Name: Homemade Pie Crust
Yield: ⌀ 20 cm 95 cl volume shell
Ingredients: 225 grams (1 cup ) all-purpose flour; 2.5 ml (½ teaspoon ) salt; 230 ml (1 cup) cold vegetable shortening; 30 ml (2 tablespoons ) cold water (add 15 ml of water as needed)

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 ↓

Homemade Pie Crust

⌀ 20 cm 95 cl volume shell

Ingredients

225 grams (1 cup ) all-purpose flour
2.5 ml (½ teaspoon ) salt
230 ml (1 cup) cold vegetable shortening
30 ml (2 tablespoons ) cold water (add 15 ml of water as needed)

Directions

Make the dough

Combine flour and salt in medium bowl.
Cut in vegetable shortening with a pastry blender or two knives, until mixture is crumbly.
Sprinkle with cold water; mix just until mixture holds together.
Shape dough into a ball; place on lightly floured surface.

Shape the crust

Roll out dough to 3 mm (⅛ inch) thickness.
Line pie plate with pastry.
Trim around perimeter for 2 cm (1 inch) overhang to fold under and crimp as desired (see pie crust edges below).

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

677Calories

13 gProtein

26 gFat

95 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Vegetable	1 tbsp (14g)	120
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.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

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 pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked 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

All-purpose flour: Forms the gluten network that gives the baked crust its structure.
Vegetable shortening: Coats flour particles so the crust stays tender and flaky rather than tough.
Cold water: Moistens the flour so the dough holds together without developing excess gluten.

The step that matters

Mix just until the mixture holds together. Adding water and mixing too much lets gluten develop, making the crust tough and dense. Cold water and cold shortening keep fat in small pieces, which creates flaky layers as the crust bakes.

“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.

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Homemade Pie Crust