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 Patties, or First Course Dishes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
On a clean surface, place the flour and work in a quarter of the butter until finely mixed.
Add enough water to achieve the same consistency as the remaining butter.
Knead the mixture until smooth, then roll it out to a thickness of ½ inch.
Laminate
Cut the remaining butter into slices and place them halfway on the rolled paste.
Dust lightly with flour, fold the paste over the butter, and press down with a rolling pin.
Let it rest for a few minutes, then roll it out three times, making it thinner each time and resting between rolls.
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
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Forms separate fat layers that create flaky layers when baked.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the dough and butter layers together.
- Water
- Combines with the flour to form a workable dough that can be kneaded and rolled.
The step that matters
Keeping the butter layers distinct while rolling. If the butter softens and blends into the dough, the layers are lost and the pastry will not puff. Rest the dough between rolls so the butter stays cold and firm.
“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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