Choux

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Choux

 

Introduction

English is a confusing language even for native speakers. We are criticised for failing to learn other languages.

Even with the best of teachers French can cause as much confusion as English. This entry is headed Choux. Will we be discussing cabbage and its versatility, or pastry, also versatile with numerous uses both sweet and savoury?

Leaving cabbage for later this entry introduces choux pastry with a recipe for  ‘chouquettes’, small balls of choux pastry, often sprinkled with candied sugar and found for sale in almost all patisseries in France. Master the art of chouquettes and you have all the necessary knowledge to create a wealth of other choux pastry based products including éclairs, religieux, glands (so called because they are meant to resemble acorns, for which the French word is gland) and the impressive pièces montées central to many wedding banquets.

 

Curious about the recipes?

Curious about the history?  Read on….

 

History

It is likely that you will have come across choux pastry whether you have known it or not. Most English bakery shops sell éclairs. Many restaurants serve profiteroles. French patisseries also sell numerous cakes based on choux pastry including their interpretation on eclairs and other common delights such as the religieuse, the divorce, the gland and of course the ubiquitous chouquette. The gland is usually decorated with green icing because it is supposed to resemble an acorn. Those who concentrated more than me in their French class at school might not have needed to look that up.

The Saint-Honoré is a slightly more elegant pastry than many of those listed above:

Christophe Michelak, one of the better known French Pâtissiers of today, has taken the well known religieuse, two choux buns, one larger than the other, usually filled with chocolate or coffee flavoured creme patissiere, and transformed it into one of his signature desserts at the Hotel Plaza Athene in Paris.

 

A little research quickly indicates that choux based cakes are another import from Italy. It seems they were introduced to France by Catherine de Medici.  While not called ‘choux’ at this time the name evolved as a result of the irregular shape of the little cakes, thought to resemble a cabbage.

The excellent Food and Cooking (McGee 2004) advises that choux pastry dates from medieval times and is characterised by being cooked twice: in the early stage when the paste is prepared and then when it has been formed into whichever final product has been chosen when it is baked or fried.  Choux pastries were sufficiently established in 17th century France to be recorded in a French English dictionary of 1611. Petits choux, shortened to tichoux was a street cry of vendors selling small cakes of egg and flour with butter and sometimes cheese. Savoury chouquettes are known as gougères or, if deep fried, as a form of beignet.

Alexandre Dumas (1873) described choux pastry as excellent, comprising a little water, butter and salt to which are added a handful of flour….

It seems that cooks in the nineteenth century were used to such imprecision in their recipes. In the twenty-first century those of us interested in patisserie are told over and over that precision is vital if we are to succeed, we delight in our electronic scales capable of weighing fractions of grams hoping that so armed we will be able to reproduce the pastries we see in the windows of the best patisseries.

For a recipe to survive largely unchanged from medieval times it must have something about it. Choux pastry creates cakes, whatever their final shape, that are hard on the outside with a cavity inside that can be filled with any number of different fillings. No doubt this explains the longevity of the recipe – pastries that can be filled with almost anything and which are easily transported.

 

Some Science

McGee’s book gives us science as well as some history for the things we bake. He describes choux pastry as a brilliant invention in giving a cook a means to produce a hollow, crisp vessel for other ingredients. This comes about because we cook the flour with the water or milk and butter, tenderising the gluten proteins and preventing them from developing elasticity. As a result ingredients that might otherwise have formed a batter (if beaten together cold) instead form a dough. Eggs bring richness from the yolks and structure building proteins from the whites. Adding egg thins the dough so that air pockets will be able to move and coalesce with the heat of cooking. The butter contributes towards a baked product that resists moisture and stays crisp when holding a cream filling. (p553)

In theory.

Despite choux pastries existing for centuries today’s cookery writers appear unable to agree as to a definitive recipe.  Some use milk while others use water instead.  Others use water but add powdered milk.

The strength of choux pastries and their ability to keep their form when filled with cream is not  perfectly reliable. Like many pastries choux products exposed to air will soften in time. Viewers of both English and French versions of a popular televised baking competition have seen contestants struggle to create a Religieuse à l’Ancienne, a variation of the pièce montée central to many family celebrations.

In France the attempts were so disastrous that no scores were allocated for that task.   The incredible Mercotte (France’s answer to Mary Berry) sets out fully detailed instructions for this recipe in her Blog. This picture illustrates what the candidates were attempting to create.

Personally I think I would rather create the more traditional pièce montée based on chouquettes and nougatine than this recipe.

