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Puff Paste

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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

  1. Place the flour on a clean surface and make a well in the center.

  2. Add the egg yolk and lemon juice into the well.

  3. Using your fingers, mix the flour, egg, and lemon juice into a firm paste, adding cold water as necessary.

  4. Remove any whey and buttermilk from the butter and shape it into a flat cake.

  5. Roll the paste into an oblong shape and place the butter in the center.

  6. Fold the edges of the paste over the butter to completely cover it.

  7. Gently flatten the covered paste with a rolling pin.

  8. Chill the paste in a cold place or on ice for about 10 minutes until firm.

  9. Roll the paste out evenly in one direction, keeping the edges straight.

  10. Fold one edge to the middle, then fold the other edge over it to meet perfectly.

  11. Ensure the edges are even and straight, then turn the paste and roll in the opposite direction.

  12. Repeat the folding process and chill again until cold.

  13. Roll out a total of six times for pastry or eight times for vol-au-vents.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, egg):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Lemonthe original
  4. Coconutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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