Why it works: Butter and flour 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 ↓
Pie Crust
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a bowl, mix the lard and butter until well combined.
Add the salt and mix thoroughly.
Gradually add the sifted flour, mixing until incorporated.
Pour in the ice cold water and mix until the dough comes together.
Shape
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Lard and butter
- Fat that coats flour particles, creating a tender, flaky texture as it stays solid in the dough.
- Sifted flour
- Forms the structure of the crust once mixed with water and fat.
- Ice cold water
- Binds the flour and fat into a dough while keeping the fat cold and firm.
The step that matters
Pour in the ice cold water and mix until the dough comes together. Adding too much water or overworking the dough develops gluten, making the crust tough. Mix only until the dough just holds together, keeping the fat cold so it creates flaky layers.
“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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