B-b-b-baking: Shoo, pastries!

In the spirit of trying new things, I decided to give profiteroles/choux pastries a shot today.

I absolutely looove choux pastry. They are so light, airy, and go with basically any kind of filling. Of course the best fillings are cream-based whether ice cream, whipped cream, or chantilly cream. Cream is the good stuff.

I think I learned the basic formula for profiteroles from my foods class at some point - 1 cup liquid, 1/2 cup butter, 1 teaspoon of salt or sugar, 1 cup of flour, and 4 eggs. Since that was in my head, I tried giving things a shot without referring to a recipe. That was not a good decision. It took me 3 tries to figure out that I missed out an important step, and in the process, I used a whole dozen of eggs. It's a good thing that I buy my own eggs for baking, or I'd get an earful from my parents for sure.

When in doubt, consult Gordon Ramsay - The F Word, Season 3. I realized that for the first 2 attempts, I didn't bring the butter mixture to a rolling boil. Not smart. The rolling boil brings the mixture to the right temperature and helps incorporate all the air into the pastry to make it puff puff puff. Without that, you get what I made the first two times, 8 eggs later. = =

Things I have learned today about choux pastry:
- In preparation of the dough, you must bring the butter mixture to a rolling boil to incorporate the air that contributes the "puff" in the "cream puff".
- It goes best with anything cream-based. For instance, whipped cream or icecream :D
- As with any other form of pastry, there is something magical about it that makes savoury or sweet fillings acceptable choices.
- Choux pastry needs to be made with butter and eggs to get the proper structure and flavour. It's just one of those things you don't adjust.

Batch #1. What the heck are these? Buttery layered dinner roll biscuit things that taste like butter. I didn't bother taking pictures of Batch #2 because they were pretty much the same, but smaller. 

Cross-section of Batch #1.

Put them into a plastic bag with a bread tag to make it look like you bought them from the store! Remember to let them cool completely before doing so though...mine ended up deflating between home and my destination.

They're finally puffing up. Kind of mutating in the process, but that's okay with me :D

A batch of successfully made choux pastries. Win.

Choux Pastry

*Makes 17 oddly amateurly-shaped profiteroles*

1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp table salt
4 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 395 F.
2. Add water, salt, and butter into a large pan on medium-low heat until the butter is melted. Turn up the heat and bring the butter mixture to a rolling boil.
3. Sift in the flour and fold into the butter mixture with a wooden spoon until incorporated.
4. Beat in the eggs one at a time until incorporated. You should have a beautifully smooth paste that holds together. If not, try again. For me, the third time was the charm? *half-hearted smile*
5. Plop the mixture into a piping bag, or a large ziploc bag with a bit of the corner snipped off.
6. Pipe into rounds on your baking sheets, leaving some space in between so that they don't get stuck together. They end up mutating a bit and lifting off of the paper while baking in the oven. Wet your finger tip and dab any sharp tips and peaks so that they don't burn.
7. Bake for 18-20 min until lightly browned.
8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before filling with all your heart's desires.

Once you get the hang of these, it's no sweat. It's just figuring out how to do them the first time that's frustrating (for people like me).

P was kind enough to "whip" up some coconut milk whipped cream to enjoy these with. (Ha ha.) And for the record, they were delicious...

Next time, I will try making something fancy out of choux pastry. These look pretty awesome...

One step closer to mastering the art of the patisserie!

-M