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Pâte à Choux


Pâte à choux is a light pastry dough originating from France. Learning to make this dough is a foundational pastry lesson. If you can make pâte à choux successfully, you can not only make cream puffs but also many more pastries including Paris breast, eclairs, and much more. This recipe is easy as long as you have your prep work done before beginning the recipe. This recipe is an example of one where "mise en place" really comes into play. You may not get everything right the first time. Piping the puffs out might be difficult for a beginner. But, the only way you'll get better is with practice. That's why this recipe is a confidence builder. Once you nail pâte à choux, you can pretty much make anything. I'll walk you step-by-step through how to get it right.

REASONS YOU SHOULD TRY THIS RECIPE:

  • Lightly sweet perfect pastry dough
  • You can use this dough for eclairs, puffs and so much more
  • Choose your filling - you can fill the baked dough with a variety of fillings
Pâte à Choux

Ingredients for Pâte à Choux:

  • Cold water - helps in the rising process of our dough in the oven as the water will evaporate
  • Unsalted European-style butter - the key to our buttery dough
  • Salt - brings out the rest of the flavors
  • Sugar - adds just a bit of sweetness and will help with color
  • Milk powder - adds our milk needed for our dough
  • Sifted cake flour - provides the gluten structure
  • Whole eggs - helps with the rise and color of our dough

How to Make Pâte à Choux:

  • First, for very good French pastries it all starts with the ingredients. Specifically, the butter. For French pastries, I always make sure to use European-style butter which contains up to 85% butterfat. The more fat there is, the better the pastry will be. It will lead to better texture and most definitely better flavor. Second, mise en place is important for many recipes, but French pastries are really where that concept becomes highlighted.
  • Pâte à choux is easy to make, but it's also easy to mess up if you are not prepared. Be sure you have the correct ingredients, your scale, a proper saucepan, a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat sprayed with cooking spray, and the pastry bag with the correct pastry tip (I used an Ateco 805). Your oven should be preheated before you even get started too. All of this should be ready to go before you begin this recipe. I can't stress this enough.
  • Now, let's get started with the actual recipe. To begin, place the butter, water, sugar, and salt into a saucepan.
Pâte à Choux
  • Begin to melt the butter over high heat. Continue to cook until the butter is fully melted. Then, add in the milk powder and stir until all the lumps are dissolved.
  • After the milk powder is fully dissolved, remove the pan from the heat dump in the flour all at once and begin to mix with a wooden spoon. Put the pan back over medium-high heat and continue to stir until the flour is fully dissolved. The liquid will become a soft dough, it will come clean off the sides and bottom as you stir and will form a slight skin. Don't overmix, just mix until the flour is fully dissolved. This will only take a few minutes. Once the dough is formed and the flour is dissolved, take the pan off the heat and dump the dough into the bowl of your stand mixer. Begin to mix on the lowest setting for a minute or two. The steam from the dough should be escaping as you mix. Don't overmix, just mix for a minute or two until the bowl doesn't feel as hot to the touch. After that, add in the eggs one at a time and mix on low or medium-low. Allow the egg to fully incorporate before adding in the next egg. Also, be sure to stop the mixer and scrape the bowl after each addition. Mix just until the eggs are fully incorporated and you have a slightly runny mixture. Be sure not to overmix. Take the bowl off the mixer and use your rubber spatula to fully scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.
Pâte à Choux
  • Load the dough into your pastry bag fitted with the round tip. Don't overfill the bag and work relatively! This dough will form a skin as it sits. Place the tip about ½" above the baking sheet. Gently squeeze out a bit of dough allowing it to mound on itself then ending with a quick flick of the wrist making sure the tip is lightly touching the dough for the top. The key to piping out proper puffs is to let the pastry bag do the work for you. The only real movement you'll be doing is at the end when you're flicking your wrist for the top swirl. The rest of the time, your tip should be stationary allowing the dough to form a mound. If a prominent top swirl forms, you can correct it later. Pipe out the dough about ½" apart from each other.
  • Wet the tip of your index finger with some water and gently tap the top of the dough with the top portion of your index finger until the pointy tip is slightly flattened. Continue to do this for each cream puff. Pour a bit of heavy cream into a small bowl. Use a pastry brush to gently brush the heavy cream onto the puffs.
Pâte à Choux
  • Place the pan in the oven turn down the heat to 425°F and bake at 425°F for 15 minutes. Then, turn down the heat to 350°F and cook for another 25-30 minutes. Don't open the oven door at all! Allow it to bake fully without the heat escaping the oven. The puffs will deflate if you open the oven door. Once fully baked, the puffs should be fully risen and golden brown. If you'd like to peak at what they're looking like, use your phone's flashlight and flash through the oven door. Whatever you do, don't open the oven door prematurely!
Pâte à Choux
  • Once out of the oven, use a small pin to prick a hole into the top of the puffs to allow the heat to escape. This will help in preventing the puffs from deflating. Allow the puffs to cool slightly before cutting them in half. Pipe the whipped cream on top of the bottom half before topping it off with the top half. Continue to do this for the rest of the puffs. You can also use a small round pastry tip or your finger to poke a hole through the bottom and pipe pastry cream in them. Dust with powdered sugar and serve. They should be golden, buttery, and a bit crispy.
Pâte à Choux
Pâte à Choux
Pâte à Choux
SOME MORE FRENCH PASTRY RECIPES:

