Pâte à Choux (Choux Pastry) Recipe

Choux pastry is the base for traditional French cakes such as the Gateau St. Honoré, Paris Brest and the Croque-em-bouche, as well as emblematic pastries like éclairs and the children favorite Choux puffs.

But choux pastry can also be fried into beignets, crullers and churros, or used as the base for hot soufflés and mixed with mashed potatoes for Dauphine potatoes. In Austria, this same basic dough is also used to make sweet knoedels (dumplings), where a fruit, or pieces of it, are encased into pate a choux filled and then poached before being tossed in toasted crumbs and melted butter. In the cold kitchen, choux puffs are often filled with a chicken liver, smoked fish or other savory mousses or rillettes for cocktails.

Crispy baked filled or plain they are used as garnishes for consommés called profiteroles or as Gougère (cheese puffs). Enjoy this classic choux pastry recipe below!

Equipment

• baking tray
• wooden spoon
• piping bag with nozzle
• sauce pan

Ingredients

• 140 grams all purpose flour
• 120 grams butter
• 4 eggs
• 240 millilitres water

For sweet Pâte à Choux

• 120 millilitres water
• 120 millilitres milk
• 10 grams granulated sugar
• 120 grams all purpose flour
• 4 eggs

Instructions

• Combine the liquid with the butter and salt (and sugar for sweet pâte à choux) in a sauce pan and bring to boil.
• Add all purpose flour at once and stir vigorously with the wooden spoon over fire until the mixture is completely smooth and does not stick to the bottom of the pan anymore.
• Take the pan off the fire and let cool for a few minutes, then incorporate the eggs one at a time. The dough needs to become shiny and soft during that process and each egg needs to be fully incorporated before the next one can be added.
• Remove the pâte à choux from the pan and fill into a piping bag. Do not chill the dough and used pipe it while it is still warm and fresh.
• Dress the dough onto a greased baking tray making small round heaps in any size you may require. Other shapes than round puffs can be dressed accordingly. In general it works best if the piping bag is hold upright as shown in the picture. Leave ample space in-between the individual piped puffs as they will expand during baking.
• Moisten your finger with little water and smoothen out the top (peak) of the piped dough heaps.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 200° C or 390° F for approximately 10 minutes until golden brown and crisp. When done immediately make a small hole into the bottom of the puff with a paring knife. This is done in order to release steam within the puff and keeps them crisp.
• Once the puffs have completely cooled on a wire rack, they are then ready to be filled, glazed dipped or used in any which way you may prefer.