Pâte à Choux

Ingredients

8.5 ounces milk

½ t salt

½ t sugar

4 ounces butter

5.5 ounces all purpose flour

5 eggs

Procedure

Bring the milk, salt, sugar, and butter to a boil.

Add the flour all at once and stir rapidly while the pan is on low heat. Cook until the mixture comes together and forms a ball. Place the dough into the bowl of a stand mixer and paddle on speed 1 to let the steam and heat out.

When the outside of the bowl is cool to the touch, add the eggs, 1 at a time.

The first egg addition will make the dough appear to split. This is expected and nothing wrong has happened. Paddle on medium slow speed to incorporate the first egg then add the next. The dough may split again, but less so from the first egg. Continue paddling on medium low speed to incorporate the second egg. Repeat adding one egg at a time until all the eggs are incorporated. Scrape the sides of the mixing bowl to ensure all the dough has been incorporated, paddle together one more time and it’s done.

If you don’t have a stand mixer, this can be mixed with a hand held mixer following the same procedure of letting the batter cool enough to not cook the eggs when they are added and adding only 1 egg at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl after the last egg to make sure everything is combined.

Pate a choux can be mixed by hand in the pot with a very stiff wooden spoon. It’s possible to do, but requires some vigorous stirring. Make sure to mix the dough to get the heat and steam out then add one egg at a time, scraping down the sides of the pan after the last egg to make sure everything is combined.

Place the finished pate a choux dough in a piping bag and make the desired shapes and sizes.

If you are using baking paper on your sheet pans, place a small portion of pate a choux batter on the corner of each pan and press the paper onto that pate a choux. This will hold the baking paper in place while you pipe your shapes.

Depending on what you’ve piped, eclairs or profiterolles or cream puffs, dictates the time and temperature at which you bake. The goal is to create a good puff, pretty golden brown exterior, and a pretty dry finished product. That can take some texting, but a good practice is start your puffs at 400° F, bake until they rise and brown, then lower the heat to 325° F and bake until the puff fully baked and not custardy inside. Remove the pan from the oven and let the puffs cool.

In winter months there is generally low humidity so they can remain on the counter. In summer months, the high humidity can make the puffs soggy rather rapidly. Once they are fully cool, store the puffs in an sealable container to help preserve them.

I have successfully made gluten free pate a choux. I used the Trader Joe’s gluten free flour mixture which does not contain Xanthan gum. All GF flours thicken at different rates so the ratios might not be the same. We don’t care for the mouthfeel of Xanthan gum in GF products which is why we didn’t use it here.