Why it works: Butter and flour 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 for Patties or First Course Dishes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
Place flour on a clean surface.
Work in ¼ pound of butter until finely mixed.
Add enough water to achieve the same consistency as the remaining butter.
Knead until smooth, then roll out to ½ inch thick.
Laminate
Place remaining butter, cut into slices, on half of the paste.
Dust lightly with flour.
Fold the paste over.
Press down with a rolling pin.
Let it rest for a few minutes.
Roll it out thinner three times, resting between each roll.
Keep the paste from sticking to the surface or rolling pin.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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 the solid layers that separate sheets of dough, creating flakiness when laminated.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the dough together and supports the layers.
- Water
- Combines with the flour to form a workable dough that can be kneaded and rolled.
The step that matters
Roll out with resting between each roll. Resting lets the dough relax so it does not tear or shrink back, and keeps the butter cold so it stays in distinct layers instead of blending into the dough.
“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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