Pâte à Choux

Directions

• 1)

  We start by pouring a mixture of milk and water into a pan on the stove. Some recipes use only water or only milk, but the combination of the two gives the finished product a nice flavor and color.

• 2)

  To the milk and water, add a little bit of salt and sugar for flavoring and some butter. Make sure the butter is softened before you put it in the pan; otherwise, the liquid will boil away while you’re waiting for the butter to melt.

• 3)

  Bring the mixture to a boil. If you’re cooking over a gas flame, adjust the flame so that it doesn’t go over the side of the pan, which could cause the milk to burn.

• 4)

  When the mixture has reached a boil, take it off the heat and add the flour all at once. Typically, you use bread flour for this dough because you want the dough to be sticky and elastic. When you pipe and bake the dough, it will expand tremendously, and in order to hold all that air in, it needs to be fairly firm.

• 5)

  At this point, the mixture will look like mashed potatoes, and it won’t have much structure. Return the pan to low heat and stir. The mixture will now tighten up to form a ball, and some of the moisture will evaporate, so the dough will be a little bit drier. Keep stirring to make sure the dough doesn’t stick and burn on the bottom of the pan.

• 6)

  As you stir, open the mixture up a bit so that you can expose the inside to the direct heat of the fire. It may be a little tiresome to beat this mixture, but you want to be careful that you don’t let it scorch in the pan. After the dough comes together to form a ball, keep stirring and let it roast for about 1 minute to 1 ½ minutes over direct heat. You want the dough to get a starchy finish on the outside; that’s a good indication that it’s starting to dry out. If you cook it for too long, however, the butter will break out of the mixture, and it will begin to look greasy.

• 7)

  Once the dough is sufficiently dried out, take it off the heat. Transfer it to a mixer bowl, turn the mixer on low, and add the eggs in one at a time.

• 8)

  There are two critical stages in making pâte à choux. The first is on the stove, when you’re drying the mixture out. Again, if you don’t go far enough here, the mixture could be too wet, and if you go too far, you might scorch it, or it might separate into a greasy ball. The second critical stage is in adding the eggs. Although all pâte à choux recipes are written with a specific amount of egg, you should think of the egg as being a variable. You add the eggs one at a time because you’re trying to achieve a very specific texture. After you add the first three eggs, you may want to add just part of the last one.

• 9)

  After you incorporate the eggs, you’ll notice the dough starting to get a little firmer. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl. If the dough looks dry, you can add the rest of the final egg. You want the dough to have a soft, creamy, supple quality and be shiny.

• 10)

  You can now transfer the finished pâte à choux mixture to a pastry bag (or gallon-sized ziploc bag with a small hole cut in the corner) and pipe out different shapes for éclairs and profiteroles.

• 11)

  To bake the piped pastries, start off at a higher temperature (about 400°F) and allow the dough to puff up in the oven for 10 or 15 minutes. Once the dough has expanded, it’s very fragile, so you’ll need to turn the oven down and dry the pastries out for an additional 15 or 20 minutes at a lower temperature (325°F). After they’re done, the pastries are ready for filling. For this, you can use a classic pastry cream, or you can split the pastries in half and fill them with whipped cream.