Cream Puff Paste(Pata A Choux)

* Exported from MasterCook II *

CREAM PUFF PASTE (PATA A CHOUX)

Recipe By : Homemade Good News (Vol 3 No 3)
Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Pies & Pastries

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup water
1/2 cup sweet, unsalted butter -- cut up in pieces
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs + 1 egg beaten with a drop or two of
water to make an egg wash or glaze

Put water, butter or salt in a large heavy saucepan and bring to a boil.
Remove from heat (butter should be completely melted) and add the flour all
in one fell swoop. Mix as quickly as possible with a sturdy wooden spoon.
This mixture is known as a "panade". Return the saucepan to the stove over
the lowest possible heat. Continue to stir with the wooden spoon while the
panade dries out. This will take about 5 minutes, and a thin crust will form
on the bottom of the pan. This is supposed to happen, so don't worry about
it, and don't try to scrape it up and incorporate it into the dough, or you
will have plaster chips in your pastries. The dough should be soft, but when
you pinch it between thumb and forefinger it should not stick to your hand.
Dump the panade into a bolw, and let it cool for at least 5 minutes. Then
add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The mixture
should be smooth and creamy looking before you add the next egg. After all 4
eggs have been beaten in, the dough will be shiny and satiny yellow, thick
and heavy. Butter and flour a cookie sheet. Fill a pastry bag with the
diugh. If you don't have a pastry bag, you cna use a tablespoon to drop
dollops of dough onto the cookie sheet for eclairs and/or cream puffs, but
you really must have a pastry bag in order to make a cream puff ring.

For cream puffs, Squeeze out balls about the size of ping pong or golf balls.

For eclairs, squeeze out oblongs at 3 to 4 inches long. If you are using the
recipe given above, you should end up with 14 to 16 pastries. Don't succumb
to the temptation to make fewer and larger ones, for they won't cook
properly if you do. Brush the tops of the pastries with beaten egg, using
the bristles of the brush to gently push down and flatten out the little
curlicues left by the pastry bag as you lifted it off. Finally, drag the
tines of a dinner fork down the length of each eclair. The resulting stripes
will make for a more attractive and professional looking product.

For a cream puff ring, first mark a 10" circle on the surface of the
buttered and floured cookie sheet. Then, using a pastry gab, squeeze out a
1" wide "halo" of cream puff paste right on top of the circle you've
outlined. Squeeze anoth 1" wide ring of dough adjacent to - and touching -
the first. Squeeze a third ring directly over the "crack" between the other
two. Brush the whole thing with beaten egg, and sprinkle a handful of thinly
sliced almonds all over the top of the ring. Let the cream puffs, eclairs,
or cream puff ring sit and "dry" for no less than 15 and no more than 25
minutes before baking. The oven should be preheated to 375F for cream puffs
and/or eclairs, and to 400F for a cream puff ring. Bake the former at 375F
for about 30 minutes, or until they have puffed up nicely and turned golden
brown. Bake the latter at 400F for about 45 minutes, or until it is well
puffed and golden brown. Then, turn the oven off, open the door, and leave
it halfway open for an hour. If it won't stay ajar by itself, prop it open
by wedging something in there. This is to allow steam to escape and to let
the pastries cool slowly and "dry" as they cool so that they won't collapse
or become soft and soggy. After an hour has passed, remove the pastries from
the oven. They are now ready to be filled.

To fill individual pastries:
Cut cream puffs and eclairs in half (from side to side, not from top to
bottom). Fill with whatever filling you desire. Replace lids. Glaze with
icing or pour sauce on top. Serve. It is wise not to fill pastries to far in
advance of the serving time. The closer the preparation time is to the
serving time, the smaller the likelihood that the pastries will begin to
soften or get soggy.

To fill a cream ring:
Use a slicing knife with a long serrated blade to cut the top off a cream
puff ring. Fill the bottom with praline cream (or coffee cream, or chocolate
cream) filling. Fill a pastry bag with sweetened whipped cream. use a nozzle
with a zigzag edge (like pinking shears) to squeeze out a layer of fancy
puff-balls of whipped cream all over the layer of praline cream filling.
Finally, replace the lid and dust the top with 10X powdered confectioners'
sugar. Keep the cream puff ring in a cool dry place until serving time.

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