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 ↓
Pie-crust
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, rub together the flour and softened butter until creamy.
Dissolve the baking soda in a small amount of water and add it to the mixture.
Add the tartaric acid and mix well.
For a richer crust, mix in the beaten egg before adding water.
Gradually add enough water to form a stiff dough suitable for pie crust.
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).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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 dough together.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crust and makes the dough creamy.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the tartaric acid to produce gas that lightens the crust.
- Tartaric acid
- Acts with the baking soda to create rising through acid-base reaction.
- Egg
- Adds richness and binds the dough when included.
The step that matters
Adding the water gradually. Flour absorbs water slowly, and too much liquid at once makes the dough sticky and tough. Adding water a little at a time lets you reach a stiff, workable dough.
“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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