Paris Choux Pastry Class

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I make choux pastry for eclairs and/or profiteroles several times a year. When we were planning our European vacation with a stop in France I had the opportunity to include an afternoon, small group class on making choux pastry (and it was taught in English!)

There were six of us in the class, myself, three young(ish) people from Utah and a mother/daughter from London. It was a good mix of friendly, fun people. I was the only student with experience making choux or cream patisserie, but that wasn’t an issue for any of us.

Our instructor was James who was a head pastry chef in England and France for 20 years before retiring and taking this position as a teacher. While not a trained teacher he did develop apprentices for his kitchens throughout his entire career.

The process of making choux is quite easy, but there are always tips and tricks that experience can teach you.

James previously weighed the water, butter and salt. He also portioned the eggs and flour for us.
Once the butter melts, add the flour all at once and stir continuously.
When a heavy film forms on the bottom of the pan it is ready for the next step.
Transfer the hot batter to a bowl and stir to cool. Once cool, add the egg a little at a time. The choux is ready when it slowly drips off a spoon and forms a “V”.
First tip/trick is to twist the piping bag near the tip and tuck it into piping tip to keep dough from running out.
Second tip is to use a flat side of a bowl scraper to push all the dough down to just inside the tip.

James set up three stations and we worked in teams of two. I worked with Mary, sister of Russ, both of Utah. You will occasionally see Mary’s hands and arms. You can tell us apart as I only wear one ring. We were both too busy to take pictures while we were filling the piping bags, also our hands were covered in raw choux.

Once the piping bag is filled grip it like this with your dominant hand,
Gently twist the bag to seal the choux inside.
Tip the bag upright, and twist the choux filled end, not the empty bag to force the choux until it just enters the tip
Pick up the filled, sealed bag with your dominant hand and place the tip on the paper, holding the bag at a 45 deg angle. (James is behind me)

Pipe eclairs in straight(ish) lines just less than half the width of the paper and about 3/4” wide.

When all the eclairs are piped use any leftover choux for chouquettes. Marys hands,
Relatively straight eclairs. My piping.
Poke the tips of the Chouquettes or ends of the eclairs with a wet finger.
For chouquettes sprinkle with coarse sparking sugar before baking. For profiteroles leave plain but add desired filling after they cool.

Each team made a different variety of filling. Mary and I made coffee, the others made chocolate and vanilla. Cream patisserie is fairly easy to make. I use Martha Stewarts’ method of mixing everything together before heating, then sieving the thickened mixture. We did the traditional egg tempering method in class.

James previously measured the ingredients
Mary mixed the water, corn starch, and coffee and thoroughly mixed in the egg.
The water is brought to a minimum boil and a little is added to the egg mixture. This is tempering the eggs.
The egg mixture is added back into the hot water and mixed until smooth
The hot mixture is poured onto a plastic lined pan, covered with more plastic and cooled in the fridge.

Two great tips for filling the eclairs, neither of which I knew. Use the tip of a knife to bore three holes in the bottom of each eclair. Let gravity be the force, do not push the knife down or you will break the eclair. Also, fill each end hole first. When you fill the center last the creampat will push up through the two end holes assuring the entire eclair is full. Believe me, this works great.

The pastries are baked according to the instructions,
Baked eclairs and chouquettes,
Light airy inside of a chouquettes,
3 holes are bored into each eclair with the tip of a knife.
Don’t force the knife. Let gravity ease it into the choux.
Filled eclairs with creampat in each hole.

James made the topping in advance. I usually just use a simple chocolate ganache, but learning this technique was fascinating. It was so messy neither Mary or I were able to photograph the procedure.

Don’t tell QC, but I could imagine a week of baking courses in Paris, learning so many new techniques. It was a blast.

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