The problem in both competitions was the failure of the filled pastries to maintain their crispness, and so their strength, once filled with cream.  Chouquette versions are easier to build because each cake is small and they are generally constructed with caramel to cement the pieces together.

 

A recipe for a Croquembouche, the traditional choux bun tower, is included in The Roux Brothers on Patisserie written by Albert and Michel Roux in 1986 and one of the best introductions to patisserie we have found. The book is still available via Amazon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Context

Paris has numerous shops that only sell macarons in many varieties. Pierre Hermé has done particularly well with his macarons although of course he does make other excellent products.  Others, having seen the success of single product shops have searched for their ‘macaron’: a simple item, easily varied. Christophe Adam has done this with éclairs. People from all around the world will find time to call at one of his shops during their visit to Paris. Mr Adam now has three shops in Japan where French patisserie is hugely popular. Adam’s eclairs come in all flavours imaginable, he uses both centre and top to hold his various embellishments. Interviewed recently Mr Adam expressed confidence in the longevity of his mono product concept, following in the tradition established decades earlier by chocolatiers. Personally I’m not entirely convinced that an eclair, however beautifully made and garnished, can compete with artisan chocolate.

As with macarons it is easy to produce a basic eclair. Once you have mastered choux pastry it is only imagination that limits the variations possible.

Recipes

Most of the ingredients necessary for our recipes can be found in high street shops. Others are easily found on-line in specialist patisserie suppliers. We are not paid to promote any shop or supplier but in view of the difficulties we have encountered from time to time when sourcing some products we include a list here of suppliers we have found useful.

 

Baking individual chouquettes, éclairs or any of the other choux based products found in patisseries today is not difficult.  There are however numerous variations on the basic choux pastry recipe. My first successful attempt was achieved with the help of a blog called ‘Oh la vache’. Sadly the blog is no longer available but it’s author, Luca Marchiori,  has moved from France to Italy from where he has launched a new and equally interesting project: ‘Chestnuts and Truffles‘ detailing the best of Italian cuisine and culture.

The following recipe can be used to make a first small batch of chouquettes. It is an ideal starting point as it introduces the key techniques demanding only a small amount of ingredients.

 

Chouquettes 

 

50g water

50g milk

2g sugar

44g salted butter

56g plain flour

100g eggs

Candied sugar to decorate

 

Some notes before getting started

• Weigh out all of the ingredients before starting to cook.
• Once weighed, beat the eggs as if you were making an omelette.
• Choux pastry is easiest made in a heavy bottomed pan. This is because the pan retains heat well, helping to dry the mix when the flour is added without need to return it to the hob.
• Numerous books insist that you sieve the flour before adding it to the paste. Nigel Slater recently presented a programme on BBC 4 about the history of cake in which one of his experts asserted that this insistence on sieving dates from a time long gone when goods such as flour carried such impurities as mouse droppings. Now that flour is more hygienically produced, packaged and  stored there really isn’t any need to sieve before use.  After hearing this I decided to use flour direct from the packet for my last couple of batches of choux pastry. Perhaps it was good luck but I found absolutely no difference in the process or the end product. Sieving can’t do any harm, you need to decide for yourself whether you sieve or not.
• Cut the butter into small pieces, this will speed up the melting process.
• Prepare a piping bag with a nozzle of around 6-8cm.
  

  Baking Sheet Prepared for Chouquettes

• Prepare a baking sheet covered with baking parchment so that you can pipe the chouquettes immediately the paste is ready.

 

 

 

 

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 250c
• Place milk, water, butter and sugar into a heavy bottomed saucepan. Heat gently, stirring occasionally, until the butter is melted. Increase the heat slightly and bring the mix to a simmer.
• Remove the pan from the heat and add the flour to the pan. Mix with a wooden spoon until the flour is incorporated forming a paste.
• The paste may need drying a little to achieve the right consistency. The pan we use retains sufficient heat to dry the paste as the flour is incorporated. This photo shows the consistency needed before the eggs are added. If necessary, return the pan to a low heat and stir until the paste no longer sticks to the sides of the pan.
• Next, the paste needs to cool a little before the eggs are added. Either transfer to a bowl and leave to stand for five minutes or transfer to the bowl of a stand mixture and beat for a few seconds with the flat (K) beater.
• Add the eggs little by little beating briskly until fully incorporated. The finished paste will be smooth with a satin like aspect.
• Transfer to a piping bag so that the chouquettes can be piped while the paste is still warm.
• Use a spatula or dough scraper to force all the paste  towards the nozzle so that there won’t be air bubbles in your piped chouquettes.
• Pipe small discs of paste onto your baking parchment, space them well so that they won’t stick together as they expand during cooking.
• Sprinkle candied sugar pieces over each chouquettes to taste. (You can make these without the candied sugar, leave plain or use Demerara sugar, popping candy or anything similar you have to hand).
• Place the tray in the oven, pre-heated to 250c. Turn the oven off and leave the chouquettes to cook in the ambient heat for 25 minutes
• Turn the oven on at 170c, leave the door closed and allow the chouquettes to continue cooking for another 25 minutes.
• Transfer cooked chouquettes to a wire rack to cool.

