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 Pastry.— Patisserie Feuilletage
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
Sift the flour and ensure it is dry.
Make a hole in the center of the flour and add the egg yolk, lemon juice, and salt.
Mix in enough water to form a firm, smooth dough.
Knead the dough quickly, handling it as little as possible.
Roll the dough to about ½ inch thick.
Laminate the butter
Prepare the butter by wringing it in a clean cloth to remove moisture.
Place the butter in the center of the dough and fold the dough over it, pinching the edges to seal.
Roll the dough out thinly, ensuring the butter does not break through.
Fold the dough into thirds and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Repeat the rolling and folding process 5 more times, keeping the dough cool each time.
After the final fold, roll out to the desired thickness for 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.
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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 + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 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
- Provides the structure that holds the dough together and supports its layers.
- Unsalted butter
- Forms separate layers that create steam and lift, giving puff pastry its flaky texture.
- Egg yolk
- Adds richness and helps bind the dough, contributing to a tender texture.
- Lemon juice
- Adds a little acidity that helps keep the dough tender and workable.
The step that matters
Keeping the butter and dough cool during folding. If the butter softens or breaks through the dough, it blends into the layers instead of separating them, so the pastry will not puff properly. Chilling between folds keeps the butter solid.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, egg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Coconutfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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