Classic Homemade Choux Pastry

By
Danilo Alfaro
Danlio Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro has published more than 800 recipes and tutorials focused on making complicated culinary techniques approachable to home cooks.
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Updated on 07/22/21
Choux pastry recipe

The Spruce / Teena Agnel

Prep: 30 mins
Cook: 45 mins
Cooling time: 60 mins
Total: 2 hrs 15 mins
Servings: 16 servings

Choux pastry (pronounced "shoo") is used for making beignets, cream puffs, éclairs, ​and gougères, among other things, and it's leavened entirely by steam, not by baking powder, baking soda, or yeast.

How this is accomplished is by baking the choux first at a high temperature to generate the steam, and then finishing at a lower temperature to set the pastry and brown the outside.

It's traditional to use a pastry bag, with the 1/2 inch plain tip, to pipe the choux dough onto your baking sheet. You could just spoon it out into little mounds, or for éclairs, shape the dough into little cylinders with your hands. But a pastry bag will definitely give you a nicer result.​

Note: The only slightly tricky thing about this recipe is that I've written it in a way you might not be used to seeing—which is to say, I'm using weights rather than volume measurements for the ingredients. This isn't very common in the U.S., but it will make it easier for you to use the right amount of everything, and your choux will turn out much better.

I've indicated approximate volume measurements for each, just to give you an idea, but you should definitely go by weight. This means you'll need a digital scale that can be set to grams.

Finally, it's important to use bread flour, not all-purpose flour or cake flour, so that the choux will have a good structure and not deflate.

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Ingredients

  • 125 grams (1/2 cup) milk

  • 125 grams (1/2 cup) water

  • 5 grams (1 teaspoon) granulated sugar

  • 2 1/2 grams (1/2 teaspoon) fine salt

  • 100 grams (4 ounces) unsalted butter

  • 150 grams (1 1/4 cups) bread flour

  • 150 grams (3 large) eggs, beaten

For Gougères:

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients. Preheat your oven to 425 F (but not for beignets).

    Ingredients for choux pastry

    The Spruce / Teena Agnel

  2. In a heavy saucepan, combine the milk, water, sugar, salt, and butter. Heat to a boil.

    combine the milk, water, sugar, salt, and butter

    The Spruce / Teena Agnel

  3. When the mixture boils, take it off the heat and add all the flour at one time, stirring hard with a wooden spoon to incorporate.

    incorporate flour

    The Spruce / Teena Agnel

  4. Put the pan back on, over medium heat, and keep stirring quickly. In a minute or two, the dough will form a smooth ball and pull away from the sides of the pan. You'll see a thin film on the bottom of the pan.

    form ball

    The Spruce / Teena Agnel

  5. Now scoop the dough into the bowl of a stand mixer, and mix on low with the paddle attachment for about a minute. Note: This step is important because it releases some of the heat from the dough so that it doesn't cook the eggs when you add them in the next step.

    Mix dough

    The Spruce / Teena Agnel

  6. Increase the speed to medium, and add the eggs a little bit at a time, making sure that the egg is fully incorporated before you add more. It's best to add about a quarter of the eggs each time and beat until the dough comes back together. Once all the eggs are incorporated, you're ready to continue. (If you're making gougères, you would now beat in the cheese.)
    Note: If you're making beignets, your procedure involves frying the pastry, not baking it, so you'll want to head off here: Beignet Recipe. Otherwise, continue with the steps for baking the pastry.

    Add cheese if making gougères

    The Spruce / Teena Agnel

  7. Pipe or spoon the dough onto a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. If you're piping, use the plain 1/2-inch tip. For cream puffs or gougères, go for a mound about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. For éclairs, pipe out ribbons about 4-inches long. It's a good idea to leave two inches in between each one.​

    Spoon dough

    The Spruce / Teena Agnel

  8. Bake for 10 minutes in your 425 F oven, then lower the heat to 375 F. Continue to bake for another 25 to 30 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and has a crisp shell.​

    Bake Choux Pastry

    The Spruce / Teena Agnel

  9. Now turn off the oven, open the oven door and let the pastries cool for 30 minutes in the oven with the door halfway open.​

    Turn off oven and let the choux pastry cool

    The Spruce / Teena Agnel

  10. After that, remove the pan from the oven and let the pastries cool completely before slicing or filling.

    Add filling for Choux Pastry

    The Spruce / Teena Agnel

  11. Fill, serve, and enjoy!

    Serve and enjoy Choux pastry

    The Spruce / Teena Agnel

Tips

  • This recipe specifically calls for three large eggs, which weigh 50 grams each (not including the shell). If all you have are medium eggs or jumbo or whatever, just crack the eggs into a bowl and beat them. Place an empty container on your scale and zero it out. Then, pour the beaten egg into the container until the scale reads 150 grams.
  • Filled Choux pastry should be kept in a plastic airtight container in the fridge, and are good for up to 2 to 3 days.
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
141 Calories
10g Fat
8g Carbs
6g Protein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 16
Amount per serving
Calories 141
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 10g 12%
Saturated Fat 6g 28%
Cholesterol 61mg 20%
Sodium 155mg 7%
Total Carbohydrate 8g 3%
Dietary Fiber 0g 1%
Total Sugars 1g
Protein 6g
Vitamin C 0mg 0%
Calcium 125mg 10%
Iron 0mg 2%
Potassium 43mg 1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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