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
Sift the flour with the baking powder and place it on a clean surface.
Add the cerealine and mix thoroughly.
Form the mixture into a ring and place the egg yolk and salt in the center.
Gradually add ice water from the inside of the ring, mixing until you have a smooth, firm paste.
Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes.
Roll out the dough to the size of a dinner plate.
Cut the butter into small pieces and place them on the dough.
Fold the edges of the dough over the butter to cover it completely.
Turn the dough upside down and roll it very thin.
Turn it back over and fold it into a square.
Repeat the rolling and folding process three times, chilling the dough on a thin tin between each turn.
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
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