I’ve now started my second term at cooking school and this includes an Introduction to Pastry class. We started the week off by making several things- vanilla poached pears, pate sucree (sweet tart dough), frangipane, classic genoise, and choux pastry to name a few. So far, I have only taken pictures of the choux pastry- with the pear frangipane tart to be marked this week, I won’t get it until later. The choux pastry was easy to make, and because there is no sugar in it, it can take on the characteristics of both sweet and savoury dishes. For example- eclairs, or lobster/shrimp salad.

Choux Paste

• 335g water
• 145g butter
• 3g salt
• 180g bread flour
• 300g eggs (6)

Bring the water, butter and salt to a boil. Add the bread flour all at once and stir until the dough forms a ball and comes away form the sides of the pot. Cool slightly (to approx 60 degrees C) in a mixer with the paddle attachment. Add eggs one at a time, incorporating well after each addition. Pipe the choix paste immediately- a small, flat circle will make the puffs, and a thin, finger-length line will make eclairs. Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes, without opening oven, reduce temperature to 375 degrees F and bake until shells are firm and dry (5-20 more minutes). Cool to room temperature. Use immediately or store in the freezer for later use.

I’ll let you know what we made with these when the time comes! Please excuse my grainy pictures, as well- when I am in class I will be using my point-and-shoot camera, or my cell phone camera to take these shots.