Do you love eclairs? And what about cheesy gougères, cream puffs, and profiteroles? Besides making you drool thinking about all of them, the only thing these pastry items have in common is that they all are made from choux pastry or pate a choux. It is a staple French pastry.
Do you think that it is tough to make them at home? Certainly not. Here’s every single thing that you should know for making a batch tonight.
Ingredients and their proportions:
• Water 80 ml/ 1/3 cup
• Cubed butter 40g
• Vegetable oil for greasing
• Eggs 2
• Plain flour 1/3 cup or 50g
Method to follow:
Step 1:
First, over medium flame, you need to place butter and water in a saucepan. Cook and stir for about 3-4 minutes. Or cook it until your butter melts properly and the mixture comes to a boil.
Step 2:
Time to add the flour to the mixture you have prepared at once. Consider using a wooden spoon for beating until everything gets combined well. Over low heat, place the saucepan. Again, cook and stir the mixture until it forms a ball, as well as starts coming away from the saucepan’s side or you can cook it for around 1-2 minutes. Set it aside for approximately 5 minutes so that it can cool a little bit. Take a small bowl, whisk 1 gg in it, and keep it aside. Now whisk another egg in a bowl, add it to your flour mixture. Don’t forget to beat it well using a wooden spoon. Add a bit of the reserved egg gradually and beat until your mixture falls from your spoon; however, holds its actual shape.
Step 3:
You need to preheat your over to 2000 C. Now grease your baking tray using vegetable oil. Spoon 20-30 teaspoonful of the prepared mixture onto the baking tray, about 3-4cm apart. On the other hand, use a pastry bag with a 1.5cm- diameter piping nozzle (the plain one) to pipe the profiteroles onto your baking tray. With a little of the egg brush the tops. Bake them in a preheated oven for around 25-30 minutes or until your profiteroles are golden and puffed.
Step 4:
Now turn off your oven and remove the tray from it. With a small knife or skewer, pierce the top or base of each profiterole for releasing the steam. Again, return your profiteroles to the oven. For about 15 minutes, leave them there to dry out. Remove your profiteroles right from the oven. Take a wire rack and transfer them to it so that they can get cool down.
Important notes:
While you make choux, make sure that you use butter cut into small pieces because it melts evenly and quickly, minimizing the amount of water, which evaporates. You need to add all the flour at one as this helps the flour to cook evenly. Vigorously beat the mixture until it becomes smooth and comes away from the pan’s side. However, never over-beat. Additionally, keep your mixture aside so that it can cool a bit and the eggs don’t cook while they are being beaten in.
So, keep these points in mind and make yummy choux pastry.
Last Updated on September 3, 2021
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