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
Place the flour on a clean surface and form a well in the center.
Add salt, butter, egg yolk, and ⅓ cup of water into the well.
Using your fingers, gradually mix the ingredients, adding more water if needed.
Once combined, sprinkle a few drops of water over the mixture and knead for 2 minutes until smooth.
Laminate and chill
Spread the paste out and press the butter (wrapped in cloth) into the center.
Fold the sides of the paste over the butter to cover it completely.
Dust with flour and shape into a square about 10 inches on each side.
Place on a baking sheet over crushed ice to keep cool.
After 10 minutes, roll out the paste to about 2 feet long and 10 inches wide, keeping the ends square.
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.
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
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
- Provides the structure that the dough is built around.
- Unsalted butter
- Forms layers within the dough that puff apart as moisture turns to steam in the oven.
- Egg yolk
- Adds richness and helps bind the dough together.
- Cold water
- Hydrates the flour so the dough comes together and can be rolled.
The step that matters
Keeping the butter cold while laminating. If the butter softens and blends into the paste instead of staying in separate sheets, it will not form distinct layers, so the pastry will not puff well. Keeping the dough cold, as the record's icing step does, helps the butter stay firm while it is rolled and folded.
“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.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.