Choux Pastry

Recipe

100g butter
1 cup water
1 cup flour
3 eggs

Combine butter and water in a saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and quickly add flour.  Beat with a wooden spoon until mixture leaves the sides of the saucepan. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, until mixture is glossy.  Use as required for eclairs and cream puffs.  


During this cooking session, we made choux pastry.  We used the dough to make profiteroles, which are like cream puffs.  Here is a link that explains the process of turning the dough into eclairs. 

Instead of filling these profiteroles with cream we filled them with cream patisserie.  This is a thick custard that is traditionally used to fill eclairs and profiteroles.  

What a fun session this was.  Especially when we realised that the pastry was a success, as we watched it rise in the oven.   

One of the downsides of this session is that the adult learners were asked to beat the eggs into the dough by hand.
Beating the eggs into the choux dough is a great work out for the arms.  It is possible to use a hand mixer for beating the eggs. However, when you make your first batch it is a good idea to do it by hand as you get to know the feel and look of the dough.