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Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
Choux pastry is used for making profiteroles, eclairs and other small pastries.
554 K 3.7/5 (61 reviews)
1 hour 4 min.
Easy
1.25 €
400 g
8 IngredientsLast modified on: February 13th 2022
For 400 g, you will need:
- 1
60 ml milk - 2
60 ml water - 3
60 g butter - 4
75 g flour - 5
110 g egg ( How to... ) - 6
2 g fine (or table) salt - 7
4 g caster sugar - 8
100 g craquelin (sweet cracker dough) (optional) - Total weight: 375 grams
Times for this recipe
Preparation: 25 min.
Cooking: 45 min.
All in all: 1 hour 4 min.
If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time
To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time
Step by step recipe
Stage 1 - ⌛ 3 min.
Stage 2 - ⌛ 5 min.
Pour 60 ml milk and 60 ml water into a pan, add 60 g butter, 2 g fine (or table) salt and 4 g caster sugar.
Stage 3 - ⌛ 7 min.
Heat on medium heat until butter is completely melted.
Stage 4 - ⌛ 1 min.
Remove pan from heat, and 75 g flour.
Stage 6 - ⌛ 1 min.
Put pan on low heat, and stir dough for one minute to dry it.
Stage 7 - ⌛ 2 min.
By hand
Pour the ball into a small bowl.
Stage 8 - ⌛ 5 min.
Pour beaten eggs step by step...
Stage 9
...and whisk to mix.
Stage 10
Stage 11
Your handmade choux pastry is ready.
Stage 12
With a mixer
Pour the ball into the bowl of a mixer.
Stage 13
Start up at minimum speed.
Stage 14
Gently pour the eggs into the bowl of the mixer while it is moving, until completely incorporated.
Stage 15
Increase the speed of the mixer a little and continue beating for a minute or two to aerate the dough a little.
Stage 16
Your choux pastry mixer made is ready.
Stage 17 - ⌛ 3 min.
Stage 18 - ⌛ 5 min.
Make choux with the forcing bag, in shape and size of your choice, here small round choux.
Don't forget that dough will rise and spread during cooking, so choux must not be too close together.
Don't forget that dough will rise and spread during cooking, so choux must not be too close together.
Stage 19
If you're not easy with forcing bag, you may have unwanted small peaks on top of choux
Stage 20
In this case, flat the peak using a teaspoon soaked in milk...
Stage 21
...to get a well rounded top.
Stage 22
Other solution, use craquelin (sweet cracker dough) which give a real professional look.
Stage 23 - ⌛ 30 min.
Cooking
Put in the oven for about 30 minutes.
Remove choux from the oven as soon as they are browned.
Note: Don't open the oven door during cooking, because the drop in temperature will make your choux collapse.
Leave to cool on a wire rack
Remarks
According to whether the choux pastry will be used for a sweet or savoury recipe, you can double the quantity of sugar or salt to accentuate the taste. For example: you want to make sweet cream puffs, make this recipe with 2 g salt and 5 g sugar, for salted cream puffs (with bechamel sauce for example) use 2 g sugar and 5 g salt.
Keeping: Choux pastry cooked: several hours.
Source: Home made, but after Gaston Lenôtre.
Nutritional information
How much will it cost?
- For 400 g : 0.90 €
Change currency:
Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.
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Pets de nonne
These small fritters are like mini doughnuts: they're simply made with choux pastry dough, then tossed in a little sugar. [Translator's note: their amusing French name literally means "nun's farts". So, maybe we'll leave it French...].
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Saint Honoré cake
The Saint Honoré cake is a famous example of French patisserie. It consists of a puff pastry base surrounded by a ring of caramel-coated choux puffs and topped with whipped cream (Chantilly). It is a bit tricky to make, but this recipe gives you all the hints you need.
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Mini Mont-Blanc choux puffs
These mini choux puffs are topped with a layer of craquelin and filled with Mont-Blanc cream: a mixture of whipped cream and sweetened chestnut purée.
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Valay-Brest
A Valay-Brest is a mini eclair, filled with apple-flavoured confectioner's custard and topped with a rectangle of walnut nougatine.
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Paris-Brest
The Paris-Brest is a famous French patisserie: a ring of choux pastry, scattered with flaked almonds and icing sugar and filled with a praline cream. The name comes from a historic cycle race between Paris and Brest (600 km or 372 miles), as the shape is like a bicycle wheel.
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This recipe uses (among others)
Egg
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Flour
Like these other recipes: Biscuit de Savoie sponge cake, Ciabatta, Liège waffles, Rabbit civet, Cashew-nut and Parmesan biscuits, ... See them all 206
Butter
Like these other recipes: Leek and potato soup, Grilled cheese, Stock-pot fish , Kouign-amann, Brioche galette, ... See them all 481
Milk
Like these other recipes: Apricot blancmange, Mouna, Chocolate eclairs, Polenta, Potimarron (Japanese chestnut pumpkin) purée, ... See them all 63
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