**Pâte à Choux: A Culinary Journey Through Cream Puffs, Éclairs, and Profiteroles**
Pâte à choux, a versatile French pastry dough, forms the foundation of delectable treats like cream puffs, éclairs, and profiteroles. This classic dough, made from a mixture of flour, butter, eggs, and water, is renowned for its airy and delicate texture, making it a beloved choice among pastry enthusiasts and dessert aficionados. Embark on a culinary adventure as we delve into the world of pâte à choux, exploring its versatility and the irresistible pastries it yields. Discover the secrets behind creating perfect cream puffs with their crisp outer shell and creamy filling, the art of crafting éclairs with their elongated shape and decadent chocolate glaze, and the delightful profiteroles, filled with luscious crème pâtissière and often served with a rich chocolate sauce. Let your taste buds dance with joy as you explore the diverse recipes presented in this article, each offering a unique twist on these timeless French pastries.
PATE A CHOUX
Use this pate a choux recipe to make mouthwatering pastries such as profiteroles, cream puffs, and eclairs.
Provided by Martha Stewart
Categories Food & Cooking Dessert & Treats Recipes Pie & Tarts Recipes
Yield Makes enough for 3 dozen cream puffs
Number Of Ingredients 5
Steps:
- Bring butter, sugar, salt, and 1 cup water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Using a wooden spoon, quickly stir in flour. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture pulls away from sides and a film forms on bottom of pan, about 3 minutes.
- Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until slightly cooled, about 1 minute. Raise speed to medium; add whole eggs, 1 at a time, until a soft peak forms when batter is touched with your finger. If peak does not form, lightly beat remaining egg white, and mix it into batter a little at a time until it does.
SWEET OR SAVORY PATE A CHOUX
Provided by Alton Brown
Time 35m
Yield 4 dozen bite-size cream puffs
Number Of Ingredients 6
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Boil water, butter, and salt or sugar. Add flour and remove from heat. Work mixture together and return to heat. Continue working the mixture until all flour is incorporated and dough forms a ball. Transfer mixture into bowl of a standing mixer and let cool for 3 or 4 minutes. With mixer on stir or lowest speed add eggs, 1 at a time, making sure the first egg is completely incorporated before continuing. Once all eggs have been added and the mixture is smooth put dough into piping bag fitted with a round tip. Pipe immediately into golfball-size shapes, 2 inches apart onto parchment lined sheet pans. Cook for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 degrees F and bake for 10 more minutes or until golden brown. Once they are removed from the oven pierce with a paring knife immediately to release steam.
PATE A CHOUX DOUGH
Provided by Food Network
Categories dessert
Time 55m
Yield 40 to 45 cream puffs
Number Of Ingredients 6
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In 2 quart pot, combine the butter and water. On a piece of wax or parchment paper, sift together the flour, salt and sugar. Bring the water and butter to a rolling boil, remove from heat and dump the flour mixture in all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon or paddle to incorporate.
- Return the saucepot to high heat and cook, stirring, for about one minute. The mixture will form a ball and coat the pan with a thin film.
- Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl or standing mixer equipped with the paddle attachment. Mix the dough for a minute or so, on low speed, to release some of the heat. Add the eggs, one at a time, completely incorporating each one before adding the next. Beat until the dough gets thick and ribbony.
- Fit a pastry bag with a round #5 tip and fill with the warm dough. Line a heavy cookie sheet with parchment paper and anchor it to the tray with a little dab of the dough at each corner. Pipe about forty to forty five 1 1/2-inch mounds about 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden and puffed. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 10 minutes or until they are golden brown and there are no droplets of moisture in the crevices. Turn off oven and leave the choux to dry for another 10 minutes. Use when cool, or freeze, wrapped in a plastic bag, for 2-3 months.
