Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and 124,287 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Pate Brisee
Ingredients
Directions
Rub the flour and butter together lightly without hardening the mixture.
Knead in small amounts of butter until the dough feels greasy.
Add the salt before incorporating the butter.
Gradually add the water while kneading gently until a soft dough forms.
Mix lightly with your hands, being careful not to overwork the dough.
Dredge the board lightly with flour.
Cut the dough into four parts if making two pies.
Roll each portion into thin sheets using minimal flour.
Place a sheet of dough over each pie pan and trim the edges.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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