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
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the dough
Divide the shortening into quarters.
Chop one quarter finely and mix it with the flour using a knife.
Add a small amount of cold water to form a stiff dough.
Flour the board and turn out the dough.
Dredge the dough with flour and roll it thin.
Cut another quarter of the shortening into thin slices and lay them on the paste.
Dredge the paste with flour, fold the sides over to form a square, and roll again.
Repeat with the remaining shortening until all is incorporated.
Handle the dough as little as possible.
Roll the dough to about ½ inch thick and cut it into quarters.
Set aside in a cool place for 2 hours.
Shape and bake
When ready, take the desired amount.
Dredge the board and roll out the dough thinner in the middle than on the edges (¼ inch thick).
Grease the pans and lay the paste in them.
Press lightly and trim the edges.
Add filling and cover with another layer of paste.
Trim the edges and ornament the edges if desired.
Bake at 400°F (200°C).
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).
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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the dough once mixed with water and fat.
- Butter or lard
- Forms separate fat layers that create flaky layers when baked and steam lifts the dough.
- Cold water
- Binds the flour and fat into a stiff dough without melting the fat.
The step that matters
Keep the fat cold and handle the dough as little as possible. Pieces of firm fat left distinct between thin sheets of dough melt in the oven and release steam, which separates the layers. If the fat softens or the dough is overworked, the layers blend and the pastry turns dense rather than flaky.
“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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