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 ↓
Standard Pie Crust with Margarine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Sift the flour and sea salt together into a bowl.
Cut the margarine into small chunks and drop over the mixture.
Cut into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two butter knives until the mixture has the texture of coarse cornmeal.
Make the dough
Gradually sprinkle with cold water and stir and lift with a fork until evenly moistened.
Use only enough water to mix it into a dough.
Form into a large ball with your hands.
Roll out half the dough for the bottom crust and reserve the other half for a top crust or future one-crust pies.
Bake
Bake as directed in whatever recipe you are using.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
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
- Unbleached flour
- Forms the structure of the crust once mixed with water.
- Hard vegan margarine
- Cut into the flour to create fat pockets that make the crust flaky and tender.
- Cold water
- Moistens the flour so the particles bind into a cohesive dough.
The step that matters
Use only enough cold water to form a dough. Too much water develops gluten and makes the crust tough, while too little leaves the dough crumbly and hard to roll. Adding it gradually lets you stop once the dough holds together.
“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.
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.