Pâte à Choux, Savory & Sweet
Serves 4 in most applications
This dough is used to make cream puffs, profiteroles, éclairs, and any number of other preparations — it’s a great basic French pastry to master.
This recipe is for use in savory dishes. For a pastry suited for desserts, reduce salt to 1/4 tsp, add 1 tsp sugar, and omit the black pepper.
Ingredients #
- 1 cup water
- 6 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- Pinch of nutmeg
- 1 cup flour
- 4 large eggs
Instructions #
In a heavy-bottom saucepan, bring the water, butter, salt and seasonings to a boil. Remove from heat and add the flour all at once. Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until completely blended. Return to medium high heat and keep stirring vigorously for at least two minutes, until the mixture pulls away from the sides and a film begins to form on the bottom. Don’t skip this step — you’re cooking water out of the paste, which will allow it to absorb more eggs and create larger puffs.
Remove saucepan from heat and make a well in the center. Crack in one egg and beat into the paste for several seconds, until it’s completely absorbed. Repeat this one egg at a time. The last two eggs with take longer.
Note: the preceding step is much easier if you immediately transfer the dough to a standing mixer and use that to mix in the eggs.