How to Make Sourdough Discard Pop Tarts
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Sourdough pop tarts might be the most fun thing I’ve ever made with sourdough starter — and my kids completely agree. Pop tarts and toaster strudels are already a family favorite around here: perfect for quick Sunday mornings, easy to pack for a camping trip or fishing day, and impossible to say no to when someone pulls one out of their bag on the road. The problem is the ingredient list on the store-bought version.
The solution is sourdough. A simple fermented pie crust dough wraps around your favorite jam filling to make a flaky, golden, completely homemade sourdough pop tart that you can feel genuinely good about. You can use active starter or forgotten discard — both work perfectly — and the overnight fermentation does all the heavy lifting while you sleep. Let me show you exactly how to make them.
Table of contents
- Why Sourdough Makes Better Pop Tarts
- Sourdough Pie Crust for the Dough
- Can I Use Sourdough Discard for Pop Tarts? (Yes — Here’s Why It Doesn’t Matter)
- Sourdough is easier to digest
- Sourdough Pop Tart Filling Ideas — Get Creative
- Thin dough for the perfect hand size snack
- Get your jelly or make your own
- Crimp and Egg wash the sourdough pop tarts
- How to Make the Icing for Sourdough Pop Tarts
- How to Store, Reheat, and Pack Sourdough Pop Tarts
- Give Sourdough Pop Tarts as a Gift
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Sourdough Recipes You’ll Love
- About the Author
Why Sourdough Makes Better Pop Tarts
A standard pop tart is essentially sugar wrapped in refined flour with a little more sugar on top. Not exactly a nutritional win. But when you ferment the pastry dough with sourdough starter overnight, something genuinely useful happens: the fermentation process breaks down phytic acid in the flour, making the nutrients more bioavailable and the dough significantly easier to digest.
The long ferment also reduces the glycemic impact of the dough — meaning less of a blood sugar spike than you’d get from a conventional pastry. On top of all that, the flavor that develops during fermentation is incomparable.
The slight tang of sourdough against a sweet jam filling is the kind of complexity you simply cannot get from a quick dough. These aren’t just healthier pop tarts — they’re genuinely better pop tarts.
Sourdough Pie Crust for the Dough
Before you start — the dough for these sourdough pop tarts comes from my flaky sourdough pie crust recipe. Make it the night before and let it ferment while you sleep. It’s the foundation that makes everything else work.
You simply whisk together flour and salt, cut in cold butter, stir in your starter, and let it ferment. If you go for a long ferment the sourdough will do its thing while you sleep and when you’re ready to bake the next day. No matter what, your dough will be flaky and delicious with that depth of flavor that only sourdough can bring!
New to sourdough? Don’t let that stop you — this recipe works with starter at any stage, including complete discard. Check out my beginner’s guide to sourdough starter if you want to get one going, or just use what you have and dive right in.
Can I Use Sourdough Discard for Pop Tarts? (Yes — Here’s Why It Doesn’t Matter)
This is one of those beautiful recipes where the state of your starter is completely irrelevant. Bubbly, active, just-fed starter works. Neglected, unfed, straight-from-the-fridge discard works just as well. The leavening in this recipe comes from the flaky layered pastry technique — the cold butter creating steam in the oven — not from the starter itself.
The sourdough is here purely for flavor and fermentation benefits, which means any starter at any stage will do exactly what you need it to do. If your dough feels a little dry because you used a smaller amount of starter, just add cold water one tablespoon at a time until it comes together. You really cannot mess this up.
If you don’t have a starter yet, here’s my complete sourdough starter guide.
Sourdough is easier to digest
Pop tarts and toaster strudels are definitely a treat with all of the sugar included in the recipe. Adding sourdough and allowing the dough to ferment will neutralize the physic acids and unlock more nutrients. The dough will become more digestible, and cause less of a blood sugar spike, lessening the impact of all that sugar you’ll be consuming.
You could even choose a sugar free jelly for the filling and have a truly healthy snack. Sourdough is an easy way to turn a sugary treat into a semi-healthy product that you can feel good about serving to your family.
