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 ↓
Puff Paste
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
Sift the flour into a bowl.
Cut the butter and lard into the flour until the mixture resembles small bits.
Scatter the ice water over the mixture and mix lightly with a knife.
Laminate
Flour a surface 24 inches long by 18 inches wide.
Place the rough dough in the center and roll it out to nearly cover the floured surface.
Sift a light coating of flour over the dough, then fold it in thirds lengthwise and across.
Turn it over, add more flour underneath, and roll it out again.
Sift with flour, fold, and roll out a third time.
Sift again, roll lightly into a scroll, cut in half, and place on a plate.
Chill
Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes before use.
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).
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
- Butter
- Forms solid layers that separate the dough, creating flakiness as it melts and steams during baking.
- Lard
- Adds fat in solid layers that keep the dough tender and help it separate into flaky sheets.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the layers together while the dough is rolled and folded.
- Ice water
- Hydrates the flour to form dough while keeping the fat cold so it stays in distinct pieces.
The step that matters
Cut the butter and lard into the flour until the mixture resembles small bits.. Fat pieces left in the dough melt during baking and leave gaps between layers. If the fat is overworked into the flour, it blends in and the pastry loses its flakiness.
“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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