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 ↓
Paste for Raised Pies
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a large bowl, combine the flour and butter with a little coarse sea salt.
Gradually add water, mixing until the paste is as stiff as possible.
Knead the mixture for two to three turns, then roll it out to your desired shape for the pie.
Variations and handling
For a softer paste, melt the butter in warm water before mixing with the flour, using less water.
If the paste becomes too cold while working, warm it slightly.
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.
-
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 dough once mixed with water.
- Butter
- Adds fat that keeps the paste tender and short when rolled.
The step that matters
Gradually add water, mixing until the paste is as stiff as possible. Adding water slowly lets the flour absorb it evenly, so the dough hydrates without becoming sticky. Too much water at once makes the paste tough and hard to control, because gluten develops more when the dough is wet and worked.
“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.
More pie dough recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.