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Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
Choux pastry is used for making profiteroles, eclairs and other small pastries.
548 K 3.7/5 (61 reviews)
1 hour 4 min.
Easy
400 g
8 IngredientsLast modified on: February 13th 2022
For 400 g, you will need:
- 1
1⁄3 cup milk - 2
1⁄3 cup water - 3
1⁄3 cup butter - 4
½ cup flour - 5
½ cup egg ( How to... ) - 6
½ teaspoon fine (or table) salt - 7
1 teaspoon caster sugar - 8
½ cup craquelin (sweet cracker dough) (optional)
Change these quantities to make:
Change measures:
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 1⁄3 cup milk and 1⁄3 cup water into a pan, add 1⁄3 cup butter, ½ teaspoon fine (or table) salt and 1 teaspoon caster sugar.
Stage 3 - 7 min.
Heat on medium heat until butter is completely melted.
Stage 4 - 1 min.
Remove pan from heat, and ½ cup 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
| Proteins (gr) | Carbohydrates (gr) | Fats (gr) | Energy value (in k-calories) | Energy value (in k-joules) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole recipe | 30 RDI=10 % | 150 RDI=10 % | 110 RDI=20 % | 1,440 RDI=70 % | 6,010 RDI: 70 % |
| Per 100 g | 7 RDI=3 % | 40 RDI=4 % | 30 RDI=4 % | 390 RDI=20 % | 1,620 RDI: 20 % |
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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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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Puits d'amour
This delicious little cake's charming French name means "well of love". It is made up of layers of puff and choux pastry, assembled with a light caramel and filled with vanilla confectioner's custard.
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Profiteroles
Small choux pastry puffs, filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with a rich smooth chocolate sauce.
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Pets de nonne
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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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This recipe uses (among others)
Egg
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Flour
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Milk
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Water
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