Image is for illustrative purposes only.
Choux pastry is the light, hollow pastry behind profiteroles, eclairs and cream puffs. Water, butter, a little sugar and salt are brought to the boil, the flour is beaten in to make a smooth paste, and then eggs are worked through until the mixture is glossy and just soft enough to pipe. In the oven the moisture in the paste turns to steam and blows the pastry up from the inside, leaving a crisp golden shell with a hollow centre ready for filling.
It is one of the most useful doughs in cake work. Piped small it becomes profiteroles for croquembouche and dessert plates, piped in lengths it becomes eclairs, and the same paste can be baked ahead and re-crisped in the oven before filling with custard cream, whipped cream or ganache. The trick is in the eggs: add them a little at a time and stop when the paste falls from the spatula in a soft V.
Ingredients
The weights in the recipe table below will yield the following 'weight per unit' and 'number of units'. If you would like to change the recipe to cater to a different 'weight per unit' and/or 'number of units',
you can use the Recipe Calculator Tool below the ingredients table.
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Weight Per Unit: 428
Number of Units: 2
Unit Size: baking tray of about 25 profiteroles
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WEIGHT
(grams)
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ALTERNATIVE METRIC
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INGREDIENT
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IMAGE
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CONDITION
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A
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250 |
1.1 cup
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Water
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B
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125 |
4.4 ounces
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Butter
Butter is a solid dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk, to separate the butterfat from the buttermilk. It is generally used as a spread on plain or toasted bread products and a condiment on cooked vegetables, as well as in cooking, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying. Butter consists of butterfat, milk proteins and water.
unsalted
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cut into cubes |
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C
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13 |
0.5 ounce
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Sugar
Sugar is the generalized name for sweet, short-chain, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. They are carbohydrates, composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. There are various types of sugar derived from different sources. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides and include glucose (also known as dextrose), fructose and galactose. The table or granulated sugar most customarily used as food is sucrose, a disaccharide. (In the body, sucrose hydrolyses into fructose and glucose.) Other disaccharides include maltose and lactose. Longer chains of sugars are called oligosaccharides. Chemically-different substances may also have a sweet taste, but are not classified as sugars. Some are used as lower-calorie food substitutes for sugar described as artificial sweeteners.
caster
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D
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2.5 |
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Salt
Common salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in its natural form as a crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantities in seawater, where it is the main mineral constituent; the open ocean has about 35 grams (1.2 oz) of solids per litre, a salinity of 3.5%. Salt is essential for animal life, and saltiness is one of the basic human tastes. Salt is one of the oldest and most ubiquitous of food seasonings, and salting is an important method of food preservation.
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E
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215 |
7.6 ounces
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Cake Flour
Cake flour is a finely milled white flour made from soft wheat. It has very low protein content, between 8% and 10%, making it suitable for soft-textured cakes and cookies. The higher protein content of other flours would make the cakes tough. Highly sifted cake flours may require different volume amounts in recipes than all-purpose flour. Using the scoop and level method, well-sifted flour usually produces 125 g per cup. However, most American recipes are written with 140 g of flour per cup, so weighing and experimentation can be helpful in baking unfamiliar recipes. Small weight differences can greatly affect the texture. American Cake flour is bleached; in countries where bleached flour is prohibited, plain flour can be treated in a domestic microwave to improve the texture of the end product.
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sifted |
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F
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250 |
5 Whole Eggs
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Whole Egg
Eggs are one of the most common ingredients in a typical cake. Egg yolks and whole eggs store significant amounts of protein and choline, and are widely used in baking. Usually an eggs role in a cake is to add moisture and richness, act as a raising agent as well as a glue to bind the ingredients together.
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room temperature, lightly beaten |
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855
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Recipe Calculator Tool
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Method
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STEP
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ACTION
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DETAIL
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CONDITION
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1 |
Pre-heat |
Pre-heat the oven to 200°C (390°F) and line two flat baking trays with baking paper. |
Oven fully up to temperature before the pastry goes in |
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2 |
Boil |
Put A, B, C and D (water, butter, caster sugar and salt) in a saucepan and bring to a full rolling boil over medium heat. |
Butter completely melted before the liquid boils |
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3 |
Add |
Take the pan off the heat and tip in all of E (cake flour) at once, stirring hard with a wooden spoon until it comes together in a smooth ball. |
No dry flour left, dough pulls away from the sides of the pan |
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4 |
Cook |
Return the pan to low heat and stir the paste for 1 to 2 minutes to dry it out. |
A thin film forms on the base of the pan and the paste is glossy |
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5 |
Cool |
Transfer the paste to a mixing bowl and beat on low speed, or stir by hand, for a few minutes. |
Steam released and the paste is only just warm to the touch |
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6 |
Beat |
Add F (whole egg) a little at a time, beating well after each addition until fully absorbed before adding more. You may not need all of it. |
Paste is smooth, shiny and drops from the spatula in a soft V |
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7 |
Pipe |
Fill a piping bag fitted with a plain 10 to 12 mm nozzle and pipe walnut-sized mounds onto the trays, spaced well apart. Flatten any peaks with a wet fingertip. |
Even sizes so they bake at the same rate |
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8 |
Bake |
Bake at 200°C (390°F) for 15 minutes, then lower the oven to 180°C (355°F) and bake a further 15 to 20 minutes without opening the door. |
Well risen, deep golden and firm and light when lifted |
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9 |
Dry |
Switch the oven off, pierce the base or side of each shell with a small knife and leave them in the oven with the door ajar for 10 minutes. |
Inside dry and hollow so the shells do not collapse |
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10 |
Cool |
Cool completely on a rack before filling. |
Shells crisp and at room temperature |
Important Notes
The halved recipe makes about 850 g of paste, enough for roughly 50 small profiteroles (about 17 g of paste each) or about 20 eclairs. The paste is best piped and baked straight away, while it is still warm and soft. Baked shells keep in an airtight container for two days and can be freshened in a 160°C (320°F) oven for a few minutes before filling; they also freeze well unfilled. Fill only just before serving so the shells stay crisp.
Tools & Arrangements
Medium saucepan, wooden spoon, electric mixer with paddle (or a strong arm), piping bag with a plain 10 to 12 mm nozzle, two flat baking trays, baking paper, small knife, cooling rack, scales.