Sourdough Pop Tart Filling Ideas — Get Creative
Jelly and jam are the classic filling choice, and for good reason — the tartness of a good fruit jam against the slightly tangy sourdough pastry is absolutely perfect. But once you’ve made your first batch, the filling possibilities are genuinely exciting. Here are some of our favorites and a few we’re still working up the courage to try:
Fruit fillings: Strawberry jam, raspberry preserves, blueberry jam, peach preserves, cherry jam, apple butter, or your own homemade refrigerator jelly. Sugar-free versions work just as well and keep things even lighter.
Dessert fillings: Nutella with a sprinkle of sea salt, peanut butter and honey, cinnamon sugar butter, or cream cheese with a spoonful of fruit jam swirled in.
Savory fillings: Don’t overlook the savory angle — a sourdough pastry filled with sharp cheddar and a smear of mustard, or scrambled egg and cheese, makes an extraordinary grab-and-go breakfast. Brush the outside with butter instead of egg wash and skip the icing entirely.
Whatever filling you choose, keep the amount to about one generous tablespoon per pop tart. Overfilling is the most common cause of burst seams during baking — the filling expands as it heats and needs a little room to breathe inside the pastry.
Thin dough for the perfect hand size snack
Roll half of your dough out until it’s about 1/8″ to 1/4″ thick. You’re looking for a rectangle shape that’s about 8″ by 12″. Cut the wonky edges to make nice straight lines.
Using a knife, pizza cutter, or bread scraper, cut your rectangle into 4 equal long rectangular strips. Each strip will get a dollop of filling, then fold over the filling to enclose it.
Get your jelly or make your own
Many different flavors of jelly can be found in stores, at farmers markets and online. You could really get creative here and try some funky flavors. Or, you could even make your own quick refrigerator jelly or jam.
You’ll have plenty of time to whip of some sort of jelly filling while your dough rests in the fridge for at least an hour. If you ferment overnight, you have all sorts of time to come up with unique fillings.
Crimp and Egg wash the sourdough pop tarts
Place a spoonful of jelly or jam to one side of each strip of pastry dough that you cut out. Fold the dough in half, over the filling, and line up the three edges. The fourth side will remain closed where the dough folds over. Brush the exposed edges of the dough with egg wash around the perimeter of the filling.
Then press or crimp the two layers of dough together with your fingers or a fork. Brush the top of the pop tart with egg wash. Now all you have to do is bake it at 350 until the pastry puffs up and turns golden brown.
How to Make the Icing for Sourdough Pop Tarts
The icing is non-negotiable. It’s the finishing detail that takes these from “homemade pastry” to “actual pop tart” — and the good news is it takes about two minutes to make. Whisk together one cup of powdered sugar with two to three tablespoons of milk and a splash of vanilla extract until smooth and pourable.
The consistency should be thick enough to stay on the pastry but thin enough to drizzle — add milk a teaspoon at a time until you get there. Spoon it over the cooled pop tarts and let it set for about ten minutes before stacking or wrapping.
For a fruit-flavored icing, substitute one tablespoon of the milk for a teaspoon of fruit jam and whisk until smooth — it adds color and a beautiful matching flavor. For the kids, set out small bowls of sprinkles while the icing is still wet. It turns a baking project into an event.
How to Store, Reheat, and Pack Sourdough Pop Tarts
Once baked and cooled, sourdough pop tarts store well at room temperature in an airtight container for up to three days — though they rarely last that long.
For longer storage, layer them between pieces of parchment paper and freeze in a zip-lock bag for up to two months. To reheat from frozen, pop them in a toaster oven at 325°F for 8 to 10 minutes until warmed through and the pastry re-crisps.
A microwave works in a pinch but softens the pastry, so the toaster oven is always the better choice. For camping and fishing trips — which is how this whole recipe got started for our family — wrap individual pop tarts in parchment paper and pack them in a hard-sided container so they don’t get crushed in the cooler bag. They’re genuinely delicious at room temperature, no reheating required.
