Choux Paste

By norsegal8

Makes enough dough for about 60 small puffs or eclairs. Like souffles, popovers and pita breads, choux paste is one of the miracles of the kitchen. You spoon an ordinary-looking batter onto a baking sheet and minutes later you've got a puffed pastry that appears to be threatening flight. This is the stuff of cream puffs, eclairs, and profiteroles.
Choux paste (choux sounds like "shoe" and means "cabbage" in French) has been around since the sixteenth century and is a must-know dough and a classic. It is a wonderful dough, which would be used more often today if caterers hadn't made pate a choux swans a cliche.
The dough is unusual in that it is twice-cooked. The mixture is mixed and heated on the stove and then baked. And it is versatile, as much at home nestling savory mixtures as sweet ones. The ideal choux paste pastry has a light, very tender crust and an almost completely hollow interior, made for filling with anything from ice cream to a rich seafood stew. Once you've mastered the technique, get fanciful and try the savory puffs, the chocolate beignets or the profiteroles - and variations of your own.

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

Preparation

Step 1

Put the milk, butter, water, 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 without stopping, until the flour is fully 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 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, smooths and becomes easier to blend.

After you've incorporated 5 eggs, take a good look at the mixture - it might not need the last egg. You'll 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 dough is too thick and doesn't peak, add the last egg.

The dough is now ready to be used for any recipe calling for choux paste. In fact, it must be used now, while it is still warm.