A question about a recipe: Paule Caillat's Brown Butter Tart Crust

Many thanks. This makes a lot of sense.

Regarding the first question: there are 8 fluid ounces in one cup of liquid. But when you're measuring flour and other non-liquid things, the ounces you're measuring then are dry, weight ounces.

1 cup of flour does not weigh the same as 1 cup of sugar, due to density of particles, mass, blah blah blah.

While you can actually not cram more than 8 fluid ounces of liquid into a cup, you can cram more flour into a cup depending on how sifted or unsifted the flour is, among other factors.

As mrslarkin points out, measuring flour by volume (cupfuls, mounded or otherwise) can really vary depending on how well it's been sifted, so if possible, use David Lebovitz' recommended weight measurement of 5 ounces. Or just go with your gut and visual cues, like the recipe author Paule Caillat does. It will probably be good, no matter what.

I've never tried rolling this dough out to make a top crust for pie, but a few people did and reported success in the comments of Lebovitz' original post: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2009/05/french-tart-dough-a-la-francaise/

Let us know how it goes!

Regarding the first part of your question, technically, yes. But a cupful of flour is measured more accurately by weight first, after being fluffed/aerated, hence the 5 oz. measurement.

I only use King Arthur Flour, and their 1-cup measurement is usually 4.5 ounces.