Gerry, it depends on the texture you want for the finished dough. If you coat the flour with melted fat, the crust will be mealy, not flaky at all. Which is fine if that's what you want. But if you like a flaky crust, the chunks of butter are the thing that makes that happen. The water that's suspended in the chunks of butter turns to steam in the heat of the oven, which expands, and separates the layers of dough. That's how a flaky crust happens. Susan

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