Flaky Pie Crust Recipe
The below process is simple, but more importantly, it’s reliable, & it produces a strong but pliable dough that results into an extra-flaky crust. Let’s firstly discuss the science & the role gluten plays.
All about Gluten
Regardless of what you hear about gluten & pastry, I suggest only half is true. We’ve been warned about the “evils” of gluten & how its development has to be avoided at all costs. There does exist a deep-seated fear of overworking the dough, a deep seated fear that I once shared & one I have to admit still exists to a degree. We’re so afraid of gluten, we’ll do just about anything to avoid it, but what we end up with is a pastry dough that is so underdeveloped it tears & rips & & does not hold its shape.
We have to realize that gluten isn’t the enemy; if you have to consider gluten as a necessary “evil” I can accept this, excessive mixing can cause overheating of the ingredient, it will also cause shrinkage, but importantly you have to mix to bind the crust together. To mix will strengthen & affectively wields the dough together allowing you to work & manipulate with confidence.
Let me tell you a story………a few year ago, I accompanied Shane Bass, BNG Trading “National Bakery Executive Manager” to visit a client who was having difficulty with their shortcrust pastry. In short, the dough was underdeveloped & would not hold together. We are talking about a professional caterer who specialized in high end function catering; the quality of their product was exemplary; no store bought mayonnaise; all their emulsion sauces were silky & smooth; vegetable & gelatinous beef & chicken stocks filled the kitchen with an exquisite aroma that only stocks produced with care can; their dessert repertoire was exciting as was their training regime.
Shane examined their shortcrust pastry & identified the problem immediately. Unbeknown to anyone, he had been working a piece of dough in his hand for 10 – 15 minutes, manipulating it from side to side continuously. The issue of gluten development raised it head & Shane clearly explained the necessity to bind the dough to add strength & shape. While still working the dough in his hand, he explained the science behind correctly binding the flour & butter while minimizing it elasticity to avoid shrinkage.
He finally produced a soft & strong dough he had been working for 20 minutes in total; he shaped & baked the dough after resting whilst dining on a Caesar Salad. Minimal shrinkage was evident, the cooked shortcrust dough was certainly not tough.
With gluten on our side, pie dough should feel as comfortable as a worn leather jacket, flexible & soft but strong. Sure, the dark side of gluten is that it can make a pie crust tough, but that’s where butter comes in. It brings balance to the force, so pie dough turns out tender & crisp. A 1:1 ratio of flour to butter by weight is ideal; it’s a tried-&-true pastry formula that improves the flexibility of the dough.
It also keeps the bottom crust from turning soggy, as the butter has a slight waterproofing effect on the dough, preventing it from absorbing a juicy filling. That means that even the bottom crust of a cherry pie will be flaky & crisp, no par-baking required.
Smash It
Happily, the technique for getting the crust extra flaky is actually involves a bit of fun, Cut up some cold butter, toss it with flour, & squish each cube flat. That is it; no “coarse meal” or “pea-sized bits” to try to judge by eye. No guesswork when it comes to adding the water, either—the amount you add will always be exactly 50% of the flour by weight. Once it is incorporated, knead until the dough forms a lumpy ball; the butter itself will work as a binder while simultaneously keeping the gluten from becoming dangerously powerful.
Roll It
Once all the floury bits have been absorbed, place the dough onto a well-floured surface & sprinkle more flour on top. Any excess flour can be brushed off later, so there’s absolutely no reason to scrape by with the bare minimum. Use as much flour as you need to feel 100% confident as you roll.
Aim to roll the dough a little bigger than a sheet of notebook paper, keeping it well floured on either side as you go.
Fold It
Bring each 10-inch side toward the middle, close both sides together like a menu, then fold the whole thing in half (top to bottom). No need to be precise, it is about throwing in a few quick & dirty layers that will be thinned & lengthened as you roll out the top & bottom crusts.
