Pâte à choux

‘Even the simplest of desserts made using the smallest amount of skill will always be received as the grandest of gestures.’

Pets de nonne citronnés à l’anis (Anise and lemon nun’s puffs)

Pâte à choux

( Choux pastry )

I remember the first time I ever made choux pastry. I was only a few weeks into my apprenticeship when I was given the task of making pâte à choux — I will never forget that moment of sheer panic. Not only did I have to make this puzzling pastry, but I also had to face the challenging task of piping it into an array of different shapes and sizes. Ever since I was a child, I had always wondered how anyone made those delicate little puffs, so thin and light, pumped full of air. To me they were more about engineering than cooking and while this isn’t quite the case, choux pastry is a good illustration of how the chemistry of each ingredient works together in baking, reinforcing the point that a good baker is first and foremost a technician.

The invention of an early form of choux pastry is credited to the very creative pastry chefs at the French court of Catherine de Medici in the sixteenth century, who were also responsible for the amaretti, the ancestor of the famous macaron. Over time, the recipe for choux was improved upon, and finally cemented its place in French gastronomy in the early nineteenth century when the famous pastry chef Marie-Antoine Carême created the croque-en-bouche (‘crunch in the mouth’), or croquembouche as it’s also known.

Unbeknown to most amateur bakers, choux pastry is actually an amazingly simple concoction to make at home. It is also very versatile and can be turned into a wide range of pastries — from éclairs to croquembouche (baked), churros to doughnuts (fried), and even savoury dishes, such as the famous Parisian gnocchi (poached).