Welcome to the world of choux pastry, the versatile dough that forms the base of many beloved pastries, including cream puffs, éclairs, and profiteroles. This light and airy dough is characterized by its distinctive hollow interior, which makes it the perfect vessel for fillings of all kinds, from sweet custards to savory fillings. Whether you're a seasoned baker or just starting out, this guide will provide you with everything you need to know to create the perfect choux pastry, along with some delightful recipe ideas to get you started. So grab your ingredients, preheat your oven, and let's embark on a culinary journey into the world of choux pastry.
Check out the recipes below so you can choose the best recipe for yourself!
HOW TO MAKE CHOUX PASTRY (PâTE à CHOUX)
Choux Pastry can be used in anything from cream puffs, profiteroles, and eclairs to churros, croquembouche, French cruller donuts, choux beignets, and gougères! It only takes about 10 minutes to prepare and the options for filling and shaping are endless.
Provided by Sally
Categories Dessert
Time 1h30m
Number Of Ingredients 17
Steps:
- Watch the video in the blog post above; it will help guide you through the next few steps.
- Combine the butter, water, milk, salt, and granulated sugar together in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the butter has melted. Bring mixture to a simmer. Once simmering, reduce heat to low and add the flour all at once. Stir until the flour is completely incorporated and a thick dough clumps into a ball. Mash the dough ball against the bottom and sides of the pan for 1 minute, which gently cooks the flour. Remove from heat and transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or, if using a handheld mixer, a large mixing bowl. Allow to cool down for a few minutes before adding the eggs in the next step.
- With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the eggs in 3-4 separate additions mixing for 30 seconds between each. The mixture will look curdled at first, but will begin to come together as the mixer runs. Pour in the final addition of beaten eggs very slowly. Stop adding when the choux pastry has reached the desired texture: shiny, thick, and smooth with a pipeable consistency. I usually leave a few teaspoons of beaten egg behind, which can be used with the egg wash.
- Your choux pastry dough is complete! You can use it immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Lightly brush the parchment with water, which creates a humid environment for the pastry shells allowing them to puff up without drying out or burning.
- Transfer choux pastry dough to a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1A piping tip. Pipe 2-inch mounds about 3 inches apart. Watch the video in the blog post above for a visual. You can also use a zipped-top bag and cut off the corner for easy piping. Using a water moistened finger, smooth down the peaks and lightly brush each with egg wash.
- Bake for 20 minutes then, keeping the pastries in the oven, reduce oven to 350°F (177°C) and continue to bake for 10-15 more minutes until golden brown. Do not open the oven as the pastries cook, as cool air will prevent them from properly puffing up. Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before filling.
- Split open pastries and fill with homemade whipped cream, lemon curd, pastry cream, jam, a combination of these, or your favorite filling. You can also poke a hole in the pastries and pipe the filling inside. For my pictured cream puffs and profiteroles, see recipe notes.
- Cover and store leftover filled pastries in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Cover and store unfilled pastries at room temperature for 1 day, in the refrigerator for 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator before filling and serving.
CHOUX PASTRY- FOR PROFITEROLES, CREAM PUFFS OR ECLAIRS
An easy pastry to make. Can be used for profiteroles, cream puffs or eclairs. Pastry can be frozen after being cooled. When defrosted return to the oven to crisp if required. Unfilled pastries can be frozen for up to two months. For eclairs top with chocolate and fill with cream. For profiteroles top with chocolate and fill with custard or vanilla cream. For cream puffs sprinkle with icing sugar and fill with cream. A quick creamy filling is to blend a box of powdered dessert vanilla custard pudding mix with a carton of thickened cream (just use a balloon whisk). It's been a long time since I have used this recipe-so my servings is a guess
Provided by Jubes
Categories Dessert
Time 1h
Yield 6 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 4
Steps:
- Place the butter and the water in a saucepan. Bring the water to the boil and stir until the butter has melted. Remove from the stove.
- Stir in the sifted flour. Add the flour all at once. Beat until smoth.
- Return to the heat, and stir vigourously until the mixture leaves the sides of the saucepan and forms a smooth ball.
- Allow the mixture to cool slightly.
- Whisk the eggs well and then add them to the choux ball. Beat the eggs into the mixture.
