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
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Cut the butter into small pieces and mix it with the flour and salt.
Gradually add the ice water until the dough comes together.
Knead the dough lightly and roll it out into a rectangle.
Laminate and chill
Fold the dough into thirds, then roll it out again.
Repeat the folding and rolling process several times to create layers.
Chill the dough before using it for tarts, patties, or pie crusts.
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 solid pockets within the dough that melt during baking, creating flaky layers.
- Pastry flour
- Provides the structure that holds the dough together between butter layers.
- Ice water
- Hydrates the flour to form a dough while keeping the butter cold and in pieces.
The step that matters
Keeping the butter cold while folding and rolling. If the butter softens and blends into the dough, it will not form separate layers, and the pastry will bake flat instead of flaky. Chilling between folds keeps the butter 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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