Easy French Apple Tart

Chocolate Chiffon Cake

Vanilla Creme Brulee

SHOP MY BAKING ESSENTIALS:

https://www.amazon.com/shop/fayesfood

Pâte à Choux

Pâte à Choux (Cream Puffs)

fharajli
Golden, crispy and buttery homemade cream puffs.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Course Desserts
Servings 17
Calories 42 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 200 g cold water
  • 93.75 g unsalted European-style butter
  • 3.75 g salt
  • 3.75 g sugar
  • 16.25 g milk powder
  • 110 g sifted cake flour
  • 200 g whole eggs room temperature

Instructions
 

  • To begin, place the butter, water, sugar, and salt into a saucepan.
  • Begin to melt the butter over high heat. Continue to cook until the butter is fully melted. Add in the milk powder and mix until all the lumps are dissolved.
  • After the milk powder is fully dissolved, remove the pan from the heat and dump in the flour all at once and begin to mix with a wooden spoon. Put the pan back over medium-high heat and continue to stir until the flour is fully dissolved. The liquid will become a soft dough, it will come clean off the sides and bottom as you stir and will form a slight skin. Don't overmix, just mix until the flour is fully dissolved. This will only take a few minutes. Once the dough is formed and the flour is dissolved, take the pan off the heat and dump the dough into the bowl of your stand mixer. Begin to mix on the lowest setting for a minute or two. The steam from the dough should be escaping as you mix. Don't overmix, just mix for a minute or two until the bowl doesn't feel as hot to the touch. After that, add in the eggs one at a time and mix on low or medium-low. Allow the egg to fully incorporate before adding in the next egg. Also, be sure to stop the mixer and scrape the bowl after each addition. Mix just until the eggs are fully incorporated and you have a slightly runny mixture. Be sure not to overmix. Take the bowl off the mixer and use your rubber spatula to fully scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.
  • Load up the dough into your pastry bag fitted with the round tip. Don't overfill the bag and work relatively! This dough will form a skin if as it sits. Place the tip about a ½" above the baking sheet. Gently squeeze out a bit of dough allowing it to mound on itself then ending with a quick flick of the wrist making sure the tip is lightly touching the dough for the top. The key to piping out proper puffs is to let the pastry bag do the work for you. The only real movement you'll be doing is at the end when you're flicking your wrist for the top swirl. The rest of the time, your tip should be stationary allowing the dough to form a mound. If a prominent top swirl forms, you can correct it later. Pipe out the dough about ½" apart from each other.
  • Note: If you're not happy with how they came out, you can quickly use a rubber spatula to scrape it back into your bag and re-pipe them.
  • Wet the tip of your index finger with some water and gently tap the top of the dough with the top portion of your index finger until the pointy tip is slightly flattened. Continue to do this for each cream puff. Pour a bit of heavy cream into a small bowl. Use a pastry brush to gently brush the heavy cream onto the puffs.
  • Place the pan in the oven and turn down the heat to 425°F and bake at 425°F for 15 minutes. Then, turn down the heat to 350°F and cook for another 25-30 minutes. Don't open the oven door at all! Allow it to bake fully without the heat escaping the oven. The puffs will deflate if you open the oven door. Once fully baked, the puffs should be fully risen and golden brown. If you'd like to peak at what they're looking like, use your phone's flashlight and flash through the oven door. Whatever you do, don't open the oven door prematurely!
  • Once out of the oven, use a small pin to prick a hole into the top of the puffs to allow the heat to escape. This will help in preventing the puffs from deflating. Allow the puffs to cool slightly before cutting them in half. Pipe the whipped cream on top of the bottom half before topping it off with the top half. Continue to do this for the rest of the puffs. You can also use a small round pastry tip or your finger to poke a hole through the bottom and pipe pastry cream in them. Dust with powdered sugar and serve. They should be golden, buttery, and a bit crispy.

Video

Notes

You can freeze in a thick plastic storage bag for up to a month or store at room temp in a plastic bag or container for up to five days. To re-crisp, bake at 350°F for 5-10 minutes.
You can fill with pastry cream, ice cream, whipped cream, diplomat cream, etc.
Keyword brunch, cream puffs, dessert, desserts, eclairs, french pastries, pastries, pate a choux

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