Choux Pastry recipe by Buckingham’s restaurant Derby

A beautiful batch of profiteroles, éclairs or cream puffs will easily impress your guests into thinking you are a master chef, but they are actually quite easy to make. The important thing is to learn how to get the choux pastry just right. After that you can choose what shape to pipe them into and then fill the pastries with a variety of flavoured creams and top with chocolate sauce. You can also use the same choux pastry to make savoury treats, such as cheese and chive fritters. Here is the recipe for the basic choux pastry, enough to make a generous batch of profiteroles or éclairs.

Amount
1.2 kg / 2 ½ lb Mix

Ingredients
255g / 9oz Plain Flour
200g / 7oz Butter
430 ml / ¾ pt Water
7 Eggs
¼ teaspoon Salt

Method
Combine the water, butter and salt in a saucepan over a medium heat. Stirring constantly bring it to the boil. Remove from the heat when it reaches boiling point. Stir in the flour. Return the pan to the heat and stir constantly until the dough forms a thick paste and begins to leave the sides of the pan as you stir.
Remove from the heat and let it stand for 5 minutes to cool.
Put the mixture into a stand mixer. Beat in the eggs one at a time. The dough needs to be thick enough to pipe, so go cautiously with the last egg and leave some of it out if the right consistency has been reached.
When ready to bake, pipe the pastry into the desired shape and bake in a preheated oven at 200C for about 10 minutes until well risen. Reduce the heat to 175C and continue baking until the pastry is cooked through and completely firm, about another 20 minutes.

To Serve
When the cooked pastries are completely cool, pipe full of whatever filling you wish. Dip into melted chocolate sauce.
You can also use the basic choux pastry for this cheese and chive fritter recipe.

Points to Watch
Make sure you allow the batter to cool before adding the eggs or the pastry won’t puff up.
Don’t add eggs all in one go, you may not need all of them if the batter gets too runny.

View Nick Buckingham’s restaurant with one table, book online or call 01332 925 016.

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