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
Ingredients
Directions
Mix half the flour with enough water to form a paste.
Chop the remaining flour with the butter and lard using a silver or wooden spoon.
Roll out the paste on a floured surface to about ¼ inch thick.
Add one-third of the flour and shortening mixture to the center.
Fold the corners of the paste over the filling and roll out again to ¼ inch thick.
Spread one-third more of the shortening mixture over the paste, fold, and roll out again.
Repeat with the remaining shortening, then roll out and use as desired.
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
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