Choux pastry (pâte à choux)


Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
Choux pastry is used for making profiteroles, eclairs and other small pastries.
541 K 3.7/5 (61 reviews)
Grade this recipe:
Keywords:
Last modified on: February 13th 2022
For 400 g, you will need:

Change these quantities to make:
Times for this recipe
Preparation: 25 min.
Cooking: 45 min.
All in all: 1 hour 4 min.
When should you start or finish this recipe?
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.
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
Preheat oven to 410°F (210°C).

whisk

Stage 2 - 5 min.
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
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.
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
Heat on medium heat until butter is completely melted.

Stage 4 - 1 min.
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
Remove pan from heat, and 75 g flour.

Stage 5 - 2 min.
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
Mix well with a spatula or a maryse, the choux dough will form a "ball".

Stage 6 - 1 min.
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
Put pan on low heat, and stir dough for one minute to dry it.

Stage 7 - 2 min.
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)

By hand


Pour the ball into a small bowl.

Stage 8 - 5 min.
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
Pour beaten eggs step by step...

Stage 9
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
...and whisk to mix.

Stage 10
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
Note:The more eggs you add, the more difficult the dough will be to mix. If you need to, you can use a spatula or a maryse instead of a whisk.

Stage 11
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
Your handmade choux pastry is ready.

Stage 12
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)

With a mixer


Pour the ball into the bowl of a mixer.

Stage 13
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
Start up at minimum speed.

Stage 14
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
Gently pour the eggs into the bowl of the mixer while it is moving, until completely incorporated.

Stage 15
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
Increase the speed of the mixer a little and continue beating for a minute or two to aerate the dough a little.

Stage 16
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
Your choux pastry mixer made is ready.

Stage 17 - 3 min.
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)

Dressing


Place a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet.

Pour the choux pastry into a piping bag.

Stage 18 - 5 min.
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
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.

Stage 19
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
If you're not easy with forcing bag, you may have unwanted small peaks on top of choux

Stage 20
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
In this case, flat the peak using a teaspoon soaked in milk...

Stage 21
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
...to get a well rounded top.

Stage 22
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
Other solution, use craquelin (sweet cracker dough) which give a real professional look.

Stage 23 - 30 min.
Choux pastry (pâte à choux)

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
Proteins (gr)Carbohydrates (gr)Fats (gr)Energy value (in k-calories)Energy value (in k-joules)
Whole recipe30 RDI=10 %150 RDI=10 %110 RDI=20 %1,440 RDI=70 %6,010 RDI: 70 %
Per 100 g7 RDI=3 %40 RDI=4 %30 RDI=4 %390 RDI=20 %1,620 RDI: 20 %
The % figures are calculated in relation to the Recommended Dietary Intake , or RDI of 2,000 k-calories (or 8,400 k-joules) per day for a woman Change to a man
Possible allergens in this recipe: Milk, Gluten, egg
How much will it cost?
  • For 400 g : £0.80

Change currency:

Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.
Some other recipes using this recipeSee them all 9
Mini Mont-Blanc choux puffs
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.
66 K 1 hour 45 min.
Paris-Brest
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.
196 K4.6 2 hours 20 min.
Profiteroles
Profiteroles

Small choux pastry puffs, filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with a rich smooth chocolate sauce.
316 K 14.5 1 hour 35 min.
Saint Honoré cake
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.
130 K4.7 2 hours 55 min.
Valay-Brest
Valay-Brest

A Valay-Brest is a mini eclair, filled with apple-flavoured confectioner's custard and topped with a rectangle of walnut nougatine.
78 K4.1 1 hour 30 min.
This recipe uses (among others)
Other recipes you may also like
How to glaze a tart
How to glaze a tart
Professional pastrycooks usually say that "a beautiful cake is already half sold", it is one of the reasons why they do not put a tart on sale without glazing it ("abricoter" in Fench), i.e. coating it with a thick apricot syrup. This glaze gives a glossy finish to the tart (see the photographs...
February 15th 2016459 K4.4 7 min.
Stock-pot fish
Stock-pot fish
A julienne of vegetables (small sticks) mixed with choice morsels of fish, slowly cooked in vegetable stock.
December 31th 2013319 K4.3 2 hours 40 min.
Thin summer tart "à la grecque"
Thin summer tart "à la grecque"
A fresh, summery tart with a thin base of pre-cooked puff pastry, spread with a cream-feta mixture, and topped with slices of tomato and cucumber.
July 18th 202129 K 55 min.
Fillings for macaroons
Fillings for macaroons
The macaroons recipe shows how to make these small cakes, and gives the example of a raspberry filling. Here are several other possibilities: Apricot macaroons, Chocolate macaroons, Mint macaroons, Blackcurrant macaroons.
May 30th 2020302 K 24.3 2 hours 1 min.
Brioche dough
Brioche dough
It's a soft and rich dough, with butter and eggs which give a smooth and incredibly tasty brioche. This is the basic recipe for brioche dough, used for all other brioche-based recipes on the site.
September 16th 2020533 K 44.2 14 hours 30 min.
News list of cooking-ez.com

Sign up to receive the latest recipes (next batch due to be sent on 2025-07-20)

*Your e-mail Your first name or nickname
I am not a leaving thing
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Post a comment or question
Posted by:
I am not a leaving thing

Follow this recipe (as 8 people already do)
If you are interested in this recipe, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the recipe is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
I am not a leaving thing
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.

Back to top of page