Choux Pastry

 

So.........."Choux pastry is a light pastry dough used to make profiteroles or eclaires.

Choux pastry has a high water content. The water in the mixture creates steam during cooking which forces the pastry to expand in volume, leaving it with a hollow centre and a light texture.".......

Wow! theres a lot of science in baking and I think I have learnt more than just how to make them.

These were on my to bake list and to have made two bakes in one, I'm pretty chuffed.

Here is my simple guide in how to make Choux pastry.

**These are best served chilled, leave at least 4 hours in the fridge. 

I had left some overnight in the fridge for a test taste & they tasted even better!! 

That's if you can wait that long!

Ingredients:

130g plain flour

80g unsalted butter

250ml water

10g sugar

2g salt

3 eggs

1 egg yolk

Method:

Place the water, butter, sugar & salt in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil.

When the butter has melted take off the heat, add the flour to the mixture all at once and beat continuously until the mixture has thickened and is smooth.



 

 



 

 

Transfer into a clean bowl and let it cool a little.

Gradually add in the beaten egg a bit at a time, mixing well between each addition.

 

The mixture should now be like thick batter.

And your arms might be a bit achey!

 

Here you can see when the dough mixture drops back into the bowl, it leaves a V shape off the spoon.

This means you are ready to pipe.

 

 

Put the pastry mixture into a piping bag and pipe onto a well greased baking tray.

You can use a wet finger to stub out any peaks..

 

spray with water before putting it into the oven

 

Bake in a preheated oven at 190c for the first 20 mintues then reduce the temperature to 170c and bake a further 10-15 mintues unitl golden brown

 

 

When the puffs are done, immediately poke a hole into each of them with a wooden skewer.

This lets out the steam and prevents the inside from getting soggy.

 

Yes, theres alot of them and I got my daughter to do it while I prepared the cream.

You might find little helpers useful at this stage.

 

Pipe cream in the center of  each puffs

 

 

To make the chocolate glaze:

1/2 cup of double cream

8oz of semi sweet chocolate chips

1.Tbsp of corn syrup

Heat the cream to almost boiling and pour over the chocolate and wait few minutes to melt.

Stir gently adding the corn syrup and you should have a shiny chocolate glaze.

You need to wait for it to cool before covering your pastry so it is not too runny.

Stack the profiteroles into a tower and pour chocolate sauce over them.

Or you can make eclaire's by piping the choux pastry into long shapes before you bake them and  then add cream in the middle and cover chocolate glaze on top.