Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Pie Crust
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the dough
In a bowl, rub the baking powder into the flour.
Add the lard and rub it into the flour until well combined.
Gradually mix in milk and water until the dough is soft but not too stiff.
Laminate with butter
Roll out the dough thinly on a floured surface.
Spread butter over the rolled dough and dust with flour.
Roll out the dough again and repeat the butter and flour process until all the butter is used.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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 gluten structure that gives the crust its body.
- Lard or sheep-tail fat
- Shortens gluten strands, creating a tender, flaky texture.
- Butter
- Forms layers between dough sheets that puff into flakes when baked.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking to lighten the crust.
The step that matters
Gradually mix in milk and water. Adding liquid slowly and stopping once the dough is soft but not stiff prevents overworking, which toughens gluten and makes the crust tough rather than flaky.
“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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