BAKED PâTE à CHOUX
A piping bag (an inexpensive investment, and it lasts forever) is the easiest way to form the dough into whatever shape you choose, but you can always use a plastic freezer bag with one corner snipped off, or two spoons. The imperfections that occur with a plastic bag or spoons can be repaired by dipping your finger into water and smoothing out the rough spots.
Provided by Mark Bittman
Categories breakfast, brunch, lunch, dessert
Time 1h
Yield 2 to 4 dozen pastries, depending on size
Number Of Ingredients 4
Steps:
- Heat oven to 400 and grease a baking sheet with butter. Put the butter and a pinch of salt in a saucepan over high heat; add 1 cup water and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and add all the flour at once; stir constantly until the mixture pulls away from the pan and forms a ball, about 30 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat and beat in the eggs one at a time; use an electric mixer if you like, and beat until the mixture is smooth. (At this point, you can cover the dough and refrigerate it for up to two days.)
- If you're planning on piping out the dough, scoop it into a pastry bag with a 1/2-inch tip, or a plastic freezer bag with a corner cut off. Pipe the pastry onto the baking sheet, or just use two spoons to form your desired shape. Cream puffs should be circles about 1 inch wide and a little over 1 inch tall; éclairs should be 3-to-4-inch fingers, about 1 inch wide.
- Bake until the pastries are golden brown, nicely puffed up and sound hollow when you tap on them, about 30 minutes for cream puffs and 40 minutes for éclairs. Use a skewer to prick one or two holes in each one to allow the steam to escape; transfer to a rack and let cool to room temperature.
- To fill the pastries using a pastry bag, poke a hole into the pastry and pipe the filling into it, or cut off the top caps of each pastry, spoon in the filling, and close it up like a sandwich. (Éclairs can be slit open and filled, too.) Serve as is, or drizzle with chocolate sauce.
Nutrition Facts : @context http, Calories 42, UnsaturatedFat 1 gram, Carbohydrate 3 grams, Fat 3 grams, Fiber 0 grams, Protein 1 gram, SaturatedFat 2 grams, Sodium 27 milligrams, Sugar 0 grams, TransFat 0 grams
PATE A CHOUX (CREAM PUFF PASTRY)
Basic dough from which you can make cream puffs, profiteroles, eclairs, cream puff swans or any manner of other desserts.
Provided by P48422
Categories Dessert
Time 20m
Yield 60 small cream puffs or eclairs
Number Of Ingredients 7
Steps:
- Place a bowl on your mixer and fit the paddle attachment to it.
- Put your eggs next to the mixer.
- Mix the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt in a 2-quart saucepan.
- Bring to a full boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.
- Stirring constantly, add the flour all at once, and stir quickly and without stopping until the flour is thoroughly incorporated.
- Then continue to cook and stir for another 45 seconds, or until the dough comes into a ball and a light film of paste coats the bottom of the pan.
- Immediately scrape the dough into the bowl of your mixer, and turn the mixer on low speed.
- Let it mix for a minute or two - the first few turns of the paddle will put up a cloud of steam.
- That's fine.
- Just let it mix until no more steam is coming off the dough.
- Then add the first egg, letting it mix in fully before adding the next one.
- Keep the mixer on low speed - you don't want to incorporate too much air into the paste.
- Scrape down the bowl every 2nd egg just to make sure everything is mixing together.
- Before adding the 6th egg, stop the mixer and check the consistency of the dough.
- You will know it is perfect if, when you lift the paddle, it pulls the dough with it, then the dough breaks away and forms a peak that slowly bends down.
- If the dough is too thick and doesn't form that peak, add the last egg.
- The dough is now ready to be used to make éclairs, cream puffs, profiteroles, or any other recipe calling for choux paste.
- It should be used immediately.
- NOTES FOR MAKING CHOUX PASTE SUCCESSFULLY: The liquid must be heated to a full boil.
