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 together flour, salt, and baking powder.
Cut in lard until well mixed.
Gradually add cold water, stirring with a knife until the mixture is wet but not soft.
Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Roll and fold
Roll out the dough with minimal strokes.
Dot the surface with small pieces of butter, fold, and roll out again.
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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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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the crust as gluten develops when wetted and worked.
- Lard
- Coats flour particles so the dough stays tender and flaky rather than tough.
- Butter
- Adds flavor and, in small pieces folded in, creates layers that puff into flakiness.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas to lighten the crust slightly, giving it a more tender texture.
The step that matters
Adding the cold water. Too much water or overworking the dough lets gluten develop, making the crust tough and shrinking it while baking. Stir only until the mixture just holds together, and keep the dough cold so the fat stays in solid pieces.
“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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