Why it works: Wheat and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,373 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Pie Crust
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a bowl, combine the flour and salt.
Cut in the cottolene or lard until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Add cold water, one tablespoon at a time, mixing until the dough holds together.
Shape the crust
Roll out the dough on a floured surface to fit your pie dish.
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.
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Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Winter wheat flour
- Forms the structure of the crust once mixed with water.
- Cottolene or lard
- Coats flour particles so the crust stays tender and flaky rather than tough.
- Cold water
- Binds the flour and fat into a dough that holds together.
The step that matters
Adding the cold water. Adding water a tablespoon at a time and stopping once the dough holds together limits gluten development. Too much water or overworking makes the crust tough, while cold fat left in visible pieces creates flakiness as it melts during baking.
“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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