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 Pastry
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a large bowl, mix flour, shortening, and baking powder.
Add water gradually until the dough reaches the right consistency.
Knead gently until smooth.
Divide
Divide the dough into three equal parts for three pies.
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 dough as its proteins hydrate and form gluten.
- Shortening
- Coats flour particles to keep the dough tender and flaky by limiting gluten development.
- Butter
- Adds flavor and contributes to flakiness through its water content and fat.
- Lard
- Adds tenderness and flakiness because it stays solid during mixing and melts during baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that lightens the dough and helps it rise slightly.
The step that matters
Add water gradually until the dough reaches the right consistency. Too much water develops gluten and toughens the pastry, while too little makes it crumbly and hard to roll. Adding water slowly lets you stop at the right point.
“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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