The BEST Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie is no easy feat!  And it has taken me many years to master this art.  But I’ve finally found a recipe that created the PERFECT pie, and it’s legit the BEST pumpkin pie you’ll ever have.  Secret ingredient: sourdough starter!  Much of this recipe is in grams, so make sure you have a food scale handy!

Ingredients:

Sourdough Pie Crust:

• 125 g organic bread flour
• 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
• 1 tsp organic cane sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (must be COLD!)
• 100 g sourdough starter (or discard)
• 1 tsp white vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
• Iced water just in case!

Pumpkin Pie Filling:

• 3 eggs
• 1 can of organic pumpkin puree
• 240 g heavy cream
• 60 g milk (any milk is fine)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 175 g brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 50 g sourdough starter
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Instructions:

Prepare the sourdough pie crust:

• Add all flour, salt, and sugar to a large mixing bowl and stir together until well combined.  Set aside.
• Grate the cold butter into a bowl.  If the butter starts to melt or is very soft once grated, place the bowl into the freezer.  This will help to firm the butter up and make the next step much easier.  I cannot stress enough how important it is for the butter to be COLD.
• Place the cold grated butter into the bowl with the flour, salt and sugar, and use a pastry cutter or finger tips to coat the butter in the flour.  You want the butter to stay cold, so try to touch it as little as you can.
• Now add the sourdough starter or discard and vinegar and bring the mixture into a dry, shaggy dough.  It’s best just to use your hands to squeeze the pastry dough together.  It will be a rough, dry dough.
• If the dough really isn’t coming together at all, add a little iced water until you are able to bring it together.
• Tip the rough dough out onto the counter, and bring it into a rough ball.  Wrap up the pastry dough in parchment paper and squash it down into a disc shape.  Wrap the disc in cling wrap and place disc into fridge.
• Leave the dough a minimum of 1 hour to fully hydrate and become cold.  You can leave the dough in the fridge for up to 48 hours before you use it.
• When you are ready to use the sourdough pastry to make a pie crust, take the dough out of the fridge and unwrap it.  Dust the dough lightly with flour and use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to your desired size.
• Gently place the sourdough pie crust into your chosen pie dish and gently push the pastry down to make it fit.
• Once your pie crust is fitted inside your pie dish and you’re happy with it, place a piece of parchment paper on top of the pastry and then weigh down with pie weights (we used a handful of beans). Blind bake the pie crust for 10 min at 375 F.

Preparing the Pumpkin Pie Filling:

• While the sourdough pie crust is blind baking, prepare the pumpkin pie filling.
• Whisk together the pumpkin puree, eggs, and brown sugar until they are well combined.  Then add heavy cream, milk, sourdough starter, vanilla extract, salt, and spices and whisk until foamy.  Set aside until the pie crust is par baked.

Baking the Pumpkin Pie:

• Once the sourdough pie crust has been par baked, remove the pie weights (beans) and fill the pie crust with the pupmkin pie filling.  You want the filling to come up around 75% of the pie crust.  It will rise while baking.
• Return the pie to the oven for around 50 minutes to 1 hour. You want the middle of the pie to remain wobbly once it’s done as it will firm up as it cools.  If the crust is over browning before the filling is done, shield the edges of the pie with aluminum foil.
• Remove from oven and allow to sit at room temperature for around 2 hours before placing in the fridge to fully cool.