There's More to Pate a Choux Than Eclairs... |
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When most people hear "pate a choux", they automatically think eclair. This is perhaps because it is the most common pastry made with this very versatile dough. Another common use is the cream puff, which is, in fact where the dough gets its name. If you translate "pate a choux" it means cabbage pastry. It is called this because when made in to a cream puff shape, they look like little cabbages! Who knew? But there is so much more you can do with this dough. First, let's take a look at how to make the dough itself. |
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Ingredients: 1 cup water or milk 8 tablespoons (1 stick, or 4 ounces) unsalted butter 2 large pinches of granulated sugar 1 pinch of Kosher salt 1 cup flour 4 eggs |
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Place the water (or milk), butter, sugar, and salt in a saucepan set over medium high heat. When butter has melted and liquid has come to a boil, turn off the heat and add the flour all at once. |
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Stir until mixture is just combined. Return to heat and stir continuously, in one direction, until mixture forms a smooth ball and there is a slight film at the bottom of the pan, like in the photo. Remove from heat and place in to mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. However, if you are doing less than 4 eggs (if you are doing a half batch), you will need to mix by hand. Simply start stirring in the saucepan, allowing dough to cool. |
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Turn mixer on low speed and continue to mix until steam stops rising from the dough. Add eggs, one at a time, ensuring that dough is mixed between each egg. Do not scrape down the sides! Fight the urge! Also be careful to not over mix. As soon as the mixture comes together, immediately add the next egg. Once the dough is finished, it should look like this. Place a little between your thumb and forefinger and gently pull your fingers apart. If the dough stretches nicely, you are done. If it breaks easily, you may need to add a bit more egg, a tablespoon at a time to achieve the "stretchiness". Now your dough is ready to use. |
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Now that your dough is made, let's see what all you can do with it! So many options! And while this is nowhere near a complete list, you may find some inspiration here to make your own tasty dishes. |
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French Crullers To make the crullers from the top picture, simply take a piping bag fitted with a large star tip, and pipe rounds on to parchment or a silpat. Freeze until solid (this allows them to be picked up and placed in hot oil). |
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Get a pot of oil or a deep fryer preheated to between 350 and 380 degrees F. Place frozen rings in oil and fry until golden brown. Remove from oil and let drain on a cooling rack set over a sheet tray while frying remaining doughnuts. Top with a glaze of your choice while still warm. |
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Pommes Dauphinoise To make Pommes Dauphinoise, all you need are two things: leftover mashed potatoes and choux. Simply mix equal parts together and place in a piping bag. Squeeze from piping bag straight in to 350-375 degree F oil, using kitchen shears to cut as you are piping. When golden brown, remove from oil and place on cooling rack set over a sheet tray to drain. Keep in a warming oven while frying the rest of the potatoes. |
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Gougeres These are highly addictive: be warned. You simply have to add a handful of cheese to the dough, pipe into rounds or use a portion scoop, and bake in a 375 degree F oven until golden brown. Gruyere is the traditional cheese here, but you can get quite creative. To make the ones in this photo, I substituted the butter with bacon fat, added bacon, blue cheese, and scallions. They didn't last long... You can also fill gougeres with all kinds of savory fillings. I have filled them with everything from seafood salad, to a buffalo chicken salad (we swapped the water for buttermilk and added dried dill, garlic powder, and onion powder to the dough to make it taste like ranch dressing). The flavorings of the dough and the fillings are only limited by your imagination. |
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Churros Following the same piping procedure as used for the Pommes Dauphinoise above, pipe out lengths of dough in to the fryer/pot of oil set at 350-375 degrees F. Once removed, roll them in cinnamon sugar. Delicious! |
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