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 ↓
Pasta Per Beignets
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the dough
Combine water, salt, and butter in a saucepan.
Heat until the butter melts.
Gradually add the flour, stirring vigorously to form a smooth, consistent dough without lumps.
Remove the dough from heat.
Incorporate the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a round tip.
Pipe and bake
On greased and floured baking sheets, pipe small round or oval shapes of dough.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until puffed and lightly golden.
Allow the dough to cool.
Fill and finish
Fill with cream of your choice and dust with powdered sugar or glaze with fondant.
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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Egg + buttertop 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 starch that gelatinizes and gives the dough structure to hold its shape.
- Eggs
- Add moisture and structure, and their proteins set the puffed shell as it bakes.
- Unsalted butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness and melts into the dough with the water.
- Water
- Turns to steam in the oven, helping the shells puff up with hollow centers.
The step that matters
Incorporate the eggs one at a time. Adding eggs gradually lets each one blend fully into the dough. The dough must be smooth and glossy enough to hold its shape, or the shells will not puff properly.
“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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