What Is Choux Pastry and How to Make It
What Is Choux Pastry?
What is choux pastry? It is a light and airy pastry. Choux means 'cabbage' in French.
Choux pastry is normally used as a shell for eclairs, cream puffs, funnel cakes, and similar desserts. But choux pastry can be filled with ingredients other than for desserts, for instance, chicken salad. Choux pastry is very delicate, but easy to make.
What Ingredients Are Required for Choux Pastry?
It only takes four simple ingredients to make choux pastry- eggs, flour,
butter, and water. It's very simple to do. It requires no rolling or
other elaborate preparation. Here is how to make choux pastry:
Ingredients Required
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup each: water and flour
pinch salt
2 eggs
French Baking Cookbooks
How to Make Choux Pastry
Put the butter and water into a pan. Melt butter and bring to a boil.
Remove from heat. Add the flour all at once and pinch of salt. Stir well
with a wooden spoon.
Put back on medium heat. Beat constantly until it pulls away from the
sides of the pan and forms a ball. Be patient. It will take a few
minutes.
Remove from heat again and stir for a couple more minutes.
Beat the eggs together in a separate bowl. Wait for the mixture to cool
to lukewarm. Then eggs are beat into the mix, a bit at a time. Do not
add the eggs all at once.
Beat until the mixture becomes smooth. Don't give up. The eggs WILL
eventually mix together with the rest. It should become shiny. It
should get thick enough for the spoon to be able to stand up in it.
Next, it is dropped by spoonfuls onto a greased baking pan for further
baking. Sometimes it is made into elegant shapes. The French often turn
choux pastry into beautiful swans, and serve them at the end of a meal
for a beautiful presentation. You can make elegant choux pastry with a
piping tip.
Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit in a preheated oven for about 15 minutes.
Then, reduce the heat to 350 degrees. Bake for an additional 30
minutes. Put on the middle rack. They should turn golden brown. After it
has baked, prick a small hole int the bottom of each one to release
steam and keep them from becoming soggy. Split one open to make sure it
is not too wet and needs to be baked a bit longer.
More Tips for Making Choux Pastry
After it has cooled, the choux pastry is filled with your choice of
ingredients. Do not leave it refrigerated for a prolonged period, or it
will lose its crispy exterior and become soggy.
Because choux pastry is more moist than other pastries, you should be
careful with your choice of fillings. If you are adding a filling that
is also very moist, do not add it until just before serving. This
prevents the pastry from becoming soggy.
