Here is the choux pastry recipe in pictures, to help you make it without any pitfalls. Choux buns, éclairs, chouquettes and religieuses, here you come!
The equipment
- an oven
- a saucepan
- a baking tray
- a set of scales
- a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (optional)
- a mixing bowl
- a piping bag
- a plain nozzle
- baking parchment or a silicone mat
- a spatula or a scraper
- a wooden spoon or a spatula
- a pastry brush
Tips & Tricks
I attended a pastry class — a lovely gift from my partner — on the theme of “choux, religieuses and éclairs”. Choux pastry? I’ve got it mastered! And here are a few tips the pastry chef shared with us that day:
On baking the choux:
Baking time will depend on your oven and the size of your choux. I give you an approximate time, but you need to learn to watch them to know when they’re done. As the choux bakes, it puffs up and cracks. If the cracks are still white, your choux isn’t done yet and it risks collapsing if you open the oven door too early. The choux should be an even, golden colour all over.
To open the oven or not? Good question… You’ll read everywhere that you must never open the oven door once the choux are inside. And it’s true — if you open the door a few minutes before the end of baking, your choux will deflate. However — and I discovered this entirely by accident — if you open the oven door right at the beginning of baking, there’s no need to worry, nothing will happen! I had piped a tray of choux to make chouquettes… but had forgotten to put the pearl sugar on. How annoying! When I realised, I immediately opened the oven and went to complain about my blunder to my partner, who said “no!! you shouldn’t have opened the oven!!” Well, nothing to be done — I decided to add the pearl sugar anyway and put them back in to bake. They turned out absolutely beautiful!
If you’re baking only one tray of choux, use your oven on “conventional heat” mode and place the tray in the middle. If you have 2 trays you want to bake at the same time, switch to “fan-assisted” mode instead.
One last thing: I used both water and milk to make the choux pastry. You can use water only, milk only, or a mix like I do. Combining water and milk results in a drier crust on the outside while keeping the inside soft and tender.
Ingredients & preparation
1 component · Complete recipe
The Recipe (for approximately forty small choux puffs)
Ingredients
- 100 g (3.5 oz) water
- 100 g (3.5 oz) milk
- 2 g (0.1 oz) sugar
- 2 g (0.1 oz) salt
- 80 g (2.8 oz) butter
- 120 g (4.2 oz) flour
- 4 eggs
Instructions
1
Preheat your oven to 230°C / 450°F.
2
In a saucepan, combine the water, milk, salt, sugar and butter. Bring everything to a boil.
3
Remove from the heat and add the flour all at once. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon.
4
Return to the heat for 30 seconds to dry out the paste (it should start to pull away from the bottom of the pan).
5
Remove from the heat and transfer to a mixing bowl. Leave to cool for a few minutes.
6
Add the eggs one at a time (you may need a fifth egg, depending on their size). The dough should be neither too thick nor too runny — it should fall in a ribbon. If using an electric mixer, use the dough hook rather than the whisk.
7
Fill a piping bag with the choux pastry.
8
Using the piping bag, pipe the dough onto a parchment-lined baking tray (hold the bag straight up).
9
Brush the choux with a whole beaten egg and gently flatten the little peak on top with a finger.
10
The choux are ready to bake! Before putting them in the oven, lower the temperature to 175°C / 350°F and bake for approximately 20–25 minutes.
11
Once baked, transfer the choux to a wire rack and leave to cool.
Gallery
