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 ↓
Feuilletage, or Puff' Paste
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
On a clean surface, place the flour and make a hollow in the center.
Add 1 ounce of butter, ice water, and salt to the hollow, then mix well.
Set the mixture aside in a cool place for 5 minutes.
Sprinkle a small amount of flour on a surface and place the dough on it.
Laminate the butter
Roll the dough to ½ inch thick and place the 15 ounces of butter in the center.
Fold the edges over the butter to enclose it, then flatten lightly to 2 inches thick.
Cool the dough for 10 minutes.
Roll it lengthwise, fold it in four, and let it rest for 5 minutes.
Repeat the rolling and folding process two more times, rolling in a different direction each time.
After the final resting period of 5 minutes, the puff paste is ready to use.
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 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 structure that holds the layers of dough together.
- Butter
- Creates separate layers that turn to steam and lift the dough as it bakes.
- Ice water
- Keeps the dough cold and hydrates the flour without melting the butter layers.
The step that matters
Rolling and folding the butter in. If the butter gets warm or breaks through the dough, it blends into the layers instead of forming separate sheets, so the pastry will not puff properly. Keeping the dough cool between folds and using very firm butter helps the butter stay in distinct 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.
More puff pastry recipes
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.