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
The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the dough
Keep the butter hard; place it on ice if soft.
Rub the flour (reserve a large handful) and half the butter together lightly until it resembles dough without lumps.
Mix in the water with a knife until it sticks together.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface in the same direction.
Laminate the dough
Press a third of the remaining butter into the dough until evenly covered, then sprinkle with flour.
Fold the ends of the dough to overlap, sprinkle with flour again, and turn it half round so the folded side is on top.
Roll out again, spread on another third of the butter, and repeat the folding and rolling process.
Add the remaining third of the butter and repeat the folding and rolling.
Leave the dough folded until needed, then roll out and cut to the desired size.
Bake
For French pastry, cut into strips ⅛ inch wide and place on a baking tin, 1 inch apart.
Bake in a brisk oven at 400°F (200°C) for 25-30 minutes.
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).
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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the dough that holds the layers of butter apart.
- Butter
- Creates separate layers that puff up into flaky sheets when the pastry bakes.
- Water
- Hydrates the flour so the dough comes together and can be rolled.
The step that matters
Keep the butter cold and firm. If the butter softens and melts into the dough, it will not stay in distinct layers, so the pastry loses its flaky puff when baked.
“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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