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 for Fruit Pies or Tarts
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, mix ½ pound of butter with 2 pounds of flour by rubbing them together.
If the butter is fresh, add a little coarse sea salt.
Add enough water to form a dough and knead it quickly.
Roll out the dough and divide the remaining butter into 4 or 5 equal portions.
Spread one portion of butter evenly over the dough using a knife or small pieces.
Dredge lightly with flour and roll up the dough with the butter inside.
Flatten the dough again with a rolling pin and repeat with the next portion of butter.
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
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