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 ↓
French Puff Paste
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the butter and dough
Remove moisture from the butter by squeezing it in a dry cloth.
Set aside 4 ounces of butter.
Form the rest of the butter into a ball and keep it cool.
Sift the flour.
Rub in the 4 ounces of butter.
Add salt.
Moisten with egg yolks and water gradually until the right consistency is achieved.
Knead quickly and lightly until smooth.
Laminate the dough
Roll out to about ½ inch thick.
Enfold the ball of butter in the paste.
Press lightly with a rolling pin until the butter is flattened.
Roll out as thinly as possible without breaking the butter through the paste.
Fold the paste in thirds.
Roll out thinly again.
Fold in thirds once more.
Set aside.
After about 20 minutes, roll out twice more.
Put aside in a cold place for another 20 minutes before the fifth and sixth turns.
Finish
After the sixth turn, the paste is ready for use in tartlets, patties, or vol-au-vent.
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
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Forms the separate layers that puff apart as the pastry bakes, creating flakiness.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the dough together and separates the butter layers.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help bind the dough, adding fat and tenderness.
The step that matters
Keeping the butter from breaking through the paste. If the butter tears through the dough during rolling, the layers merge and the pastry will not puff evenly. Keeping the butter cool and rolling gently preserves the separate layers that create lift.
“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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