RECIPE – choux pastry

Choux pastry, or pâte à choux in French, is a delicate pastry dough made with butter, water, flour and eggs and is used in many pastries. The moisture in the dough gives the pastry its ‘puff'(similar to when making Yorkshire puddings).

At Cookery School we use choux pastry to make several things including, profiteroles, croquembouches, beignets, Paris-Brest (middle picture) and gougeres – light cheese puffs.

 

INGREDIENTS

150g plain flour
3 eggs
120g unsalted butter
½ teaspoon salt
250ml water (250g)
additional eggs if required

METHOD

1. Place the water and butter in a saucepan and bring to boil slowly.
2. Remove from heat and add the flour all in one go, beating fiercely all the time.
3. When a soft ball is formed that comes away from the side of the pan, add one egg and beat in quickly and very well until the dough is smooth.
4. Then add another egg, beating well all the while.
5. Continue to add the eggs until all four are well mixed in. If necessary add further eggs to make a dough that is shiny, soft and drops easily off the spoon.
6. Drop the mixture by teaspoonfuls onto a greased baking tray.
7. Bake in oven 200ºC for about 20 minutes for small eclairs to 50 minutes for larger ones. Make sure they are brown and well cooked. Bake for longer if necessary until they are crisp and dry.
8. Remove from oven and allow to cool well before filling.

> For sweet eclairs/profiteroles, fill with whipped cream or confectioner’s custard and top with a chocolate sauce.
> For cheese profiteroles (gougere), add ½ – ¾ cup of grated gruyere or parmesan cheese to the choux mixture before dropping onto a greased baking tray. Season well with pepper and cayenne.
> Gougere is traditionally made by placing the spoonfuls of choux paste mixed with gruyere cheese in a large ring (having about an 8″ diameter). This is well baked for about 40 minutes and eaten immediately whilst the cheese is still melted.  These days gougere is dropped by a teaspoonful onto a greased baking tray. The resulting small crisp gougere are delicious with a glass of wine.

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