Pop!

This would be my third attempt at making cream puffs. At the very last minute today, I decided to alter the recipe from the one Ive been using.. since the last two times, my cream puffs turned out a bit soggy and salty. Not to mention, they also collapsed as soon as I turned off the heat. I wanted to see if I can improve them and essentially find out why they collapsed. So, I did some research overtime and jotted down a few tips here and there. Turns out the choux pastry is one of the hardest recipe to grasp (excuse me for the lack of a better word).

Some have said substituting the all-purpose flour to bread/gluten flour makes the cream puff crunchier. Some said adding less milk and water otherwise. Some mentioned about turning down or up the heat after the first ten minutes into baking. Some said letting them cool down slowly prevents the puffs from collapsing. I also noticed that the recipes varied a lot. Some requires 100g of butter while some only needs 45g..

After digesting in all those information, I wanted to give cream puffs a third try. I want to perfect them! And to my surprise, they were close to perfection this time<3 The one mistakes I made was baking them on foil instead of parchment paper.. The bottoms of some cream puffs got stuck and it was extremely hard to take them out without destroying their puffness. Good thing it was my first batch! Luckily, I baked in two batches today (I decided to use the small oven). The second batches came off with no problem. Here's the recipe and pictures. Enjoy! Feel free to serve with custards or whipped cream or anything your heart desires. I popped 5 of them plain before they even cool. Deliciousssssssssssssssss!

CREAM PUFF
Adapted from my buttery fingers
-makes about 30 puffs
For the choux pastry:
40g all purpose flour, sifted
20g bread flour, sifted (I used the left over bread flour I had)
40g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
100ml water
5g sugar
1g salt (I put around 3g; don't know if that made any diff)
2 eggs (I used 1.5 eggs; too much eggs will make the dough too liquid-y)

1. Place water, butter, sugar and salt into a small saucepan and heat over medium flame until butter is all melted and water is at a rolling boil.
2. Remove from heat, and dump in the flour. Mix thoroughly until dough forms.
3. Back on the heat, stir the dough continuously for a minute or two.
4. Transfer dough into a large bowl. Slowly add in one egg at a time. Mix and incorporate well until a shiny dough forms. (Cut down the number of eggs if the dough is at the right consistency)
5. Pipe the dough onto parchment paper. Each around 4cm in diameter.
6. Bake at 400F for 20 minutes until golden brown. (Open the oven door a little at the last 2 minutes into baking)
7. Leave in oven for additional 5 minutes to cool completely.
**Make sure the dough is just warm when adding in the eggs

For the custard, I recommended the recipe from 3yen.


This was the biggest pipping tip I had. The tips I have are normally used for cake decorations.. Oh wells, they still did the job and came up with these cute spaghetti looking dough.


Mm, they don't look the best but at least they are not collapsing and taste good! Whoohoo!


The bottoms were so nice<3 Thin and crispy!


&last but not least, my little disaster..

Till next time`