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
Prepare the paste
Place the flour on a clean surface.
Rub in 1 ounce of butter.
Make a hole in the center of the flour.
Add the egg and lemon juice.
Mix with cold water to form a smooth, flexible paste.
Let the paste rest for 10 minutes.
Laminate the dough
Work the remaining 15 ounces of butter with a large knife until it has the same consistency as the paste.
Place the butter on the paste.
Fold the edges over to cover it.
Roll out to ¼ inch thick, about 2 feet long.
Fold the dough into thirds.
Turn it so the ends are at the top and bottom.
Sprinkle flour over and under the dough.
Repeat the rolling and folding process twice.
Flour a board or baking sheet.
Place the dough on it.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll the dough twice more.
Turn it as before.
Let it rest for another 15 minutes.
Roll it two more times.
Make a total of seven rolls.
It is ready to use.
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).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 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).
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
- Provides the structure that holds the dough together and supports the layers.
- Unsalted butter
- Forms separate layers that create flakiness as it stays solid between sheets of dough.
- Large egg
- Adds richness and helps bind the paste into a smooth, cohesive dough.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that helps tenderize the gluten in the paste.
The step that matters
Keeping the butter the same consistency as the paste. If the butter is too hard it will break through the dough, and if it is too soft it will blend in rather than form distinct layers. Even, cool layers are what make puff pastry rise in the oven.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, egg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- 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.
“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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