Choux pastry, or (), is a delicate

pastry Pastry is baked food made with a dough of flour, water and shortening (solid fats, including butter or lard) that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bakers' confectionery''. The word "pastries" suggests ...

dough Dough is a thick, malleable, sometimes elastic paste made from grains or from leguminous or chestnut crops. Dough is typically made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid and sometimes includes yeast or other leavenin ...

used in many pastries. Basic ingredients usually only include butter, water, flour and eggs (auxiliary ingredients and flavorings are also added). Instead of a

raising agent In cooking, a leavening agent () or raising agent, also called a leaven () or leavener, is any one of a number of substances used in doughs and batters that cause a foaming action (gas bubbles) that lightens and softens the mixture. An alterna ...

, choux pastry employs its high moisture content to create steam, as the water in the dough evaporates when baked, puffing the pastry. The pastry is used in many European cuisines, including

French cuisine French cuisine () is the cooking traditions and practices from France. It has been influenced over the centuries by the many surrounding cultures of Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, in addition to the food traditions of the re ...

and

Spanish cuisine Spanish cuisine consists of the cooking traditions and practices from Spain. Olive oil (of which Spain is the world's largest producer) is heavily used in Spanish cuisine. It forms the base of many vegetable sauces (known in Spanish as ''sofrit ...

, and is the basis of many notable desserts, including

profiteroles A profiterole (), cream puff (US), or ''chou à la crème'' () is a filled French and Italian choux pastry ball with a typically sweet and moist filling of whipped cream, custard, pastry cream, or ice cream. The puffs may be decorated or left ...

, éclairs and

churros A churro (, ) is a type of fried dough from Spanish and Portuguese cuisine. They are also found in Latin American cuisine and in other areas that have received immigration from Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries, especially in the Sou ...

History

According to some cookbooks, a chef by the name of Pantarelli or Pantanelli, Catherine de' Medici's head chef, invented the dough in 1540, seven years after he left Florence with Medici and her court. He used the dough to make a gâteau and named it . Over time, the recipe of the dough evolved, and the name changed to , which was used to make , named after Pantanelli's successor Popelini, small cakes supposedly made to resemble the shape of a woman's breasts. Popelins were common aristocratic desserts in the 16th century, and were flavored with cheese or citrus (for example lemon peel, orange blossom water, etc.). They were prepared from dough that had been dried over a fire to evaporate its water, which was called (literally meaning 'hot pastry'). The name pâte à choux derives from this (contrary to the common misconception that “choux”—French for “cabbage”—refers to the similarity between the shape of the pastry and the shape of a head of

cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.&n ...

). Then, royal chefs Jean Avice, a , and , who worked in the court of

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...

, made modifications to the recipe in the 18th century, resulting in the recipe most commonly used now for

Essential ingredients and manner of rising

The ingredients for choux pastry are butter, water, flour and eggs. Like

Yorkshire pudding Yorkshire pudding is a baked pudding made from a batter of eggs, flour, and milk or water. A common British side dish, it is a versatile food that can be served in numerous ways depending on its ingredients, size, and the accompanying compon ...

David Eyre's pancake A Dutch baby pancake, sometimes called a German pancake, a Bismarck, a Dutch puff, or a Hootenanny, is a large American popover. A Dutch baby is similar to a large Yorkshire pudding. Unlike most pancakes, Dutch babies are baked in the oven, ...

, instead of a raising agent, it employs high moisture content to create steam during cooking to puff the pastry. The high moisture content is achieved by boiling the water and butter, then adding the flour. The mixture is cooked a few minutes longer, then cooled before adding enough eggs to achieve the desired consistency. The boiling step causes the starch in the flour to gel, allowing the incorporation of more water.

Foods made with choux pastry

This pastry is used to make choux (small puffs), as the name implies, but also

profiterole A profiterole (), cream puff (US), or ''chou à la crème'' () is a filled French and Italian choux pastry ball with a typically sweet and moist filling of whipped cream, custard, pastry cream, or ice cream. The puffs may be decorated or left p ...

s, , éclairs, , French

cruller A cruller () is a deep-fried pastry like a doughnut popular in Europe and North America often made from a rectangle of dough with a cut made in the middle that allows it to be pulled over and through itself, producing twists in the sides of the p ...

s, , St. Honoré cake, Parisian gnocchi, dumplings, chouquettes (unfilled choux pastry paired with

pearl sugar Nib sugar (also pearl sugar and hail sugar) is a product of refined white sugar. The sugar is very coarse, hard, opaque white, and does not melt at temperatures typically used for baking. The product usually is made by crushing blocks of white s ...

) and gougères. Choux pastry is usually

baked Baking is a method of preparing food that uses dry heat, typically in an oven, but can also be done in hot ashes, or on hot stones. The most common baked item is bread but many other types of foods can be baked. Heat is gradually transferre ...

, but for beignets, it is fried. In Spain and Latin America,

churro A churro (, ) is a type of fried dough from Spanish and Portuguese cuisine. They are also found in Latin American cuisine and in other areas that have received immigration from Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries, especially in the So ...

s are made of fried choux pastry, sugared and dipped in a thick hot chocolate for breakfast. In Italian cuisine, choux pastry is the base for

zeppole A zeppola (; plural: zeppole; sometimes called frittelle, and in Sardinia the italianized ''zippole'' or ''zeppole sarde'' from the original Sardinian ) is an Italian pastry consisting of a deep-fried dough ball of varying size but typically ...

di San Giuseppe which are cream-filled pastries eaten on March 19th for the feast of Saint Joseph. In

Austrian cuisine Austrian cuisine () is a style of cuisine native to Austria and composed of influences from Central Europe and throughout the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Austrian cuisine is most often associated with Viennese cuisine, but there are signific ...

, one variation of , a sweet apricot

dumpling Dumpling is a broad class of dishes that consist of pieces of dough (made from a variety of starch sources), oftentimes wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, flour, buckwheat or potatoes, and may be filled with meat, ...

cooked in simmering water, uses choux pastry; in that case it does not puff, but remains relatively dense. Choux pastries are sometimes filled with cream after baking to make cream puffs or éclairs. A is covered in a "crackly" sugar topping — and often filled with pastry cream, much like an éclair.

Chouquette

A (), a diminutive of , is a small, round, hollow choux pastry covered with

. Unlike éclairs which are also made with choux pastry, chouquettes are bite-sized and hollow on the inside. Chouquettes originate from Paris, and can be enjoyed at anytime of the day whether it be for breakfast, or as an afternoon snack.

Gallery

File:Bignè2.JPG, Mixing choux pastry dough for File:Bignè4.JPG, Piping out the dough for with a

pastry bag A pastry bag (or piping bag in the Commonwealth) is an often cone- or triangular-shaped bag made from cloth, paper, plastic, or the intestinal lining of a lamb, that is squeezed by hand to ''pipe'' semi-solid foods by pressing them through a na ...

File:Profiteroles.jpg, Classic Profiteroles serving, with chocolate sauce

References

External links

{{Use dmy dates, date=March 2019 Doughs French pastries Choux pastry