Choux Pastry Dough

Today we are going to talk about making choux pastry, better known as cream puff pastry.  The name choux is pronounced like “shoo.”  Choux actually means “cabbage” in French.  Someone probably thought that a baked cream puff looked like a small cabbage, so hence the name.

The dough is said to have been invented by a French pastry chef.  It has been used to make many sweet and savory treats like cream puffs, éclairs, gougere, profiteroles, croquembouches, beignets, Paris Brest, and French crullers.   

Before you say “that’s too hard to make,” I want you to know that there are only four ingredients in the dough (not including the water).  This type of pastry dough is made differently and is less complicated than you think.  After boiling water butter and salt, flour is added and quickly mixed in.  After a few minutes of cooling, eggs are added.  The dough is now ready to be piped out.  The high amount of moisture in the dough is what creates the steam that is needed to make the dough puff up nicely.  Also, baking at a higher temperature helps the dough rise up quickly, leaving a hollow center. 

Most of the time, the dough is baked, split, hollowed out and filled.  This is the case if you are making cream puffs, profiteroles, etc.  The dough is deep fried when making beignets or churros.  When the dough is boiled, you can make a different type of gnocchi or an Austrian dumpling called “Marillenknodel.”  By adding a little cheese to the dough and piping it into a ring shape, you get a savory “gougere.”

There are various recipes teaching you how to make choux pastry.  This one is the one I remember making years ago from an old stand-by cookbook from Better Homes & Gardens:

½ cup of butter

1 cup of water

¼ teaspoon of salt

1 cup of all-purpose flour

4 eggs   

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line parchment paper on a baking sheet.

In a 2 quart saucepan, over medium heat, heat butter, water and salt until butter mixture boils. Remove from heat.  Add flour all at once. With a wooden spoon, vigorously stir until mixture leaves the sides of the pan and forms a doughy ball.  Add eggs into flour mixture, one at a time, beating well after each one.  Let cool slightly.

Using a large spoon, drop heaping spoonfuls onto the lined baking sheet.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from oven.  Let cool completely.  Split, scoop out any soft dough remaining, and fill with flavored whipped cream, or ice cream.

Use your imagination and create flavorful fillings that you and your family like.  For the holidays, I like to make profiteroles.  Little cream puffs piled on top of each other on a serving plate, then drizzled with chocolate!

Happy baking,

Pam