Why it works: Butter and flour 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 ↓
Pie Crust
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Chop the lard into the flour until it resembles fine dust.
Make a hole in the middle of the flour and pour in the water.
Work the dough together, handling it as little as possible.
Laminate with butter
Roll out the dough on a floured board and sprinkle with tiny bits of butter.
Fold the dough over.
Roll the dough again.
Repeat with the butter until used.
Roll the dough thin.
Line the pie tin
Line a pie tin with the dough, reserving narrow strips for the rim and cross pieces if needed.
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.
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Forms the structure of the dough as its proteins and starch set around the water.
- Lard
- Coats flour particles to keep the crust tender and flaky.
- Butter
- Melts during rolling and folding, creating layers that puff into flakes.
- Water
- Hydrates the flour so the dough holds together.
The step that matters
Handling the dough minimally. Overworking develops gluten, which makes the crust tough and shrinking rather than tender. Keeping pieces of fat cold and distinct is what produces flakiness.
“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
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 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.