Choux on that
So you say you have never come across choux (pronounced ‘shu’) pastry? Well if you have eaten an éclair (not the candy) or a cream puff, then you have.
Choux pastry is one of the lightest pastries around and is used for making French desserts and buns like profiteroles, cream puffs, croquembouches, éclairs, French crullers, beignets, St. Honoré cake, Indonesian kue sus, and gougeres.
And since it contains only butter, water, flour, and eggs, it is extremely simple to make. The pastry is often served with a savoury cream cheese filling too with mind boggling results.
Simple Choux pastry
While there are very few ingredients for a choux pastry, it takes a couple of tries to master. But as long as you follow the instructions exactly, it should be okay.
Ingredients
65 gm cup butter
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup flour, sifted
3 eggs
Method
Place the butter and the water in a saucepan. Bring the water to the boil and stir until the butter has melted. Remove from heat.
Add all the flour in the mixture and stir until the mixture is smooth. Return the mixture over the heat and continue beating until it becomes smooth and leaves the side of the pan.
Remove from heat and allow it to cool down a bit.
Now whisk the eggs into the choux mixture.
The next stage depends whether you want to make éclairs or cream puff or profiteroles. If making éclairs, fill the mixture in a piping bag and pipe 6-9 cm long éclairs. Else put tablespoons of the mixture on a greased cooking tray to make cream puffs or profiteroles.
In an oven preheated to 220°C, bake the pastry for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 200°C and bake for a further 15 to 20 minutes, until crisp.
Turn off the oven. Remove from the oven and immediately make small slits along the sides of each puff to allow the steam to escape. Return to the cooling oven for a few minutes to dry them.
You will know you have got a good pastry if it is dry and gives a hollow sound
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