Choux is the French name for cabbage and these small dollops of puff paste do beyond doubt develop in the oven to look tiny cabbage heads. Choux pastry is versatile and can be formed into a huge collection of shapes and can be filled with an even greater collection of fillings and creams. Choux pastries can be used as delicious sweet deserts or tasty savory bites.
Choux paste is the basis for cream puffs and éclairs. An very beloved desert is cream puffs filled with ice cream and cloaked in chocolate sauce. These are known as profiteroles.
Cooking
Unsweetened choux paste is baked and filled with savory fillings or mixed with cheese and baked to make straightforward or fancy hors d'oevres such as gougeres.
Choux paste consists of flour, butter and water just like all other pastry dough but unlike others it is cooked on top of the stove before being shaped and baked. Milk is added for color and richness and it is leavened primarily with eggs. If choux paste is to be used with savory fillings it is often made with chicken stock or a blend of chicken stock and water as the liquid. Before the eggs are added the cooked flour paste must be allowed to cool slightly to forestall the eggs from cooking prematurely. But if the paste is too cold when the eggs are added, they will not blend in smoothly. The perfect completed paste should be shiny, smooth and very thick but not stiff.
The recipe you select to make choux paste is beyond doubt down to personal preference. Choux paste can be made by hand or with an galvanic mixer.
Small puffs, profiteroles and éclairs should be baked on ungreased baking sheets whereas larger puffs or large éclairs are easier to take off when baked on greased and floured sheets.
Once the choux paste has been piped onto the baking sheet they should be lightly glazed with an egg wash.
The first few minutes of baking should be in a hot oven, which will cause quick expansion then the oven temperature, should be reduced to desist the baking and to dry out the hollow shells.
If you wish to supplementary dry out the choux shells and allow more room for filling, turn off the oven and let the puffs dry out for a supplementary ten minutes.
To fill the puffs poke a hole into them using a small skewer or sharp knife. Then considered pipe in the desired filling. For example to fill with pastry cream, fill a pastry bag fitted with a ¼ inch tip, open puffs look intriguing when they are filled with cream piped straight through a huge star nozzle but please remember whipped cream does not maintain its texture when piped straight through a small tip.
Once baked and filled, choux pastries should be served immediately or placed in the refrigerator and served within the next few hours. Unfilled choux pastry can be freezing and placed in an airtight box but they are best used within the week.
Cooking - Pate A Choux (Choux Paste)
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