Choux Pastry (pronounced “shue pastry”) is a light French pastry which can produce little cabbage like puffs (“choux” puffs) when baked. 

A simple, delicious, light crusty pastry. Scrumptious as cream puffs, eclairs, profiteroles or so versatile with any of your favorite sweet or savory fillings! If you are a durian lover, definitely check out my delicious durian puff recipe made with this easy Choux Pastry.

Perfect puff … soft, fluffy and hollow

Choux Pastry also called Pâte à Choux (“Pat-ah-SHUE”), is made with just 4 basic ingredients – Water, Butter, Flour and Eggs.

No chemical leavening like baking soda or baking powder is used. Rather, the pastry rises using moisture which releases steam during the baking process. Check out the video to see how to make these little beauties 😊

Tips to get that Perfect Puff every time … 

• Double cooking

Choux Pastry is actually pastry that is cooked twice, once on the stove and again in the oven. This double cooking helps to produce the soft fluffy puff with that airy hollow interior. 

Cooking the dough on the stove helps the starch in the flour to gelatinise. This then produces that nice stretchy texture when the eggs are combined to give structure to the puffs during baking. 

Smooth stretchy choux dough

When cooking the dough on the stove, watch out for a thin layer of flour which will start to coat the bottom or sides of the pan. This will be the tell tale sign the dough is sufficiently cooked. Watch the video @0.58 min to see what this looks like.

• Brushing the parchment paper with water before baking.

There is no chemical leavening in Choux Pastry. This pastry uses purely egg and moisture that is already in the dough to rise. 

I have tried baking with and without this step and truth be told, the puffs were just proudly risen and more perfect when there was added moisture. Brushing the baking paper with water increases the amount of moisture during baking which help the puffs to rise rise rise!

• Eggs

Choux Pastry needs moisture moisture moisture! And eggs give just that. Make sure the dough is sufficiently cooled though before adding the eggs. Otherwise, be prepared for scrambled egg dough. 

The dough will look like it’s curdling when the egg is added but be patient and carry on mixing. It will come together as a beautiful stretchy dough. The final dough should be smooth, stretchy and oh so flexible! 

Egg wash, easily the baker’s best kept secret! Don’t skip this final step 😊

Gently brush some lightly beaten egg on the piped choux puffs before putting them to bake. The egg wash will give the pastry that rich golden color and gloss, baking them luxuriously golden with a beautiful shine.

Choux puffs rising proudly in the oven!

• Storage

Baked choux puffs store for 5-6 days in the refrigerator. To serve, leave it in a hot oven (switched off) to crisp for 5 minutes before piping in your fave filling. 

Simply delicious with vanilla ice cream

These little ‘Choux’ puffs are just sublime. Delicious little morsels of bliss. And so easy to perfect every time.

Enjoy this easy versatile Choux Pastry, the possibilities are limitless! Love to see your creation so tag me at #thesugarcrumble on FB or Instagram!

Print Recipe

Easy Choux Pastry

Easy Choux Pastry! Pronounced “Shue Pastry”, it is a light French pastry made with egg. A simple light crusty pastry, scrumptious as cream puffs, eclairs, profiteroles or with any of your favorite sweet or savory fillings.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time50 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Servings: 16 puffs

Author: Kai

Cost: $4

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 60 g unsalted butter (cut into chunks)
• 125 ml water
• 2 eggs

Instructions

• In a bowl sift the flour and set aside.
• Over medium heat, place the butter, the salt, the sugar and the water in a heavy pot and bring to a boil. Remove the butter mixture from heat and add the flour all at once. Stir until it is combined into a dough.
• Put the pot back onto the heat and stir constantly until the dough comes away from the sides and forms a thick smooth ball (about 1-2 min).
• Transfer the dough to a bowl and let it cool for ~ 5 min.
• Once the dough is lukewarm, add the eggs one at a time and mix until the dough becomes a smooth thick paste. (Note: the pastry choux dough will separate and then come together). Continue to mix until you have a stretchy thick paste which slowly falls from a spoon.
• Pipe a little pastry choux onto the four corners of the baking pan to secure the parchment paper. Lightly brush the parchment paper with some water which will help the choux puffs to rise in the oven.
• Pipe 16 one-inch button sized pastry choux mounds onto the baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Using the index finger tipped in a little water, pat down any swirly tips so that it does not burn during baking. With a pastry brush, gently brush the tops of the each mound with some lightly beaten egg.
• Preheat oven to 400F/200C and bake at the center rack of the oven for 15 min. Then reduce the oven temperature to 350F/180C and continue to bake for a further 10-15 min until the choux puffs are nice and golden.
• Turn off the heat and with the oven door slightly ajar, leave the puffs in there for another 5-10 minutes. This is to prevent the puffs from collapsing from any sudden drop in temperature. To test if the puffs are done, split one up and check if it is almost dry inside. If not, turn the oven off, poke a couple of holes in each puff and leave them in the oven to completely cool (and dry out) before use.

Video

Notes

• Double cooking

Choux Pastry is actually pastry that is cooked twice, once on the stove and again in the oven. This double cooking helps to produce the soft fluffy puff with that airy hollow interior. 

 

Cooking the dough on the stove helps the starch in the flour to gelatinize. This then produces that nice stretchy texture when the eggs are combined to give structure to the puffs during baking. 

 

When cooking the dough on the stove, watch out for a thin layer of flour which will start to coat the bottom or sides of the pan. This will be the tell tale sign the dough is sufficiently cooked. Watch the video @0.58 min to see what this looks like.

 

• Brushing the parchment paper with water before baking.

There is no chemical leavening in Choux Pastry. This pastry uses purely egg and moisture that is already in the dough to rise. 

 

I have tried baking with and without this step and truth be told, the puffs were just proudly risen and more perfect when there was added moisture. Brushing the baking paper with water increases the amount of moisture during baking which help the puffs to rise rise rise!

 

• Eggs

Choux pastry needs moisture moisture moisture! And eggs give just that. Make sure the dough is sufficiently cooled though before adding the eggs. Otherwise, be prepared for scrambled egg dough. 

 

The dough will look like it’s curdling when the egg is added but be patient and carry on mixing. It will come together as a beautiful stretchy dough. The final dough should be smooth, stretchy and oh so flexible! 

 

Egg wash, easily the Baker’s best kept secret! Don’t skip this final step 😊

 

Gently brush some lightly beaten egg on the piped choux puffs before putting them to bake. The egg wash will give the Choux Pastry that rich golden color and gloss, baking them luxuriously golden with a beautiful shine.

 

• Storage

Baked choux puffs store for 5-6 days in the refrigerator. To serve, leave it in a hot oven (switched off) to crisp for 5 minutes before piping in your fave filling.