Issue #154: Gorgeous Gougères
Cheese Puffs and Other Pâte à Choux Possibilities
Choux paste (aka pâte à choux) is one of the fundamental doughs of classic French cuisine, the base for éclairs, profiteroles, French crullers, and even savory French gnocchi. Although my mother didn’t dabble much in French pastry—her baking tended more toward haymishe Jewish goods like sour cream streusel coffee cake and roly-poly fruit and nut cookies—choux paste was part of her repertoire. The reason was our Aunt May, a great cook and baker, who was rightfully famous for her giant cream puffs, which she served as profiteroles, filled generously with vanilla ice cream and served swimming in chocolate sauce.
Because Aunt May could do it, my mother could, too.
My mother made large choux puffs she filled with ice cream, like Aunt May, and smaller ones she filled with whipping cream enriched with stiff vanilla pudding. She made tiny puffs as savory hors d’oeuvres that she stuffed with sautéed mushrooms and onions. Choux puffs were pervasive in the Davis house.
Because my mother could do it, so can I. In my sleep.
Choux paste is like magic. A few ingredients you always have on hand—butter, flour, eggs—are combined in a proportion and manner that hasn’t changed for centuries, Some how the result is a light, crisp, flavorful, puff. The simplicity of choux paste allows anyone to feel like a French pastry chef.
This past weekend we had friends staying with us in New Hampshire. Saturday was a beautiful day and we decided to take full advantage of one of the many bars in our new home by mixing a couple of rounds of cocktails to enjoy in the fresh air. I assumed we’d need something to eat.
Gougères came immediately to mind. To me, these cheesy Burgundian puffs have a retro, Galloping Gourmet vibe, which may be why they have become popular again among the culinary cocktail set. Gougères are nothing more than a basic choux paste mixed with shredded cheese—often Comté, but any flavorful cheese or a combination works well—before being baked. Master these tots and you will impress your friends.
Now that we live in cheese country, we always have some great local cheese in the fridge. (To be honest, we always had some great cheese in the fridge in Manhattan, too, but it was usually local to France, England, or Italy.) I shredded up a pile of Parish Hill’s Idyll, an aged, raw-milk alpine cheese we picked up at the dairy a few weeks back. To Nate’s amazement, I whipped up a batch of choux paste without a recipe (see earlier comment about how I can make it in my sleep), stirred in the shredded cheese, seasoned it with a generous amount of black pepper, and baked off a beautiful set of gougères.
Though easy, there are a few tricks to choux paste that help ensure success. The first is to adequately cook and cool the combination of butter, water, and flour (called the panade in French) before you add the eggs. Too hot, and you’ll end up scrambling them. You have to beat in the eggs one at a time, thoroughly enough to get the right lift. The size of eggs matters. My mother always bought extra-large eggs, so her four eggs were considerably more than my four large eggs, but not as much as five. So, I suggest you start with four, and if the dough doesn’t come back together into a smooth paste, crack another, beat it, and dribble in extra egg until it gets to the right consistency. (You can use the leftover beaten egg to brush the puffs before you bake them.)
Here’s another tip. Traditionally, pastry chefs would transfer the paste to a pastry bag fitted with a plain nib to pipe equal-sized puffs onto a parchment-lined pan. My mother always just used two spoons to make appetizingly misshapen ones. But a 1-ounce, spring-loaded ice-cream scoop works just as well to portion and shape them.
RECIPE: Mitchell’s Gougères
Makes about 40
1/4 pound (4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 cup water
Salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large or extra-large eggs, plus another for extra, should you need it and for an egg wash
5 to 7 ounces shredded cheese, preferrable aged, strong, ripe alpine cheese, such as Comté, Beaufort, Gruyère, Asiago, Parmigiano, or a combination
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line two sheet pans with parchment.
Place the butter, water and a pinch of salt in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Once the butter is fully melted and the mixture begins to froth, remove the pan from the heat and add the flour all at once. With a wooden spoon, stir to make a thick paste. Return the pot to the stove over medium-low heat and cook a few minutes until the starch gelatinizes and the mixture forms a smooth, shiny paste that doesn’t stick to the sides of pan. This is called the panade. Transfer this mixture to a mixing bowl and let cool for about 5 minutes or longer.
Using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, a strong hand-held mixer, or that same wooden spoon (you’ll need a stiff arm, but this is how my mother always did it), begin to beat the panade. Add one of the eggs while you continue beating. The mixture will separate into slimly bits and then come back together as you keep beating. (See the process in slow motion in the video, above.) Once the mixture is back together, add the next egg, and continue beating until it comes back together. Repeat this process until all four eggs are incorporated. If the mixture doesn’t come fully back to a smooth paste after the last egg, break a fifth egg in a separate small bowl and beat it until blended. Dribble bits of egg into the mixture while beating until the paste coheres.
At this point you’ve got choux paste you can use to shape profiteroles, cream puffs, or éclairs.
For gougères, stir in all but a couple of tablespoons or so of the shredded cheese and all the black pepper. Using a 1-ounce scoop, a pastry bag fitted with a plain nib, or two teaspoons, portion about an ounce of the paste every two inches on the prepared trays. You’ll need to bake in batches. Beat the remaining egg with some water and a pinch of salt and, using a pastry brush, dab each puff to lightly coat. You can use the tip of the brush to fix any anomalies in the shape of the dough. Take a pinch of the reserved shredded cheese and press it on top of each egg-washed puff, getting as much to stick as you can.
Set the tray in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. The puffs should double in size duing that time. Lower the oven temp to 375°F. and bake another 10 minutes until browned. I like my gougères crisp and light, so I like to bake them longer than some. Remove from the oven and serve warm, while you prepare the remaining batter (no need to change parchment).
Store leftover gougères (if there are any) in an airtight container at room temperature for a couple of days. Reheat for a few minutes in a 250°F. oven before serving.
Things You Can Stir into Gougères
I like them plain and simple, but you can mix in many different delicious flavorings to the gougères batter for something different, such as:
A pinch of fragrant chili powder, such as Aleppo, Urfa, Kashmiri, Pimentòn, or Cayenne
A generous handful of chopped fresh chives and/or other herbs, such as chervil, parsley, dill, and/or tarragon
A tablespoon or two of pesto, tapenade, or other flavorful paste
Things You Can Stuff into Gougères
Once baked, you can also fill gougères as you would other puffs. Make sure your filling is thick and flavorful, such as:
A rich mornay or other cheese sauce to amplify the cheesy flavor
Sautéed mushrooms and onions or a mushroom cream sauce
Crème fraiche and fresh herbs and/or caviar
Warm chicken liver mousse
Deceptively Light and Leftover
The other night, four of us almost ate all 40 gougères before dinner. They were that good. And despite all that butter and cheese, they feel light and airy.
Luckily, we left a few behind. The next day I repurposed the gougères as an elegant entrée for Mother’s Day lunch. I rewarmed them, spit them in half, filled them with a sauté of spring alliums and fresh fenugreek, topped that with a poached egg, a dab of dandelion honey, and a spoonful of Turkish yogurt sauced seasoned with garlic and dried mint. They were fabulous. Use your imagination.
Wonderful story about your mother! Had a lovely lunch at Cafe Carmellini today! Marcia & Jack