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
Make the dough
Mix the flour and a pinch of salt in a bowl.
Make a well in the center of the dough.
Add the egg yolks and enough soft water to match the consistency of the butter.
Lightly work the flour.
Form the dough into a ball.
Laminate
Roll the dough out flat.
Place the butter on the rolled-out dough.
Flatten the butter with a clean napkin.
Fold the dough over the butter.
Wrap the ends of the dough.
Flour the dough well.
Roll the dough out as long as possible.
Fold the dough in thirds.
Wrap the ends again.
Repeat the rolling and folding process six times.
Chill the dough briefly between folds.
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 + 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
- Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure.
- Unsalted butter
- Forms separate layers that create flakiness when the dough is rolled and folded.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and fat, and help bind the dough.
The step that matters
Keep the butter and dough at a similar consistency. If the butter is too firm it tears through the dough, and if it is too soft it smears into it. Either way the thin separate layers needed for flakiness do not form. Chilling between folds keeps the butter firm enough to stay in layers.
“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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