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
Make the dough
Cut the butter into small pieces and place it in a bowl.
Add the flour and salt, then mix until crumbly.
Gradually add the ice water, mixing until a dough forms.
Create layers and chill
Roll out the dough on a floured surface, folding it over several times to create layers.
Chill the dough before using it for tarts, patties, or pie crusts.
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
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Stays in solid pieces that create separate layers, which steam and lift into flaky texture.
- Pastry flour
- Forms the structure that holds the layers together as the dough is rolled and folded.
- Ice water
- Binds the flour into dough while staying cold, keeping the butter from softening.
The step that matters
Keep the butter cold and in distinct pieces. Solid butter stays in separate sheets between dough layers. As it melts in the oven, the water in it turns to steam that pushes the layers apart. If the butter softens and blends into the flour, the pastry loses its flaky layers.
“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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