Chou pastry by Christophe Adam

Hello, hello !!

Let’s go back to childhood today, would you ? I am going to share a chou pastry recipe that you can not fail making, the one from Christophe Adam.

Elected in  2014 “pastry chef of the year” by the Pudlo guide, Christophe Adam is very famous for his eclairs. He owns 8 pastry shops called “L’éclair de Génie”, 5 in Paris and 3 in Japan. He has worked in famous places (Le Crillon, Fauchon) and with amazing chefs (Christophe Felder, Pierre Hermé for the least).

Shall I say more to convince that THIS recipe is THE recipe ??

If you follow the recipe step by step very precisely, you’ll have nothing else but award winning choux !!

And that will only be the beginning of your happiness since you’ll be able to bake wonderful pastries afterwards : Éclairs, sweet or salted choux, Paris-Brest, Saint-Honoré, chouquettes … Isn’t it the dream or what ?

And if you want to know more, I suggest you buy the book “Éclair de Génie” that you’ll find here ! And of course a glimpse at his Parisian boutiques will be mouthwatering !

Before starting with the recipe, it is important to add a few comments: piping is a key matter to get a smooth and generous shape. For the choux, I recommend the steel plain nozzle diameter 10 and for the eclairs I recommend the steel plain nozzle with 8 teeth E8 and the polyurethane pastry bag from De Buyer. This specific pastry bag will resist to the temperature of your mixture when piping, it is also very easy to handle. Having a great recipe without great material would be a shame … It is also mandatory to comply precisely with the quantities of each ingredient. An electronic scale is highly recommended. Soon, I’ll write a post about pastry equipment …

Ok, let’s bake ! You are going to thank me for it !! 😉

Print Recipe

Chou pastry by Christophe Adam

( Vote !)

Loading...

Serves: 20 choux Difficulty: Medium Price: $

Cooking Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

• 140 g eggs (3 eggs medium size)
• 80 g milk
• 80 g water
• 80 g butter
• 80 g flour
• 4 g sugar
• 2 g salt

Instructions

1

Melt the butter into a sauce pan with the milk and water then boil.

2

Lower the temperature (I put at 4 on a scale from 1 to 10) and add the flour, sugar and salt. Mix vigorously with a spatula until you get a homogeneous mixture.

3

Keep on mixing while your sauce pan is still heating slowly (we say that we dry the pastry) for 2 minutes and make sure that the pastry won't stick to the bottom of your pan.

4

Take the pan away from the heat and add one egg and whisk until you get an homogeneous mixture.

5

Add the second egg and whisk. Then the third and whisk again. Your mixture must be smooth and homogeneous.

6

Then put the pastry into your pastry bag and pipe on a silicon baking mat or a baking paper.

7

Pre-heat your oven at 160 degrees and put your choux in it for 35 minutes (a little bit longer if you make big ones, a little shorter if you make small ones). Do not open the oven door during that time !

8

After 35 minutes, make sure that your choux have a nice golden colour (if not, leave them for a few more minutes while still watching).

9

When you take them out of the oven, wait 2-3 minutes and place them on a grid until they cool down completely.

Notes

I might insist but it's crucial to keep the right balance of weight between all the ingredients. Weigh your eggs first and adjust the other ingredients quantities if necessary. If you want a very round shape, you can put a disc of crumble on top of your choux before baking.