Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Pie Crust
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Rub the baking powder into the flour.
Rub the lard into the flour until well mixed.
Add milk and water to the flour mixture lightly until it reaches a dough-like consistency.
Laminate the dough
Roll out the dough thinly.
Spread butter all over the rolled dough and dust with flour.
Roll out again and repeat the process until all the butter is used.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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
- Forms the structure of the dough once mixed with liquid.
- Lard or sheep fat
- Coats flour particles to tenderise the crust and keep layers short.
- Butter
- Spread between rolled layers, creating flaky layers as it melts in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas to lift the crust and make it lighter.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and richness, helping bind the dough together.
The step that matters
Adding the liquid. Milk and water should be added lightly, just until the dough comes together. Overworking develops gluten, which makes the crust tough rather than tender.
“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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