Pate A Choux A Classic Pastry Goes Mexican Recipes

PATE A CHOUX

Steps:

• Bring butter, sugar, salt, and 1 cup water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Using a wooden spoon, quickly stir in flour. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture pulls away from sides and a film forms on bottom of pan, about 3 minutes.
• Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until slightly cooled, about 1 minute. Raise speed to medium; add whole eggs, 1 at a time, until a soft peak forms when batter is touched with your finger. If peak does not form, lightly beat remaining egg white, and mix it into batter a little at a time until it does.

SWEET OR SAVORY PATE A CHOUX

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 425°F and adjust oven rack to the middle. Line two half sheet pans with parchment paper.
• Place the water, butter, and salt in a 3-quart saucier, set over high heat, and bring to a boil. As soon as it boils, add all of the flour at once and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture starts to come together, about 1 minute. Decrease the heat to low and continue stirring until the mixture forms a ball and is no longer sticky, 3 to 4 minutes.
• Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed for 5 minutes to cool, or until there is no more steam rising. With the mixer still on low speed, add the eggs and egg whites, one at a time, making sure each is completely incorporated before adding another. You will need to stop the mixer occasionally and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle attachment. Before adding the last egg white, check the mixture for consistency: It should tear slightly as it falls from the beater, creating a"V" shape. The mixture may only need 1 egg white.
• Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a plastic coupler and a round tip. Pipe a little of the mixture into the four corners under the parchment paper to hold it in place on the sheet pans.
• Pipe the mixture into 2 1/2-inch-long strips on the parchment, 4 rows of 6. Use a clean dampened finger to smooth any tips left from piping.
• Place the sheet pan of eclairs in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and continue to bake until golden brown, 10 to 12 more minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately pierce the bottom of each eclair with a paring knife to release steam. Repeat with the remaining eclairs. Let cool completely before filling.

BAKING PATE A CHOUX TO FORM PUFFS OR ECLAIRS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment. Pipe out 1/2-inch balls for profiteroles or cocktail puffs, 1-inch balls for cream puffs, or 1/2 by 4-inch strips for eclairs. Be sure to leave enough room in between for them to triple in size. Brush with egg glaze and bake for 15 minutes. Lower heat to 400 and open oven door briefly to let steam out. Close the door and continue to bake another 1030 minutes according to their size. They must be well dried out or they may fall. Take one out of the oven and check it by breaking open and checking the interior walls: they should be dry, not wet and eggy. Return to the oven as necessary. Remove when done and cool on a wire rack.
• Baked puffs and eclairs freeze well for up to a month.
• Filling Puffs: Either slice open horizontally, spoon filling onto bottom, and replace the hat; or pierce a small hole with a paring knife in side or bottom of the puff and pipe in a soft filling using a pastry bag with a small plain tip.

PATE A CHOUX

Steps:

• Combine water, butter, sugar, and saltin a medium saucepan over medium-highheat. Bring mixture to a boil, and immediately remove from heat. Stir in the flour.When flour is combined, return to heat. Thismixture is called a panade. Dry the panadebystirring constantly for 4minutes. It isready when it pulls away from the sidesand a film forms on the bottom of the pan.
• Transfer panade to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment,and mix on low speed, about 2minutes,until slightly cooled. Add the eggs one at atime on medium speed, letting each oneincorporate completely before adding thenext. Add the last egg a little at a time until the batter is smooth and shiny. Test thebatter by touching it with your finger andlifting to form a string. If a string does notform, the batter needs more egg. If youhave added all the egg and the batter stilldoesn't form a string, add water 1 teaspoon at a time until it does.
• The batter may be used immediately orstored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2days. To use chilled,remove from the refrigerator, and stir tosoften before filling piping bag.

PATE A CHOUX

Steps:

