Choux Pastry Recipe by Mauderne

In this recipe, discover how to make chou pastry from scratch at home without any specific kitchen appliances

After trying out different recipes with and without milk, I am sharing with you my go to recipe step by step to make chou pastry. You can use it for eclairs, choux, st honore, paris brest, profiteroles, gougeres

For 16 eclairs or 20 choux or 12 paris-brest

Ingredients

• 100g of water

• 100g whole milk

• 1.5g salt

• 12g sugar

• 88g butter

• 114g flour

• 200g eggs

Steps

1. In a saucepan, heat the milk with the water, salt and sugar as well as the butter previously cut into cubes. Off the heat, add the sifted flour all at once then mix vigorously with a wooden spoon to avoid lumps and have a homogeneous preparation.

2. Return the pan to low heat and let the dough dry out, stirring constantly. After a while it will come off the sides of the pan, then put it in a bowl to stop the cooking.

3. Then add the eggs one by one, stirring well between each addition to obtain a smooth batter. Make a furrow with the spatula if it closes slowly it's good if not add a little egg to loosen it. Put in a piping bag and pipe on a baking sheet previously buttered chou shapes or éclairs.

4. Bake at 190° for 30 min

Tips

• Bit the batter before adding the eggs in step 3 to remove some of the steam

• Glaze with melted butter the top of the eclair before putting in the oven

Mauderne Marie-Antoinette Cake

A revisited version of the traditional Victoria sponge cake with French twists!

I created this recipe after teaching a vanilla and strawberry macarons baking class. I had some double cream and strawberry jam left so I thought why not doing a light and fluffy cake with this. Marie-Antoinette Cake was born!

For a 20 cm round cake tin with 4cm height

Ingredients

Génoise

• 20g melted butter for the cake tin

• 160g eggs

• 90g caster sugar

• 20g melted butter

  Zesty Strawberry Jam (can also be used for your macarons filling)

• 1kg of strawberry

• peels of 1 unwaxed lemon

• juice of 1 lemon

• 100g sugar

• 8g agar-agar

  Vanilla chantilly

• 150ml double cream

• 1/2 tsp. vanilla powder

• 2 tbsp. icing sugar

  Zesty Lime Syrup

• fresh juice of 1 lime

• zest of 1 unwaxed lime

• 100g caster sugar

• 100g water

Steps

Zesty Strawberry Jam

• Add all ingredients (except agar-argar) into a saucepan and simmer on low heat for 15 min

• Blend it to get a smooth fruit coulis

• Put it back in the saucepan, sprinkle the agar-gar, bring to boil

• Stir for another 5min at medium heat to activate the jellification of the jam

• Pour the jam in a recipient

• Put a clear film over the surface of the filling and keep in the fridge for an hour

• Before using blend it again to get a smooth texture that will be easy to spread on the cake

  Génoise

• Generously brush your cake tin with melted butter

• In a bowl, beat the eggs and the sugar in a bain-marie until obtaining a light cream colored ruban texture. Stay under 45°C and then remove from the bain-marie

• Add the melted butter

• Delicately incorporate the sifted flour

• Pour the mix in the cake tin and bake at 180°C for 20 minutes

• Turn onto a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.

• Half horizontally into two equal round cakes

  Vanilla Chantilly

• While your génoise is cooling down, beat the whipped cream with the icing sugar and the vanilla powder until getting a chantilly texture

• Film to contact in a recipient and keep it in the fridge until using it

  Zesty Lime Syrup

• Add all ingredients in a saucepan

• Bring to boil and keep on the heat until sugar has dissolved

• Remove from heat, let it cool down a bit to room temperature before using

Final steps: Building up your Marie-Antoinette cake

• Use a brush to soak the lime syrup on each halves

• Spread the jam over both halves

• Spread the chantilly on the bottom half

• Sandwich the second sponge on top with the jam at its bottom

• Dust with a little icing sugar before serving

• Keep in an airtight container and eat within 2 days

Tips

• You can replace the zest by vanilla powder if you’re not a fan of citrus

• You can replace 15g of flour by cacao powder for a cacao version of this cake

• Use a smaller 16cm tin if you want your cake to be higher

Basics to know how to make Pate A Choux by Massy

For approximately 12 eclairs or 30 choux pastry

Ingredients

• Sweet choux pastry:

  250g g butter

  375g eggs

  235 g flour

  250g water

  35g milk

  1 pinch of salt

Steps

1. In a saucepan, mix the water butter and salt. Cook over low heat until boiling, stirring with a wooden spoon until the butter melts completely. Remove the pan from the heat and add the flour all at once. Mix vigorously to prevent lumps from forming.

