EEEclairSSS

often referred to as a paste instead of a dough

Pâte à Choux is a must learn dough for anyone interested in French pastries.

It is very versatile and is used for many recipes including, but not limited to, eclairs, cream puffs, beignets, crullers, and even churros.

Recently, during some stage hours I was tasked with making a batch. And, for the bakery I'm staging at a batch is about enough for 100 eclairs.

The pastry chef that I'm working with had walked me through the process a few days prior and I understood the ingredient list. I went in to the process feel fairly confident that I could make the dough and pipe the eclairs on my own.

don't open the oven during the first 15 minutes or they won't puff up

I proceeded to precisely measure out the ingredients and go through the method as I'd observed but instead of a slightly sticky combined dough I ended up with something that resembled porridge

After talking through the steps again with the pastry chef and having to scrape all that useless dough in to the trash, I still have no idea what I did wrong. I felt terrible about my mistake.

I've decided I love silpat!

However, screw ups like that only push me to learn more and work harder.

Two days later I decided to try the Pâte à Choux again at home. 
Of course, I scaled the recipe down considerably.

Everything miraculously came together on the first try!

I then also proceeded to make pastry cream and a dark chocolate ganache to fill and top the eclairs.

pastry cream chillin in the fridge

While I'm beyond happy they turned out  I certainly need to practice piping the dough. The eclairs were a bit skinny and some ended up with weird knobs. But, they all tasted great!


 I should also probably practice cutting them. I knew the bread knife was SHARP but geesh! Serious blood loss for 30 min. For real! Lesson learned!

6 cuts from 1 angry knife!

 



After some research I have discovered eclairs are much more than this basic version that is widely recognized in America. In bakeries all across France they are really pushing the eclair concept with different fillings, toppings, and dough additions.

I can't wait to try some of these fancier version but decided, as always, the  first attempt should be the pastry in its most basic form.

absolutely worth all the trouble!

Charlie and I had a few to celebrate the success and then I took the remaining batch to the office where I worked from August to February. I really liked all of my co-workers and figured it would be a nice treat.

Besides, Charlie and I are back to focusing on super healthy eating and serious gym time. I knew if they stayed here, we'd eat ALL of them!





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