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 ↓
Cream Puffs
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a saucepan, combine water and butter. Bring to a boil.
Add flour all at once, stirring briskly until the dough forms a smooth lump and pulls away from the sides of the pan.
Remove from heat and let cool to lukewarm.
Once cool, add eggs one at a time, beating for 5 minutes after each addition.
Bake and finish
Grease a baking sheet lightly and drop spoonfuls of dough onto the sheet.
Bake for about 35 minutes: first 10 minutes at 475°F (245°C), then reduce heat to 350°F (175°C).
Ensure puffs are thoroughly baked to prevent collapsing when removed from the oven.
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 + 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
- Flour
- Starch that gelatinises with the water and sets the dough so the puffs hold their shape.
- Eggs
- Provide structure and moisture, and their proteins set as the puffs bake, giving them their hollow interior.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and softens the dough so it stays tender.
- Water
- Turns to steam in the oven, helping the puffs rise and expand.
The step that matters
Bake until fully set. Steam inflates the dough, but if the shells are underbaked their walls have not yet set and they can collapse when removed from the oven. Full baking firms the walls so the puffs stay hollow.
“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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