- Use a piping bag to pipe 7-10 cm lengths for eclairs, or place in spoonfuls onto greased cookie trays for cream puffs or profiteroles or pipe into dotted shapes for uniformly shaped profiteroles.
- Bake in a hot oven - 220°C for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 200°C and continue to cook for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden and crisp.
- Turn the oven off.
- Remove from the oven and immediately make a small slit in the side of each puff to allow the steam to escape. Return to the oven for a few minutes to help dry them out. The oven has already been turned off.
CHOUX PASTRY (FOR CREAM PUFFS, ECLAIRS, ETC)
Basic choux pastry dough for eclairs, cream puffs, profiteroles, almond rings, crab puffs, etc. These are much easier to make than I would have thought, and they have a nice tast. You need fairly large saucepan because of all the stirring. I got 16 half dollar sized cream puffs out of one batch. This recipe comes from "Fabulous Cake Decorating" printed by Eaglemoss.
Provided by Random Rachel
Categories Dessert
Time 40m
Yield 1 batch of dough
Number Of Ingredients 5
Steps:
- Chop butter, melt in water and just bring to boiling. Immediately add flour, and mix well with wooden spoon, until it forms a dough that leaves the side of the pan (it looks really gross and clumpy at first, but as you keep stirring it fixes itself). Remove from heat and cool 2 minutes.
- For a sweet pastry, add the sugar to the beaten eggs. Stir in the eggs, mixing until it look like dough again (this is gross at first too).
- Now you have many choices: using a pastry bag or spoon, shape the dough as desired (for puffs: use a spoon or pipe a mound, eclairs: pipe a line, rings: pipe a circle, profiteroles: pipe a mound w/star tip) onto a greased cookie sheet. Keep in mind that it will grow to aprox 3xs its size when done.
- Bake at 425 'til it looks crisp and golden, about 30 mins for half dollar sized puffs. Cut in half, or cut a slit in the side to let the steam escape- if you don't do this fairly quickly they get soggy inside.
- They save for a while in tupperware, unless they're filled. You are supposed to fill them with freshly whipped cream that has a touch of powdered sugar and vanilla or almond added in, but I just fill them with buttercream frosting because its cheaper and tastes pretty good too.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 777.1, Fat 56.1, SaturatedFat 32.4, Cholesterol 493.9, Sodium 553.5, Carbohydrate 48.5, Fiber 1.7, Sugar 0.6, Protein 19.5
BAKING PATE A CHOUX TO FORM PUFFS OR ECLAIRS
Provided by Food Network
Categories dessert
Yield Approximately 30 medium puffs
Number Of Ingredients 2
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment. Pipe out 1/2-inch balls for profiteroles or cocktail puffs, 1-inch balls for cream puffs, or 1/2 by 4-inch strips for eclairs. Be sure to leave enough room in between for them to triple in size. Brush with egg glaze and bake for 15 minutes. Lower heat to 400 and open oven door briefly to let steam out. Close the door and continue to bake another 1030 minutes according to their size. They must be well dried out or they may fall. Take one out of the oven and check it by breaking open and checking the interior walls: they should be dry, not wet and eggy. Return to the oven as necessary. Remove when done and cool on a wire rack.
- Baked puffs and eclairs freeze well for up to a month.
- Filling Puffs: Either slice open horizontally, spoon filling onto bottom, and replace the hat; or pierce a small hole with a paring knife in side or bottom of the puff and pipe in a soft filling using a pastry bag with a small plain tip.
Tips:
- Use high-quality ingredients for the best results.
- Make sure the butter and water are very hot before adding the flour.
- Stir the flour mixture constantly to avoid scorching.
- Beat the eggs one at a time to ensure a smooth batter.
- Pipe the batter onto a greased baking sheet, leaving space for the choux pastry to expand.
- Bake the choux pastry in a preheated oven until puffed and golden brown.
- Fill the choux pastry with your favorite cream or custard.
- Enjoy the choux pastry immediately or store it in an airtight container for later use.
Conclusion:
Choux pastry is a versatile and delicious pastry that can be used to make a variety of desserts. With a little practice, you can easily master the art of making choux pastry. So what are you waiting for? Get baking!
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