Easy Sourdough Pop Tarts With Filling Variations

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These sourdough pop tarts combine a flaky, buttery crust with a variety of delicious fillings and a sweet glaze that your family will love.  They’re so easy to make that you’re never gonna have to buy store-bought pop tarts ever again.  And these are, of course, much healthier than grocery store pop tarts especially since they’re made with sourdough. 

Childhood Memories

Almost everyone has some kind of childhood memory that includes pop tarts.  I didn’t get pop tarts very often because we cooked mostly from scratch when I was a kid, but on a camping trip or a road trip you might occasionally get pop tarts, and oh boy were they ever good!  My favorite ones were always the brown sugar filled pop tarts, although they were probably the least healthy.  You’ll have to comment below if you have a favorite childhood memory of pop tarts.  I think we can all agree that pop tarts are convenient and well loved by all kids.  

Regular Pop Tarts Unhealthy

The problem with grocery store pop tarts is that they contain a lot of very unhealthy ingredients.  The average pop tart has 10-15 ingredients in it and includes things like artificial food coloring, corn syrup and seed oils, all of which are things I try to avoid feeding my family.  So if I can easily make the same thing for my family using only 4 to 5 basic ingredients, I’m all about it.

Homemade Pop Tarts Healthy

To make these easy sourdough pop tarts, I just make a big batch of my sourdough pie crust in my bosch mixer.  I use this crust recipe for everything from fruit pies and cream pies, to beef pot pies.  After allowing the dough to long ferment, I just roll some crust out into rectangular shapes, put different kinds of filling into them, and bake.  Even though the sugary ones are good, they still probably aren’t the healthiest, although a treat now and then never hurt anyone.  The pop tarts filled with homemade jam are probably the healthiest and they taste amazing!

And then don’t forget to make a glaze for the top of the pop tarts!  This really makes them taste like the pop tarts from childhood.  I just make a simple glaze out of milk and powdered sugar, and drizzle it over the cooled pop tarts.  It really is so delicious!

Health Benefits Of Sourdough Pop Tarts

Anytime you add a fermented element like sourdough to a recipe, it becomes more nutritious because it contains live probiotics and good bacteria that help with gut health and digestion.  Gluten and phytic acid are naturally present in wheat, and are usually what is to blame for people not being able to digest gluten well.  When the grain is fermented through the sourdough process, the gluten and phytic acid are broken down, making it easier to digest.  A lot of people that struggle with gluten intolerance (not people with celiac), can digest food made with sourdough without any issue, especially if the recipe is allowed to sit out for a few hours and “long ferment”.   

In addition, phytic acid is an anti-nutrient that blocks absorption of the nutrients found in wheat. During the sourdough fermentation process, the phytic acid gets broken down and the nutrients are more bio-available to the body. This is why baking with sourdough is so important for our health.

Be sure to watch our full tutorial on how to make your own sourdough starter here.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Old-fashioned – just like the pop tarts you remember from childhood
• Healthy – made a few ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen with no unhealthy seed oils, food dyes or preservatives.
• Easy – once you see how fast and easy these are to make, you’ll be making them over and over again.  In fact, they’re so easy that you kids can probably make them by themselves.
• Great way to use sourdough discard – if you have a lot of sourdough discard to use up, just make a big batch of sourdough pie crust and you can make pop tarts and lots of other delicious things for your family.

Ingredients

Pop Tart Dough

• Flour—you can use any kind of flour in this sourdough pie crust, although all-purpose flour will give you the lightest and flakiest crust. My favorite flour is from Azure Standard, and I like to buy it in bulk and store it in my homestead pantry so that I never run out.
• Sourdough discard, also known as sourdough starter is made from fermented flour and water.  It makes the pie crust easier for your body to digest especially if left in the refrigerator to long ferment.  It’s best to use sourdough discard straight from your discard jar in the refrigerator. It will be cold which will make a more flaky pie crust.  To learn more about how to make a sourdough starter which you can use in all your cooking and baking, click here.
• Butter – I like to use my own homemade butter, but you can use any butter that you have.  Real butter is what gives this crust it’s flaky layers, and a rich buttery taste.  You want to be sure to use refrigerated or frozen butter for a nice flaky crust.  
• Sugar – The sugar is optional, and can be left especially if you plan to make savory pies like chicken pot pie.  However, I like the little bit of sweet that the sugar gives. If you purchase cane sugar from Azure Standard it’s a lot healthier than regular white sugar.  
• Salt – This is one of the things that gives the crust it’s flavor, so definitely don’t leave out the salt.  The best salt is Redmond real salt that I like to get from Azure Standard.

