Pastry Foundations · Dessert
Pate a Choux, the Base Dough
- Intermediate
- 30 min
- roughly 2 of 4 for cost
- Vegetarian
Leads with richness that coats and comforts.
Ingredients
- 125 g water
- 125 g whole milk
- 110 g unsalted butter, cubed
- 140 g plain flour, T55 (flour 100 percent, liquid 179 percent, butter 79 percent, egg 161 percent)
- 5 g caster sugar
- 3 g fine salt
- 225 g whole egg, beaten (about 4 medium)
Equipment
Piping bag · Sheet pan
The skills inside
Choux pastrySalted water & the float test
Allergen screen
Found: gluten · dairy · egg
Screened for: gluten, dairy, egg, nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, molluscs, soy, sesame, celery, mustard, lupin, alcohol. Not screened: sulphites.
Screened by keyword from the ingredient list, not reviewed by a person; check every label for what the list cannot show.
Method
- Bring water, milk, butter, sugar and salt to a full rolling boil in one movement, with the butter fully melted before the surface breaks, so you do not boil away liquid before the flour goes in.
- Off the heat, beat in all the flour at once until no dry patch remains, then return to medium heat and stir 2 to 3 minutes until the paste pulls from the sides and a thin film forms on the pan base. 3 min
- Spread the paste on a cold tray and let it fall to 60C (140F), warm but not hot to a fingertip, then beat the egg in over four additions.
- Stop adding egg when the paste falls from the spatula in a slow V that closes in about three seconds, and a furrow drawn with a finger fills back halfway.
- Pipe on to a lined tray and bake at 200C (390F) for 20 minutes without opening the door, then drop to 170C (340F) for 15 to 20 minutes until deep gold and light in the hand. 20 min
- Pierce each shell at the base and return it to the switched off oven for 10 minutes to dry the inside. 10 min
How to tell it is going right
This dish has no standard of its own yet. It is judged on the technique it exercises: checked at the pan, while there is still something to be done about it.
Salted water & the float test 188 recipes
- The water was salted before anything went in, and tasting it confirms it: seasoned on the tongue, with the salt dissolved rather than sitting on the pot floor.
- There is enough water, hot enough, that the pot returns to its boil quickly after the food goes in and never stops moving.
- Where the dish uses the float as its signal, the signal is obeyed: the pieces rise and they come out then, not several minutes later once something else was finished.
- Nothing is stuck to the bottom of the pot or welded to itself, and the water has not thickened into a cloudy sludge.
- Drained on a bite rather than on the clock: resistance at the centre, with no chalky raw core.
Where it goes wrong The pot was too small and the water unsalted, so it never recovered its boil: the food sat in slack water, went gummy at the surface, and comes out bland in a way that no sauce afterwards can fix.
At the Table
- The Pour
- Sauternes
- Also Right
- Demi-sec Champagne
- From the Taps
- Belgian tripel
- Zero-Proof
- Jasmine tea
The sweetness rule is absolute: the pour must be sweeter than the plate, and acid keeps it from cloying.
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