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 ↓
Plain Pie-crust
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder together.
Cut the cold shortening into the flour until well combined.
Add cold water gradually to form a stiff dough, mixing as little as possible.
Roll and bake
Roll out the dough lightly for two pies.
Use leftover dough by rolling it thin, cutting into squares, and baking.
Top each baked square with a spoonful of raspberry jelly before serving.
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.
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the dough once moistened.
- Shortening
- Cut into the flour in cold pieces to create tender, flaky layers.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas to lift the crust and keep it light.
- Cold water
- Moistens the flour so the dough holds together without developing excess gluten.
The step that matters
Add the cold water gradually and mix as little as possible. Overworking wet flour develops gluten, making the crust tough instead of tender. Cold water and minimal mixing keep the fat in distinct pieces, which create flaky layers as they melt in the oven.
“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.
More pie crust recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.