Light, crisp and airy choux buns!
That’s how profiteroles should be and they are!
The basic recipe is from the great Micheal Roux. And I have incorporated some of the learning’s from my research into making pate aux choux.
As I’m trying to learn the science & principles behind baking I am also adding the bakers percentages so you can scale up & down if you like.
- A successful paste will be glossy, can hold its shape when formed but not too stiff, peaks must droop a little!
- Any recipe will give you the number of eggs or weight in gms that go into making the paste but please be careful! Only add in 1 egg at a time, beating like mad till its fully mixed in. Take care before adding in all/the last of your eggs as you may not need all of it! If your paste is at the right consistency, don’t add any more.
- Don’t peak in the oven, let it take its full baking time, we don’t want to risk deflating it!
- They should be brown, not dark brown and definitely not pale! If you take them out early they will soften.
- Leave them to gently dry out completely in the oven, leaving the door ajar or move them to dry out on a wire rack in a warm place with no wind draft.
And while I categorize this recipe as “Advanced”, it’s really not difficult at all. It just needs a little attention and care.
Try it and you will be amazed!
Basic Choux Buns
Ingredients
Whole milk Mineral water
All purpose (plain) flour
Butter
Eggs (4 large eggs)
Vanilla essence
Salt
Sugar
Quantity
125 ml 125 ml
150 gm
100 gm
200 gm
7 ml (1/2 tbsp)
2.5 gm (1/2 tsp)
2.5 gm (1/2 tsp)
Percentage
166%
100%
66%
133%
4.5%
1.6%
1.6%
You will need:
- Measuring scale
- A baking sheet, lined with a silicon mat or grease proof paper. Don’t butter or oil it.
- A large mixing bowl
- Wooden spoon
- Optional: Standing mixer with a paddle or a hand held mixer with a dough hook
Method:
- In a saucepan, over medium heat, heat together the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt. Give it a stir to mix everything together. Leave it till it slowly comes to the boil and there is no butter layer floating on top.
- Don’t let it boil further! Take it off the heat and tip in the flour all at once and start mixing it to make a paste.
- Now place the pot back on a medium low heat and start mixing it well. We are trying to dry it out a bit.
Usually a thin film will form on the bottom, that’s ok, but don’t scrape at it. I didn’t get any film formation at the bottom of my pot.
Mix for a few minutes till the paste can form a ball and leaves the sides clean.
- Transfer it to a bowl (or the bowl of a standing mixer if that’s what you are using) and mix it a bit more to cool down.
We’ll be adding in the eggs next so the paste needs to be warm but not hot or we’ll end up cooking the eggs! - Break your eggs into a bowl and add the vanilla.
- With the paste no longer hot, add in the first egg and beat like mad till its completely mixed in. Since I’m making a small batch, I opted to hand mix. Astandingorhand held mixer will make beating in the eggs much quicker (and a lot easier 🙂 ).
Yes it will look slimy and lumpy and weird at first!
- Now you can add in the next egg and repeat the mad beating.
Repeat till all the eggs are beaten in and you have a paste that is glossy, thick but not stiff. If you lift some of the paste with a spoon it should hold its shape but the top should droop.
- Now either spoon the paste into a piping bag with a plain round nozzle or use a tsp to start making the buns (use 2 tsps; 1 to spoon the dough with and the other to push the paste off the 1st spoon onto the baking tray).
- Start spooning or piping the paste, making round bun shapes onto your prepared baking trays. (I opted for biggish rounds – if you make them smaller you can get between 40 to 50 buns from this amount of paste)
- Space them apart as they are going to puff up.
My piping skills still need work! - If you were using a piping bag, your buns will have little whips pointing up! Use the prongs of a fork or a pastry brush to push them down, or else they will burn.
- Now place on the middle shelf of the preheated oven and set the timer for 5 min then decrease the heat to 180°C for 30min.
- After the 30min are up, gently open the oven door, take one out (closing the door again) and check its color and tap on it. If parts of it, even tiny parts, are still pale or white or feel soft to the touch or it doesn’t give a crisp sound when you tap it, place it back in the oven and give it a further 5 min.
Mine needed an extra 5 min and my total baking time was 40min.
You want the buns to be browned and crisp. If you think they are browning too quickly or too much you can take the temp to 170°C after 20min (And adjust the baking time accordingly as it may take a little more time to fully bake).
The photo below shows the kind of colour you want; a deep golden colour with lighter golden areas. No white at all!
If you tap on it with your finger you hear a crisp sound not a dull sound.
- When time is up, turn off the heat, open the oven door slightly and leave them to cool in there. You can transfer them to a wire rack and place them back in again like I did but work quickly and away from any wind draft.
The reason we are leaving them to cool gently in the oven is to dry them out further. If you take them out and place them anywhere cool they will go soft instead!
Leave them until completely cool before using.
Notes:
- I found no reason to prick the side as some recipes ask you to do to let steam out. Drying them out takes care of that.
- If you are making the buns a day in advance they can be left put in the oven, oven door ajar till you need them. Or place them in an airtight box.
Crisp them up before using by placing them on a rack in a 170-180°C oven for 10min. Let them cool again in the oven after turning off the heat with the oven door ajar. - They can be made and stored in an airtight container for up to a week in the fridge provided they were completely dried out and cold before storing. Re-crisp before using as described in the point above.
- They can also be frozen but I don’t know the details for that nor have I tried it before!
- Resources are Professional Baking, Micheal Roux & Chef Talk.
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