- Add the flour all at once and stir madly until every last speck of flour is incorporated, then keep cooking and stirring some more - it's this last bit of cooking that will take the raw taste out of the flour; you'll know you are ready to quit when the dough forms a ball around your wooden spoon and the bottom of the pan is covered with a light film of paste.
- Stop mixing when you still have one egg left to add and inspect the dough.
- Depending on the condition of the flour, the room, or the moods of the pastry gods, the dough may or may not need the last egg.
- The dough is finished when you lift the paddle and it pulls up some dough that then detaches and forms a slowly bending peak - if you don't get a peak, add another egg.
- And relax.
- Even if you can't decide what to do, add the egg - you will still get a good puff.
- Use the paste while it is warm.
- It cannot be kept.
- Unfilled puffs or éclairs can be well wrapped and frozen for a few weeks.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 31.3, Fat 1.8, SaturatedFat 1, Cholesterol 19.3, Sodium 45.9, Carbohydrate 2.7, Fiber 0.1, Sugar 0.3, Protein 0.9
PATE A CHOUX
Use this dough to make Gougeres and other pastry recipes.
Provided by Martha Stewart
Categories Food & Cooking Dessert & Treats Recipes Pie & Tarts Recipes
Number Of Ingredients 6
Steps:
- Combine water, butter, sugar, and saltin a medium saucepan over medium-highheat. Bring mixture to a boil, and immediately remove from heat. Stir in the flour.When flour is combined, return to heat. Thismixture is called a panade. Dry the panadebystirring constantly for 4minutes. It isready when it pulls away from the sidesand a film forms on the bottom of the pan.
- Transfer panade to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment,and mix on low speed, about 2minutes,until slightly cooled. Add the eggs one at atime on medium speed, letting each oneincorporate completely before adding thenext. Add the last egg a little at a time until the batter is smooth and shiny. Test thebatter by touching it with your finger andlifting to form a string. If a string does notform, the batter needs more egg. If youhave added all the egg and the batter stilldoesn't form a string, add water 1 teaspoon at a time until it does.
- The batter may be used immediately orstored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2days. To use chilled,remove from the refrigerator, and stir tosoften before filling piping bag.
PATE A CHOUX
Recipe can be increased as much as you like. *^*Lovingly adopted by Mom2 T, K, K & G September 2006 =)*^*
Provided by Mom2 T
Categories Dessert
Time 45m
Yield 10 cream puffs depending on size
Number Of Ingredients 6
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 375.
- Place water, butter, sugar and salt in heavy saucepan and bring to boil.
- Add flour all at once and stir until mixture comes away from sides and forms a ball.
- Remove from heat.
- Put mixture in mixer with a paddle and mix on low to cool to warm, not hot.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating well to incorporate each before adding the next.
- After last egg is added, beat until smooth.
- With a piping bag and round tip, pipe mixture on to a parchment lined sheet pan.
- You can make as big or as long as you want.
- They will about double in size when cooked.
- Bake at 375 until they become,brown, light and hollow.
- Cool.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 101.8, Fat 6.2, SaturatedFat 3.4, Cholesterol 75.7, Sodium 80.2, Carbohydrate 8.5, Fiber 0.2, Sugar 1.4, Protein 2.9
Tips:
- Use fresh, high-quality ingredients for the best results.
- Make sure the butter and eggs are at room temperature before starting.
- Don't overbeat the eggs, or the pâte à choux will be tough.
- Pipe the pâte à choux onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving plenty of space between each one.
- Bake the pâte à choux in a preheated oven until they are golden brown and puffed up.
- Let the pâte à choux cool completely before filling them.
- Fill the pâte à choux with your favorite fillings, such as pastry cream, chocolate ganache, or fruit.
- Serve the pâte à choux immediately or store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Conclusion:
Pâte à choux is a versatile pastry that can be used to make a variety of delicious desserts. It is relatively easy to make, and with a little practice, you can create perfect pâte à choux every time. So next time you're looking for a special treat, give pâte à choux a try. You won't be disappointed!
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