3/12/09

Pâte à Choux and Pastry Creme

Day 13: Recipes for Pâte à Choux and Chocolate Hazelnut Pastry Cream

Pâte à Choux
-It’s a classic batter/ dough in the kitchen with sweet or savory applications.
-It’s a loose batter and the finished product looks more like dough.
-Using half milk and half water makes it brown, have a nice sheen. The whole eggs add fattiness and coloring.
-Paris Brest- shape of bagel or doughnut. Brush piped dough with egg wash and sprinkle with sliced almonds.
-Profiteroles are for the Croquembouche.
-Garnish/ glaze the éclairs with chocolate fondant. You never want to heat the fondant above 100 degrees. If it gets too hot it will loose its shine. Heat it over water bath, stirring the entire time. If it is too thick, add water or simple syrup. You want it thick enough to give the dipped éclair a nice finish.

Pâte à Choux
8 oz Milk
8 oz Water
1 tsp Salt
12 oz Bread Flour
1 lb 4 oz Eggs

Preparing Pâte à Choux
-Bring the butter, water, and milk to a boil.

A full rolling boil; the butter should be evenly distributed over the surface; it will look like boiling cream.
-Add the flour and salt and stir.

-The mixture will ball up and look like a wet dough. Cook it on the heat for a minute or so the cook out some moisture.

-Put the dough in the mixer on low speed.
-Start adding the eggs, 2 at a time. Let each set mix in and get absorbed before adding more.


-You don’t want the dough to be too cold; the eggs won’t blend with the batter well and will give a strange end product.
-Scrape the bowl down and continue mixing.

-You may not use all the eggs; you will know when it’s done when the dough stretches. Dip a finger into the batter; the dough should lift up and wilt slightly. If it is still too stiff you can add one of the remaining eggs.

-Transfer to a piping bag with a round or star tip. Use a star tip to pipe the Paris Brest and a round tip to pipe the éclairs and profiteroles.

-You can bake these in either oven; they brown and bake faster in the convection oven.
-Fold the parchment paper into 5 folds; this is a good measure for the éclairs.
-Use a little paste to paste down the corners of the parchment.
-When piping, the tip should not be dragging but up above the surface.
-It is a sticky dough. Wet your finger with water and press down the ends lightly.
-Use a round cutter to trace and outline for the Paris Brest on the parchment, the 3rd ring from the outside.
-Using the 3rd smallest ring as a guide, pipe the profiteroles onto the parchment.
-Egg wash the Paris Brest with egg and water brushed lightly on top and sprinkle with sliced almonds.

-Test to see if they are done by breaking them open, they will be slightly damp but not wet. They will also be a dark brown color.
-Bake 400 degrees in the deck oven, 375 degrees in the convection oven.




Pastry Cream
2 lb Milk
4 oz Sugar
3 oz Yolks
4 oz Eggs
2.5 Corn Starch
4 oz Sugar
2 oz Butter
1 T Vanilla
Preparing Pastry Cream
-Have the milk on the stove.
-To make a hazelnut pastry cream, add 4 oz of hazelnut paste to the cream at the end.
-You can use pastry cream in tarts and Danishes that will be baked.
-Whisk together the cornstarch and sugars, then whisk in the eggs. You want this mixture completely smooth. The starch acts as a buffer for the sugar when combine with the eggs.

-Bring the milk to a boil.
-When the milk is boiling, temper it with the eggs and put the mixture back on the stove.
-Cook it to a boil and boil for about 1 minute. Whisk constantly to ensure no lumps and to cook out the starch.
-It gets thicker as it cooled.
-Add the vanilla and butter. The vanilla is a flavor enhancer.
-Add the hazelnut paste, and add 4 oz dark chocolate if desired, and about 5 T of Frangelico hazelnut liquor.

-You want the filling to be the star of the show.
-Pour it onto plastic wrap on a ½ sheet pan and put in the cooler. The plastic keeps it from forming a skin on top.

Finishing the Éclairs
-Cut out a small hole on the bottom with a pairing knife.

-Whisk up some pastry cream to loosen it and put it in the pastry bag with a small round tip or long éclair tip.
-Fill the éclair until it feels heavy.
-Dip the éclair into the chocolate fondant. Wipe the top; you want it clean around the sides with no fondant dripping down the sides.

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