• Using a large pot, bring the Water, Butter, Sugar and Salt to a boil over high heat.
• Chef's Note: It is important to cube the Butter into small pieces so that it melts completely before the Water comes to a full boil. If the Water boils too soon, there will be too much evaporation and the final dough will be too dry.
• As soon as the Water reaches a boil, add the Bread Flour in a single addition. Using a wooden spoon, stir the mixture over medium-high heat until a homogeneous dough forms. Continue to actively stir the dough over the heat ("Dessecher") until it forms a ball that easily pulls away from the side of the pot - approximately two to three minutes.
• Chef's Note: When adding the dry ingredients, stir aggressively - the dough should form quickly. Cooking the dough mixture for a couple of minutes causes the starches in the Bread Flour to gelatinize and also dries the dough.
• Transfer the dough to a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat the dough on medium speed for several minutes, releasing heat and steam. While the dough cools, beat the Eggs and Egg Yolks together in a separate bowl and set aside.
• Once the dough is no longer hot, add the Eggs in no fewer than six additions. After each addition, mix the dough until the Egg is completely incorporated. When all of the Eggs have been added, the dough should be slightly fluid (i.e. when a trench is drawn through the center of the dough, it should fill back in within a couple of seconds).
• Chef's Note: It is important that the dough cools slightly before the Eggs are added or else the Eggs will cook. However, if the dough is too cold, the Eggs will not mix in well.
• Form and bake the Pate a Choux according to the specific recipe. Most pastries made with Pate a Choux are baked in a high temperature oven (i.e. 400+ degrees Fahrenheit) for over 20 minutes.

PATE A CHOUX (CREAM PUFF PASTRY)

Steps:

• Place a bowl on your mixer and fit the paddle attachment to it.
• Put your eggs next to the mixer.
• Mix the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt in a 2-quart saucepan.
• Bring to a full boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.
• Stirring constantly, add the flour all at once, and stir quickly and without stopping until the flour is thoroughly incorporated.
• Then continue to cook and stir for another 45 seconds, or until the dough comes into a ball and a light film of paste coats the bottom of the pan.
• Immediately scrape the dough into the bowl of your mixer, and turn the mixer on low speed.
• Let it mix for a minute or two - the first few turns of the paddle will put up a cloud of steam.
• That's fine.
• Just let it mix until no more steam is coming off the dough.
• Then add the first egg, letting it mix in fully before adding the next one.
• Keep the mixer on low speed - you don't want to incorporate too much air into the paste.
• Scrape down the bowl every 2nd egg just to make sure everything is mixing together.
• Before adding the 6th egg, stop the mixer and check the consistency of the dough.
• You will know it is perfect if, when you lift the paddle, it pulls the dough with it, then the dough breaks away and forms a peak that slowly bends down.
• If the dough is too thick and doesn't form that peak, add the last egg.
• The dough is now ready to be used to make éclairs, cream puffs, profiteroles, or any other recipe calling for choux paste.
• It should be used immediately.
• NOTES FOR MAKING CHOUX PASTE SUCCESSFULLY: The liquid must be heated to a full boil.
• Add the flour all at once and stir madly until every last speck of flour is incorporated, then keep cooking and stirring some more - it's this last bit of cooking that will take the raw taste out of the flour; you'll know you are ready to quit when the dough forms a ball around your wooden spoon and the bottom of the pan is covered with a light film of paste.
• Stop mixing when you still have one egg left to add and inspect the dough.
• Depending on the condition of the flour, the room, or the moods of the pastry gods, the dough may or may not need the last egg.
• The dough is finished when you lift the paddle and it pulls up some dough that then detaches and forms a slowly bending peak - if you don't get a peak, add another egg.
• And relax.
• Even if you can't decide what to do, add the egg - you will still get a good puff.
• Use the paste while it is warm.
• It cannot be kept.
• Unfilled puffs or éclairs can be well wrapped and frozen for a few weeks.

PâTE à CHOUX FOR CHEESE PUFFS AND CREAM PUFFS

Steps:

• Put butter and salt in medium saucepan with 1 cup water, and bring to a boil. Add flour, and stir with wooden spoon or sturdy whisk until mixture comes together, about 1 minute. Lower heat and cook for 1 minute more.
• Transfer dough to bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Mix at medium speed to cool mixture slightly. Increase speed and begin to add eggs, one at a time. Make sure each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next. After fourth egg has been added, beat for a minute more, until dough is smooth and glossy. Stop machine, add cayenne, nutmeg, pepper and grated cheese, then mix briefly to combine. (If you don't have a mixer, you can also beat the dough vigorously by hand.) Scrape down sides of bowl and remix, then put mixture in pastry bag.
• Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line two 12-by-18-inch baking sheets with parchment. On each sheet, pipe six rows of 1 1/2-inch-round mounds of dough, five to a row, with at least 1 inch of space between them. (If you prefer, use two soup spoons to put the dough on the sheet.) Brush each mound with beaten egg, smoothing the tops with a finger if not quite round.
• Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 degrees. Continue baking for about 25 minutes, turning baking sheets as necessary, until mounds are puffed, golden and crisp. Serve immediately or cool on a rack and reheat later.