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Easy Choux Pastry
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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
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time50 minutes
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.