Give Sourdough Pop Tarts as a Gift
A dozen homemade sourdough pop tarts wrapped in parchment and tied with twine makes one of the most thoughtful and unexpected food gifts you can give. Tuck them into a sourdough gift basket alongside a jar of homemade jam, a small jar of active sourdough starter, and a copy of your favorite sourdough recipe — and you’ve given someone everything they need to start their own sourdough journey.
Check out my full sourdough gift basket post for more ideas on what to include and how to put it together beautifully.
- How to make a Sourdough gift basket
- Sew a Sourdough Proofing Cover
- Sew a Sourdough Starter Cover
- Sew a sew of hot pads for baking bread
- Sew a waist apron
Jelly Filled Sourdough Pop Tart or Toaster Strudel
Equipment
- 1 bowl to mix and ferment pie crust
Ingredients
Sourdough Pastry Dough
- 2 Cups all purpose flour
- 2-4 tsp sugar we use coconut sugar sometimes
- 2 tsp salt
- 16 Tbs cold butter, cut into small cubes
Egg wash
- 1 egg
- 1-2 tsp water
Filling
- 1 Cup jam or jelly of choice
Glaze/Drizzle
- 1 Cup powdered sugar
- 1 Tbs milk, half and half or 2Tbs heavy cream
Instructions
Make the Pie Crust Pastry Dough
Step 1
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar until evenly combined.
Step 2
- Add all of the cold butter to the flour mixture and cut in using a pastry cutter, two butter knives, or your fingertips — working quickly so the butter stays cold. You’re looking for pea-sized butter pieces throughout the flour. Cold butter is what creates flaky layers, so do not let it warm up.
Step 3
- Add the sourdough starter and stir until the dough just comes together. If the dough remains shaggy or dry, add cold water one teaspoon at a time, stirring between each addition, until it forms a cohesive dough. Do not overwork it — stop mixing the moment it comes together. Shape into a puck, cover the bowl with a damp towel or plastic wrap, and move to the next step.
Step 4
- Allow the dough to ferment at room temperature for a minimum of one hour, or refrigerate overnight for up to one week. The longer the ferment, the deeper and more complex the flavor — and the more digestible the dough becomes. An overnight fridge ferment is the sweet spot for both flavor and convenience.
Shape and Fill the Pop Tarts
Step 5
- Lightly flour your work surface. Divide the dough in half and roll one half out to approximately 1/8″ to 1/4″ thick, aiming for a rectangle roughly 8″ by 12″. Trim the uneven edges with a knife, pizza cutter, or bench scraper to make clean straight lines. Cut the rectangle into 4 equal strips. Repeat with the second half of dough. You should have 8 strips total — enough for 4 finished pop tarts.
Step 6
- Place one generous tablespoon of your chosen filling onto one half of each dough strip, leaving at least a 1/2″ border around the edges. Do not overfill — the filling expands during baking and too much will burst the seams. Brush the exposed edges of the dough around the filling with egg wash.
Step 7
- Fold the unfilled half of each dough strip over the filling and line up all three open edges carefully. Press firmly along all three edges with your fingers first to seal, then crimp with the tines of a fork all the way around for a secure, decorative edge. Brush the entire top surface of each pop tart with egg wash for a golden, shiny finish.
Step 8
- Place the assembled pop tarts on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 20 to 25 minutes, until the pastry is puffed, golden brown, and cooked through. Check at the 20-minute mark — oven temperatures vary. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes before glazing.
Make the Glaze
Step 9
- While the pop tarts cool, whisk together 1 cup of powdered sugar, 2 to 3 tablespoons of milk, and a splash of vanilla extract until smooth and pourable. The glaze should be thick enough to hold on the surface but thin enough to drizzle — add milk one teaspoon at a time to reach the right consistency. For a fruit-flavored glaze, stir in one teaspoon of jam matching your filling flavor. Once the pop tarts are fully cooled, spoon the glaze over the top of each one and allow it to set for 10 minutes before serving. To serve toaster strudel style, pour the glaze into a small dish and let everyone drizzle their own.
Step 10
- Serve warm with a glass of cold milk, a hot coffee, or a cup of tea. Store cooled pop tarts in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or freeze between layers of parchment for up to 2 months. Reheat from frozen in a toaster oven at 325°F for 8 to 10 minutes.
