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Crust, Butter, for Boiled Puddings

A butter crust dough for boiled puddings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Crust, Butter, for Boiled Puddings

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a basin, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder.

  2. Rub in the butter until well combined.

  3. Gradually add water, mixing with a knife or fork to form a paste.

  4. Roll out the dough once or twice, and it is ready for use.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. 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 main structure of the crust as gluten develops with water.
Butter
Adds fat that keeps the crust tender by coating flour and limiting gluten formation.
Baking powder
Releases gas that lightens the crust so it rises slightly and stays less dense.

The step that matters

Gradually add water, mixing with a knife or fork to form a paste.. Adding water slowly and mixing lightly lets the flour hydrate evenly without overworking it. Too much water or vigorous kneading develops excess gluten, making the crust tough.

“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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