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
two piesIngredients
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 shortening into the flour until well combined.
Add the baking powder and salt, then mix in the cold water until a stiff dough forms.
Handle the dough lightly and roll it out for two pies.
Use leftover dough
For leftover dough, roll it thin, cut into small squares, and bake.
Top each baked square with a spoonful of raspberry jelly before serving.
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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the crust once mixed with liquid and rolled out.
- Shortening
- Coats the flour particles so the crust stays tender and separates into flaky layers.
- Cold water
- Binds the flour and fat into a dough that holds together when rolled.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, helping the crust rise and lighten slightly.
The step that matters
Handle the dough lightly. Overworking flour dough develops gluten, which makes the crust tough and chewy instead of tender. Keeping the dough handled gently and the fat intact helps keep the crust 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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