you notice that the crust is darkening too fast.

Remove from the oven to cool on a wire rack for at least an hour before serving. Cooling allows the filling to set.

For shiny apples before serving, you can brush them with warm apple, apricot, or quince jelly.

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How to Store and Serve

The sourdough apple galette is best served at room temperature for the first couple of days or refrigerated for up to five days.

The crust will become more soggy over time, but you can reheat it for a couple of minutes in a toaster oven if needed.

To freeze the baked pie, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and foil, and store it for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator for at least a day.

I enjoy this fall pie with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It’s an excellent fall dessert for the holidays or at Thanksgiving with my the best, fluffy Sourdough Dinner Rolls, Sourdough Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls, or Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls.

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❓ Frequently Asked Questions