Baking
How to cut butter into flour
Break cold butter into the flour in small pieces, for flaky biscuits, scones and pie crust.
Step by step
- Cut very cold butter into ½ inch cubes and toss them in the flour.
- Press down through the butter with a pastry blender, two knives or a fork.
- Keep cutting and tossing so the bits stay coated.
- Stop while you still see butter.
How you know it's done
The mix looks like coarse crumbs with some pea-size pieces of butter left; those make the flakes.
Common mistakes
- Warm butter that smears into paste.
- Working it until it looks like fine sand, which gives a tough, crumbly result.
Simmerbee recipes that use it (10)
- Cheddar Chive Buttermilk Scones
- Cinnamon Apple Galette
- Classic Cream Scones
- Classic Double-Crust Apple Pie
- Classic Pecan Pie
- Crumb-Topped Apple Pie
- Easy Summer Berry Galette
- Flaky All-Butter Pie Crust (Double Crust)
- Lattice-Top Tart Cherry Pie
- Silky Classic Pumpkin Pie
In those recipes the word is underlined in the steps; tap it for the short version. In hands-free cook mode, ask “How do I cut in?”
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