2. Once the dough comes off the walls and forms a ball, put the pan back on very low heat to dry out the dough for 2 minutes while stirring. Still off the heat, add the milk an egg and mix to blend well. Repeat the process with each egg, adding them one by one.

3. Work the dough until it is smooth and forms a ribbon around the spoon.

Tips

• Preparation time: 15 minutes

• Cooking time: 20-25 minutes

• Oven temperature: 190°C

• This dough can be used for choux, eclairs, chouquettes, profiteroles and religieuses

• Come to Mauderne's baking classes to learn the tips and secrets about how to make choux pastry and eclairs at home

Where To Go For The Best Choux Pastry In Paris And In London

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(c) Christophe Adam, Eclair de Genie

Eclair de Genie in Paris

The French have a deep and long-running love affair with their éclairs, and no wonder. It's a classic French treat adored by Parisians since the 19th century, it's iced and stuffed with cream, and it's delicious. But in a fast-paced culinary world replete with "sexier," globally influenced sweets—think pastel-colored macaroons, trendy cronuts, fruity brûlées—the éclair seems almost antiquated, dull, and heavy. How can this traditional (and frankly, unattractive) French dessert keep up with the 21st century?

If you’re planning a Eurostar trip to Paris, then enter Christophe Adam, pastry chef and owner of L’Éclair de Génie in Paris's Marais district. Adam has transformed and modernized the classic French éclair into a dessert that is fresh and appealing. He dresses his éclairs in stunning rainbow colors, finishes them off with edible powdered silver, and throws into the mix fun flavors like yuzu, salted caramel, orange pistachio, and even caramel popcorn. Basically, he's made the old éclair cool again.

Adam has also somehow managed to make his toughest critics—Parisians themselves —fall in love with these reinventions.** **The shop's long lines of locals are evidence of this (so if you want to get your hands on those mouthwatering éclairs, you'd better come early). We highly recommend the Praliné noisette (hazelnut and praline), and the Choco Coco (crispy milk chocolate, with a coconut cream filling). They will change the way you see éclairs—and desserts in general. (14 Rue Pavée; +33 1 42 77 85 11, www.leclairdegenie.com__)

Read more at https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2013-10-15/photos-l-eclair-de-genie-bakery-paris-france

It’s time for these dated pastries to step aside and for you to meet their sophisticated French cousin the éclair. Forget the dry, uninspiring and somewhat tasteless offering you’re use to seeing on the shelves of the local supermarket and say hello to Maitre Choux‘s mouth-watering éclairs – pastry perfection.

Maître Choux is the brainchild of Jeremie Vaislic and three Michelin star-experienced pastry chef Joakim Prat, who came to London from Barcelona’s Can Fabes to take on the role of Joël Robuchon’s Head Pastry Chef at L’Atelier, before moving on to Mayfair’s The Greenhouse.

Choux pastry, a staple of every patisserie in France, it is a very malleable yet simple bakery base. In the hands of Joakim, it is transformed into something quite extraordinary.

“Traditionally, éclairs are made using chocolate and coffee flavours,” says Prat. “We add a large range of flavours to a basic pastry product. We try to play with it by adding colour, texture and flavour. From a very simple base you can get a complex product.”

Opening their first store in South Kensington in 2015, Maître Choux has since expanded with the launch of a second bakery on Soho’s Dean Street. We suggest you take a visit if you want all the charm of a French bakery with a contemporary twist.

Read more at https://www.marieclaire.co.uk/life/food-drink/the-best-pastries-in-london-maitre-choux-582388#l54eSLXkqEC1UYLk.99

(c) Maitre Choux London

Learn How To Make Basic Choux Pastry

For approximately 12 eclairs or 30 choux pastry

Ingredients

• Sweet choux pastry:

  100 g butter

  4 eggs

  150 g flour

  25 g caster sugar

  14 water cl

  12 milk cl

  1 pinch of salt

• Salted choux pastry:

  80 g of butter

  4 eggs

  65 g of flour

  20 water cl

  1 pinch of salt

Steps

1. In a saucepan, mix the water (and milk for the sweet version), butter and powdered sugar and/or salt. Cook over low heat until boiling, stirring with a wooden spoon until the butter melts completely. Remove the pan from the heat and add the flour all at once. Mix vigorously to prevent lumps from forming.

2. Once the dough comes off the walls and forms a ball, put the pan back on very low heat to dry out the dough for 2 minutes while stirring. Still off the heat, add an egg and mix to blend well. Repeat the process with each egg, adding them one by one.

3. Work the dough until it is smooth and forms a ribbon around the spoon.

Tips

• Preparation time: 15 minutes

• Cooking time: 35 minutes

• This dough can be used for choux, eclairs, chouquettes, gougeres, profiteroles and religieuses

• Come to Mauderne's baking classes to learn the tips and secrets about how to make choux pastry and eclairs at home