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
Spread a napkin in a pan of cold water.
Place the butter in the napkin and work with a wooden spoon until pliable.
Shape the butter into a compact roll and flatten to about 1 inch thick.
Mix the flour, ⅛ of the butter, the egg, and enough water to form a stiff paste.
Work the paste with your fingers and beat with a rolling pin for 5-10 minutes, using flour to prevent sticking.
Roll the paste out to about 1 inch thick in a circular shape.
Place the flattened butter in the center of the rolled-out paste.
Fold the paste over the butter to cover it, forming an oblong shape.
Press the rolling pin on the folded paste in several places to hold it together.
Roll out gently until about 1 inch thick, then wrap it over the 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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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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Butter + eggtop 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
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