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 ↓
Pasties De Nata
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Work the flour with water and salt, make a ball.
Cut the dough into a cross shape until its middle.
Pull the four sides outwards to form a four-point star.
Place the margarine in the centre and mix it by pulling the points upwards.
With a pastry roller, extend the dough to about 40×15 cm.
Fold the dough 1 W 3 (simple fold) and wait 10 minutes.
Fold the dough again, then fold 1×4 (book fold) and wait 10 minutes.
Extend the dough until its thickness is about 4 mm.
Sprinkle water over the dough.
Roll the dough into a tort and shape it to a diameter of about 4 cm.
Cut the dough into round slices 1 cm thick and place them in containers.
Wait 10 minutes.
Wet your thumb with water, press the centre of a slice and push the dough to the top of the container.
Make the custard
Prepare sugar syrup by dissolving 1 kg sugar in ½ liter boiling water.
Dissolve 70 g flour and 5 g cornflour in about 1 dl of milk.
Boil the remaining milk.
Pour the boiled milk over the flour mixture and mix energetically to prevent curdling.
Add the sugar syrup gradually, stirring constantly.
Add the five egg yolks and the egg, then stir.
Cook the mixture at about 350 °F for about 8 minutes, not more.
Heat ½ liter skim milk with a bit of margarine.
In a dry container mix 35 g flour, 275 g sugar, and a bit of salt.
When the milk starts boiling, add the dry mixture, stir energetically.
Remove the mixture from heat and let it cool slightly.
Add the egg yolks and the egg, then mix in a bit of vanilla or lemon.
Bake and fill
Cook the custard in an oven at 290 °F–300 °F for 8 minutes; do not exceed this time or the filling will leak.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
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.
-
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
- Flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure and layers.
- Margarine
- Fat layered between dough sheets, creating flaky separation when baked.
- Water
- Hydrates the flour so the dough can form and stretch.
The step that matters
Baking the custard for exactly 8 minutes. Overbaking causes the egg proteins to tighten too far and squeeze out liquid, so the filling weeps or leaks and turns grainy.
“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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