Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Plain Pie Crust
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, rub the butter and lard into the flour until well combined.
Sift the baking powder and salt through the flour mixture.
Gradually mix in the cold water until a stiff dough forms.
Shape and bake
Handle the dough lightly and roll it out for two pies.
Use any leftover dough by rolling it thin, cutting it into squares, and baking.
Top each baked square with a spoonful of raspberry jelly before serving.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the dough together once water is added.
- Butter
- Stays in cold pieces that create flaky layers as the crust bakes.
- Lard
- Keeps the crust tender and flaky by coating flour particles and limiting gluten development.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking to lighten the crust and help it rise.
The step that matters
Handle the dough lightly. Overworking the dough develops gluten, making the crust tough instead of tender. Keeping the fat cold and the handling gentle preserves flaky layers.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
More pie crust recipes
You might also like
Delicate Cake246 recipes
Boiled Frosting69 recipes
Citron Cake68 recipes
Scotch Cake63 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.