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 ↓
Good Pie Crust
Ingredients
Directions
Sift the flour into a bowl.
Stir in the butter and baking powder.
Add ice water gradually until the mixture holds together.
Work quickly and avoid using warm hands.
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
- Provides the structure that holds the crust together as it is worked.
- Unsalted butter
- Creates fat pockets that make the crust tender and flaky when it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that helps the crust rise slightly and stay light.
- Ice water
- Hydrates the flour just enough to bind the dough while keeping the butter cold.
The step that matters
Add ice water gradually. Adding too much water or using warm water melts the butter and overdevelops gluten, making the crust tough instead of flaky. Adding water slowly lets you stop once the dough just holds together.
“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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