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 ↓
Receipt for Puff-paste
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Sprinkle the slab lightly with flour.
Roll the cold paste into a square piece.
Place the cold butter in the center of the paste.
Fold the paste over the butter from the sides, keeping the shape square.
Fold the paste over the butter from the ends, ensuring the butter is completely encased. Turn the folded side down.
Roll and turn
With a rolling pin, roll the dough lightly away from you into a long, narrow strip, keeping it even. Fold the strip over to create three even layers of paste (first turn).
Roll the folded strip again and fold as before (second turn). Repeat the rolling and folding until the dough has had six turns.
After each turn, if the dough shows signs of softening, wrap it in a napkin and place it in a pan between two pans with cracked ice, and let it rest 20–30 minutes.
If the dough does not soften after two turns, wrap it in a napkin and rest as above.
Keep the edges even by rolling lightly away from you and avoid breaking air bubbles. Lightly pound the dough as well as roll to ease rolling.
After each folding, press the edges gently with the rolling pin to shut in air and turn the dough to roll in a different direction.
If the dough sticks to the slab, put it on ice immediately.
Cut and chill
When the dough has had six turns, cut it into the desired forms.
Place the cut dough again on ice for 20–30 minutes before baking.
Bake and serve
Bake the puff pastry in a very hot oven, placing it on the bottom rack with a paper on the shelf for a few minutes; do not open the door for the first five minutes.
If the pastry scorches, open the draughts and place a basin of ice water in the oven to lower the temperature.
Use the trimmings, rolled together, as a bottom crust for tart bands or a top crust for mince pies.
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 |
| Pate | 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.
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. See the original page.
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 separate layers that release steam during baking, lifting the pastry into flaky sheets.
- Flour
- Gives the dough its structure so the layers hold their shape through rolling and folding.
- Ice-water
- Keeps the dough cold so the butter stays solid and does not blend into the dough.
The step that matters
Keep the dough and butter cold between turns. If the butter softens, it smears into the dough and the separate layers are lost. Cold layers stay distinct and puff apart in the hot oven, so resting on ice whenever the dough softens matters.
“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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