 

These small choux pieces have numerous uses. They can carry sweet or savoury fillings, they form the base of profiteroles and, joined together, they can become the base of a cream filled dessert along the lines of a St Honoré.

Here is a recipe for a ganache filling that can transform basic chouquettes.  It can also serve as a filling for macarons and eclairs.  Much, much more to follow on chocolate.

Ganache 

Some notes before getting started:

• You don’t need to spend a fortune on expensive chocolate to make this simple ganache.  There are thousands of blog entries extolling the virtues of this chocolate or that, basically you just need to understand a little about the various types of chocolate on the market if you want to get the best out of chocolate based recipes.  Understanding chocolate is for another day, to make this ganache simply choose a plain dark chocolate avoiding those items labelled ‘cooking chocolate’ or ‘baking chocolate’ found on supermarket shelves.  If you don’t have dark chocolate couverture to hand a bar of Bournville or similar will do fine.
• To make a ganache you are forming an emulsion between chocolate and milk/cream.  These two items don’t blend together easily but it is easy to learn the technique to force them into a beautiful sauce.  Heating the milk before you start means that the chocolate will melt once it is covered with the milk/cream mixture.  The easiest way to achieve the desired emulsion is to add the milk/cream in three doses.  Once the first third is added you need to mix firmly, either with a balloon whisk or wooden spoon, you will find which suits you best with practice.  At first you might think that you have created a disaster, lumps of chocolate floating around in chocolate coloured milk, persist!  As you mix you will see that a shiny, smooth chocolate sauce develops.  You simply need to repeat the operation twice with the second and third portions of hot milk/cream.
• Ensure that the butter is at room temperature when you make your ganache.  Cutting it into small pieces will also help to melt the butter into the chocolate/cream mixture.
• Once complete the mixture will appear too runny to act as a filling for eclairs, macarons or anything else.  Don’t panic!  As the ganache cools it will thicken nicely.  A ganache like this will store in the refrigerator for days.
• To ensure that your stored ganache doesn’t form a skin either store it in a piping bag ready to use or cover with cling film.  When taking the second option ensure that the film lays over the surface of the ganache rather than taut across the bowl. You need to protect the ganache from any air as this is what will cause a skin to form.  If you do happen to find your ganache has formed a skin simply whisk it briskly, either by hand or with a stick blender, to recover the desired texture.

You will need:

110g milk

25g single cream

235g chocolate (couverture)

45g butter at room temperature

To make the ganache

• Place chocolate, broken into pieces, into a heatproof bowl large enough to hold all of the ingredients.
• Place milk and cream in a heavy bottomed pan and bring to the boil.
• Pour ⅓ of the milk/cream over the chocolate pieces stirring vigorously so that an emulsion forms.
• Add the rest of the milk/cream gradually, stirring all the time until you have a homogenous glossy sauce.
• Add the butter cut into small pieces. Either stir until the butter melts into the sauce to finish the ganache or use a stick blender to achieve the same end.
• Cover the finished ganache with cling film ensuring that the film is in contact with the ganache.
• Allow ganache to cool.  Store covered in the refrigerator if you are not going to use it straight away.  Note that you might need to allow the mix to return to room temperature before you can pipe it into your chouquettes, eclairs etc

Assembly

Using a small piping nozzle or the point of a small knife gently pierce a hole to the underside of each chouquette.

If your ganache has been stored in a bowl you will need to transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a nozzle small enough to fit into the holes in the base of the chouquettes.

Gently pipe ganache into each chouquette,

Enjoy!

 

References:

McGee H (2004) McGee on Food and Cooking, Hodder & Stoughton UK

Roux, Michel & Albert (1986) The Roux Brothers on Patisserie, MacDonald & Co. London

Davidson, A (2006) The Oxford Companion to Food 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press.

Beeton I (1861) The Book of Household Management (released as eBook by Project Gutenberg 2003)

Dumas A (1781 ) Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine, Paris (available via Google Book Search)