Choux Paste (Julia Child)

By LaLaCooks

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 7 pieces
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 5 to 6 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 large egg beaten with 1 teaspoon cold water, for egg wash

Details

Servings 60
Adapted from labellecuisine.com

Preparation

Step 1

Put the milk, water, butter, sugar, and salt into a 2-quart saucepan and
bring to a full boil over medium heat, stirring frequently with a wooden
spoon. At this point, the butter should be fully melted. Still stirring, add
the flour all at once, and stir energetically and without stop until the flour
is thoroughly incorporated. Then continue to cook and stir for another
30 to 45 seconds, or until the dough forms a ball and a light crust is
visible on the bottom of the pan.
Remove the pan from the heat and scrape the paste into a medium bowl. Immediately, while the dough is still hot, beat in the eggs one at a time,
stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon or spatula to incorporate each
egg before adding the next. The first couple of eggs are the hardest to
mix in, but as the mixture loosens, it softens, smoothes, and becomes
easier to blend. (If you want, you can beat the eggs in with a mixer
hand-held, or standing with the paddle attachment just keep the
speed low and take care not to beat too much air into the dough.)
After youve incorporated 5 eggs, take a good look at the mixture it
might not need the last egg. Youll know the dough is perfect when,
as you lift the wooden spoon, the spoon pulls up some of the dough
that then detaches and forms a slowly bending peak. If the doughs
too thick and doesnt peak, add the last egg.
The dough is now ready to be used in any recipe calling for choux paste.
In fact, it must be used now, while it is still warm.

Baking
(for Profiteroles)

(Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to
400 degrees F. prior to making the choux paste.)

Piping the Choux Paste: To make the profiteroles, you must use the p
houx while it is still warm. Spoon the choux paste into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain tip and pipe quarter-sized puffs onto parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between puffs. Finish piping each puff with a quick twist, as if you were writing the letter C, so that a tail or point isnt formed. (Dont worry if your puffs wind up with tails you can poke them down and adjust small imperfections with a moistened fingertip.)
Brush each of the pastries with a little egg wash.
Baking the Puffs: Bake for 20 minutes, lower the temperature to 350 degrees F. and bake 5 to 7 minutes longer, or until the pastries are golden brown and feel hollow. Halfway through the baking period, rotate the
baking sheets top to bottom and front to back. Transfer the sheets to
cooling racks and allow the puffs to cool to room temperature before
cutting and filling.

Assembling the Profiteroles: To serve, cut each puff in half crosswise
and fill with Pastry Cream [or the filling of your choice]. Serve a generous three to a person, arranging the profiteroles on dessert plates and drizzling some warm chocolate sauce over each puff.