As soon as you have completed the folds, the dough is ready to rock & roll—no waiting or refrigeration needed, it’s best to tackle the procedure immediately. When you refrigerate a block of dough, rolling it out later on will soften the chilled butter & “awaken” the gluten, requiring that it be chilled & relaxed again. If it’s not, the softened butter will melt too fast, making the crust greasy & dense. What is worse, the unrelaxed gluten will turn to the dark side & cause our crust to shrink.
Cut the folded dough in two pieces for the top & bottom crusts; again, don’t worry about the logistics of trying to make things perfectly round, the objective is to roll the pastry dough a little bit larger than the pie tin & you have sufficient overhang to trim to size.
Thanks to an ample supply of butter, you don’t have to worry about cracks as you fold & shape the dough, it will easily conforms to the curves of the pie plate.
Chill It
Roll the remaining dough into a nine- by 15-inch rectangle. It’s the perfect size & shape to yield plenty of strips for a lattice-top pie, but it’s also big enough that you can cover the whole pie in one solid sheet, with enough extra dough for decorative cutouts, too. Whatever your plan, don’t cut those pieces yet, or they’ll shrink as the dough relaxes. Instead, transfer the dough to a parchment-lined baking sheet or cutting board so it can lie flat.
Cover both portions of dough with plastic, & refrigerate at least two hours & up to 24. As I mentioned before, refrigeration isn’t strictly about relaxing the gluten; it’s about chilling the butter to help preserve all those leafy sheets.
Ingredients:
225gms all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 tbsp sugar
½ tsp sea salt
225gms unsalted butter, chilled
115gms cold water
Method:
For the Dough: Whisk flour, sugar, & salt together in a medium bowl. Cut butter into cubes no smaller than ½ inch, & toss with flour mixture to break up the pieces. With your fingertips, smash each cube flat—that’s it! No rubbing or cutting. Stir in water, then knead dough against sides of the bowl until it comes together in a ball. Dough temperature should register between 18 & 21°C; if not, refrigerate briefly before rolling & folding.
Make the Layers: On a generously floured work surface, roll dough into a roughly 10- by 15-inch rectangle. Fold the 10-inch sides to the centre, then close the newly formed packet like a book. Fold in half once more, bringing the short sides together to create a thick block. Divide in half with a sharp knife or bench scraper.
For Single-Crusted Pies: Using as much flour as needed, roll one piece into a 14-inch circle; this size allows ample room to line pie plate, with enough overhang to form a generous border. At smaller sizes, dough will fall short, making it difficult to shape edges, & thicker dough will not crisp as intended. Transfer to 9-inch pie plate; dough should be easy to handle, & will not require any special procedures to move. Dust off excess flour with a pastry brush, using it to nestle dough into corners of pan. With scissors or kitchen shears, trim edge so that it overhangs by 1 ¼ inches. Fold overhang over itself to create thick border that sits on top edge of pie plate, not below. Crimp or shape crust as desired. Repeat with remaining dough. Wrap with plastic & refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight. Use as required.
For a Double-Crusted Pie: Using as much flour as needed, roll one piece into a 14-inch circle; this size allows ample room to line pie plate, with enough overhang to form a generous border. At smaller sizes, dough will fall short, making it difficult to shape edges, & thicker dough will not crisp as intended. Transfer to 9-inch pie plate; dough should be easy to handle, & will not require any special procedures to move. Dust off excess flour with a pastry brush, using it to nestle dough into corners of pan.
With scissors or kitchen shears, trim edge so that it overhangs by 1 ¼ inches. For solid top crust, roll remaining dough as before; for lattice-top pie, roll into a 9- by 15-inch rectangle instead. Transfer to a baking sheet or parchment-lined cutting board. (The parchment will prevent dough from absorbing any savory odours from the board.) Wrap both portions in plastic & refrigerate at least 2 hours & up to overnight. Use as required; after filling pie & sealing crusts, refrigerate 30 minutes before baking.