Filling Options

Jam

Any kind of jam will work or you can make your own filling by thickening some fruit with ½ cup sugar, and 2 Tbl. cornstarch per cup of fruit.  Here’s my favorite jam made without any pectin.

Brown sugar cinnamon filling

• Brown sugar
• Cinnamon
• Butter

Chocolate filling

• Chocolate chips
• Butter
• Cream
• Vanilla 
• Powdered Sugar

Glaze

• Powdered sugar
• Milk

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Tools

How To Make Sourdough Pop Tarts

Make the dough

• In a mixer, or a large bowl, combine dry ingredients.
• Shave or grate cold or frozen butter.

Add the cold butter to the dry mixture and “cut” in the butter using a mixer, or a fork or pastry blender if using a bowl until the mixture resembles small pebbles.

Put in the sourdough starter, and mix just until combined.  Too much mixing can make it tough.

Add a Tablespoon of flour or cold water as needed if dough seems too wet or too dry.  I typically don’t have to do this, but you can if you need to.

Put in an airtight container or piece of plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before rolling out.  

This pie crust can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks and used for quick meals.

Filling

• Brown Sugar: combine brown sugar, cinnamon and softened butter together in a small bowl.  
• Chocolate: combine chocolate chips and cream in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.  Stir constantly until chocolate is melted.  Add in butter, vanilla and powdered sugar.  

Make The Pop Tarts

Split the dough into two separate sections using a bench scraper.

Roll out each section into a rectangle shape.

Place filling in the middle of one end of dough rectangle.  

Starting on the short side, fold one half of the dough over the top of the other half of the dough, creating a pocket for the filling.  

Use a fork to crimp the edges of the dough together all the way around the pop tart.

Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.

After the pop tarts have cooled, mix up the glaze ingredients and drizzle over the top of each pop tart. 

Enjoy with a cold glass of milk – you’ll never taste anything better.

Sourdough pop tarts can be frozen before they are baked for up to 6 months.  When you’re ready to eat them, just pull the unbaked pop tarts out of the freezer, and bake as normal.

Tips For Making This Sourdough Pop Tarts Recipe

• Use your favorite flavor of jam as filling in these delicious homemade pop tarts, or make the cinnamon sugar or chocolate fillings.  All of them are so delicious!
• Make sure you use as many cold ingredients as possible.  I like to use frozen butter, and I just grate it or shave it with a knife before adding it to the flour mixture.  It’s also good to use cold sourdough starter straight from your refrigerator.
• Don’t overmix the dough once you add the sourdough starter, just mix until it’s combined so it doesn’t get tough.
• You can make this in a mixer or food processor, or mix it by hand.  If you mix it by hand, you can use a fork or a couple of butter knives to combine the dry ingredients with the butter until it’s little pea-sized pebbles.  You want to avoid using your hands as much as possible because it will warm up the butter.  Once you add the sourdough starter, you may have to use your hands to combine it quickly. But the less you handle it the better.  If I’m making big batches, I always like to use my Bosch mixer.
• Depending on the hydration (or how wet) your sourdough discard is, you may find the crust seems a little too wet or dry.  Feel free to add another Tablespoon of water or flour at the end until it’s the right consistency.  Keep in mind that it will be easier to handle once it’s been chilled in the refrigerator.
  I recommend chilling your dough for at least 30 minutes before baking.  Cold dough always rolls out better.

FAQ

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