Rubbing in
Working cold fat into flour with fingertips, a pastry blender or a food processor until it looks like breadcrumbs or small peas.
- Techniques and preparation methods
Also called: rubbing-in method, cutting in
Coating flour particles with fat limits gluten formation, giving tender, short pastry and crumbly scones. For flaky results, leave some pea-sized pieces of butter; for shortbread-like tenderness, rub it in finer.
Work quickly with cold butter and cool hands, so the fat doesn't melt.
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Tools for this
Spring Chef Pastry BlenderCuts cold butter in fast for flaky layers.See it on Amazon
Hamilton Beach 10-Cup Food ProcessorPastry dough, crumbs and nut flours in seconds.See it on Amazon
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Related entries
Sources
Written by VanillaGoods in our own words from these sources. Last reviewed October 15, 2026.
- Rubbing in (Q1959325), Wikidata