Cream Puff dough

For Relief Society, they asked me to teach "French Baking".  Apparently I'm the resident expert.  My options were limited given that I only had 1 hour (things like croissants take 3 days) and I had no idea how many people would be coming.  It could be anywhere from half a dozen to a couple dozen, which makes things like creme brulee hard to plan for.   So cream puffs it is.  

I'd always wanted to learn how to make cream puffs, so I figured this made for a great opportunity.  If all else fails, I could do Madeleines, but those only take like 30 minutes, and you need a fancy pan, and while very tasty and somewhat obscure, not worthy of a whole hour long class.

Fortunately, I was able to pull it off.

After several (very tasty) failures.  Under cooked cream puffs taste a lot like crepes, and are really fantastic to eat with Nutella. 

I got one recipe down pretty well, but when I had someone taste test them, he said they weren't as flaky as Costco. Which I know that that's no real measuring stick, but he was kinda right. I prefer my filling.  (I can make a killer pastry cream when I want to) but the cream puff itself was a little lacking.  

So I hit the books again and found a better recipe.  Instead of a whole cup of water, this recipe uses half water, half whole milk.  And it upped the butter by 2 tablespoons.  It was definitely superior.

Cream puffs are a magical little creation.   If sweet, they can be filled with pudding, pastry cream, ice-cream, or whatever your heart desires, if savory, they can be filled with chicken salad, or anything similar.  The possibilities are endless.  Their magic lies in the science that creates a giant bubble in the middle of their body, just waiting to be filled. 

Cream Puff Dough

½ cup (125 g) Whole milk

½ cup (125 g) water

1 Stick (4 oz, 115 g) unsalted butter

Tablespoon of Sugar*

Pinch of salt*

1 cup (140 g) all-purpose flour

5 large eggs, at room temperature

 *For savory cream puffs, omit sugar, and increase salt to 1 tsp. 

Position the oven rack in the bottom third of the oven, and heat to 375.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and keep them close at hand.  Fit a large pastry bag with a large start tip and keep this nearby as well.

Bring the milk, water, butter, sugar, and salt to a rapid boil in a heavy bottomed medium pan over high heat.  Add the flour all at once, lower the heat to medium-low and quickly start stirring energetically with a wooden spoon.   The  dough will come together and a light crust will form on the bottom of the pan.  Keep stirring-  with vigor- for another 2 minutes to dry the dough.  The dough should now be very smooth.

Turn the dough into the bowl  of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment .  Add the eggs one by one and beat, beat, beat, until the dough is thick and shiny.  Don’t be concerned if the dough falls apart – by the time the last egg goes in, the dough will come together again.  Once all the eggs have been incorporated, the still warm dough must be used immediately.

Once all the eggs have been added and the mixture is smooth, immediately place the dough into a plastic bag with one corner cut off, or a pastry bag fitted with a round tip. Pipe the dough into golf ball size shapes onto the parchment lined sheet pans.  Space them 2 inches apart from each other.

Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 F  and bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and immediately pierce them with a paring knife to release steam.

Unfilled, these will keep air tight in a zip top bag for 3 days, or frozen up to 2 months.