Notes
- Starter: Active, discard, or anywhere in between — all work equally well; no adjustment needed
- Ferment time: Minimum 1 hour at room temperature; overnight in the fridge (8–12 hours) gives the best flavor and digestibility
- Dough too dry? Add cold water one tablespoon at a time until the dough just comes together — don’t overwork it
- Filling quantity: No more than 1 generous tablespoon per pop tart — overfilling causes burst seams
- Egg wash: Brush edges before crimping to seal, then brush the top before baking for golden color; substitute melted butter if needed
- Icing: 1 cup powdered sugar + 2–3 tbsp milk + splash of vanilla; add fruit jam for flavored icing
- Savory option: Skip the sugar filling and icing; fill with cheese, egg, or meat for a savory breakfast pastry
- Storage: Airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days; freeze up to 2 months between parchment layers
- Reheat: Toaster oven at 325°F for 8–10 minutes from frozen; microwave works but softens the pastry
- Camping tip: Wrap individually in parchment — delicious at room temperature, no reheating needed
- Gift idea: A dozen wrapped in parchment and tied with twine makes a beautiful handmade food gift
Made a batch of sourdough pop tarts? I want to see them! Leave a comment below and tell me what filling you used — and whether you went classic icing on top or toaster strudel style with the icing on the side. Rate the recipe ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ if you loved it and save it to your sourdough board on Pinterest so you can find it again next camping season!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes — these are an ideal make-ahead treat. The dough can be made and fermented up to 24 hours ahead in the refrigerator.
Any starter at any stage works in this recipe — active and bubbly, recently fed, or straight-from-the-fridge discard. The starter is not responsible for leavening here; it contributes flavor and fermentation benefits only. Use whatever you have without adjusting anything else in the recipe.
The most common cause is overfilling. One generous tablespoon of filling per pop tart is the maximum — the filling expands as it heats and needs room inside the pastry. The second most common cause is inadequate crimping. Press the edges firmly with a fork all the way around, making sure the egg wash is sealing the layers together before crimping.
Yes — brush with melted butter instead for a similar golden finish and a slightly richer flavor. Whole milk also works as an egg wash substitute and gives a softer, less shiny result. The egg wash primarily serves as both a sealant for the edges and a browning agent for the top, so don’t skip it entirely.
The main difference is the icing application. A pop tart has icing baked or set on top — firmer and fully integrated. A toaster strudel style has the icing served on the side for self-serve drizzling, which is half the fun.
You can, but you’ll lose the fermentation benefits and the depth of flavor that makes these worth making from scratch. The sourdough pie crust linked in this recipe is genuinely simple and forgiving — it’s worth the extra step, especially since the dough can ferment overnight while you sleep with zero active effort on your part.
More Sourdough Recipes You’ll Love
Once you fall in love with sourdough, it’s like a whole new world. A dazzling place of ferments and flavor that you never knew.
- Soft Sourdough Pretzels (Easy Chewy Bakery Style Recipe)
- The Best Sourdough Bagel Recipe (Chewy & Easy Homemade Bagels)
- Bake Flaky, Buttery Sourdough Biscuits with this easy recipe
- The Best Sourdough Cheddar Bay Biscuits
- How to Make Chocolate Chip Sourdough Cookies
About the Author
Kim is a homeschooling mama of 5 who has been teaching her children at home since the very beginning — from preschool through high school. Over the past decade, she and her family have built a homestead from the ground up, starting with meat and egg chickens, growing into a large garden, and learning to preserve their harvest.
She taught herself to sew 13 years ago through books and early YouTube tutorials, and has been making modest, affordable clothing for her girls ever since.
Cooking from scratch became a necessity and a passion as her family learned to eat more nutritionally and live more frugally. She tests all of her sourdough and fresh milled flour recipes on the kids to ensure they’re delicious and nutritious.
At Plain Living, Kim shares what she’s actually lived — not theory, but the real skills she’s picked up through years of trial, error, and love for her family and home.
