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 ↓
Cream Puffs
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the dough
In a saucepan, combine butter and water and bring to a boil.
Add sifted flour all at once and stir until the mixture pulls away from the sides.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Stir in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Add salt and mix thoroughly.
Let the mixture rest in a cool place, preferably the refrigerator.
Bake and fill
Drop spoonfuls onto baking pans and bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden and puffed.
Once cooled, cut open and fill with whipped cream or custard.
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).
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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).
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
- Flour
- Starch that gelatinizes with the water and sets the puffs' structure as they bake.
- Eggs
- Add moisture and proteins that set during baking and help the puffs rise and hold their hollow shape.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the dough.
The step that matters
Stir in eggs one at a time. Adding eggs gradually lets each one fully blend into the paste, giving a smooth, pipeable dough that can rise properly; adding them all at once can leave it too loose or lumpy to puff.
“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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