For a Blind-Baked Pie: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position & preheat to 350°F (180°C). Line pie shell that has been chilled for at least 2 hours (as outlined in Step 3) with large sheet of aluminium foil, pressing so it conforms to curves of plate. (A second sheet of foil may be needed for full coverage.) Fill to brim with sugar, transfer to a half sheet pan, & bake until fully set & golden around the edges, 60 to 75 minutes. Fold long sides of foil toward middle, gather short sides, & use both hands to carefully transfer sugar to heat-safe bowl. Let sugar cool to room temperature. If needed, continue baking crust a few minutes more to brown along the bottom.
Special Equipment
Rolling pin, 9-inch pie pan (preferably tempered-glass pie plates as this will conduct heat quickly & evenly, so the crust bakes up light & crisp, never greasy or soft.
When room temperature exceeds 23°C, kitchen equipment & pantry staples will act as a heat source to the butter, creating a sticky dough. If it is warm in your kitchen, take these proactive steps to manage your dough temperature.
Essential Tools for Puff Pastry
Making puff is a pretty low-tech process — no fancy gadgets or even a stand mixer required. However, there are two tools you really need & that are tricky to replace: a pastry scraper & a French rolling pin.
The pastry scraper is used in all the steps: for scraping the flour back into a pile as you make the dough, for nudging the butter into place as you work it, for lifting & moving the pastry as you roll. A pastry scraper also acts as an extension of your hands & fingers, helping you manipulate the dough without warming it up too much with your hands.
A French rolling pin or a tapered rolling pin is also essential for pounding the butter & making it pliable. Rolling pins with handles & a freely spinning roller are both too heavy & too awkward for this step. I have seen recipes that beat the butter in a stand mixer until pliable, but personally, I still feel that this warms the butter up too much. You want it to be pliable enough to be rolled like a dough, not so soft that it could be spread.
Making the Lean Dough
The process of making the dough for this pastry may feel a little awkward & unfamiliar to you at first: form a trough down the middle of a pile of dough, add a tablespoon of water, then fluff with your fingers. Keep your fingers loose & use a scooping motion. Repeat, adding water just one tablespoon at a time, until the dough forms shaggy clumps & holds together when pressed.
But of all the parts of this process, you should fret the least about making the dough. The fluffing process is to ensure that the water gets evenly mixed into the flour & that not too much gluten is formed — it’s actually pretty fun to do. When else do you get to toss flour in the air?
As long as you add water gradually & the dough holds together when you’re done, your puff pastry will be fine.
Keep the Butter Cold, but Pliable
The butter in puff pastry presents a bit of a challenge: you want it to be cold so it stays solid & doesn’t melt into the dough, but you also need it to be pliable so it can be rolled out without breaking into pieces.
This seemingly magic act is accomplished by pounding the butter with a French rolling pin — you’ll need the kind that looks like a long shaft (not the kind with handles & a free-spinning roller). Cut the cold butter into pieces & begin pounding it with the end of the rolling pin. (This is very good for anger management, by the way.) Scrape the flattened butter up with a pastry scraper, fold it over on itself, & continue pounding & scraping until the butter will bend without breaking, but is still quite cold.
Sprinkle the butter with a few teaspoons of flour during this process — some of the liquid in the butter will bead up on the surface as you pound & the flour helps absorb this. Also, rub flour on your rolling pin as needed to prevent it from sticking to the butter.
What It Means to Turn the Dough
Most of the labour of making puff pastry is in that process of rolling out the dough, folding it up, & rolling it out again. One round of rolling out & folding up is called a “turn” & you do six of them in total to make puff pastry. To make sure the butter stays cool, refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes every two turns — or between every turn if your kitchen is very warm.
If some butter starts to pop through the lean dough as you roll, just sprinkle the spot with a little flour, pat it with your fingers, & carry on. If this is happening a lot, that’s a sign that the butter is warming up too much & you should refrigerate more frequently.
Gather your ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1 tablespoon; 1 teaspoon salt; 2/3 cup ice water; 8 ounces unsalted butter, cold (Image credit: Melissa Ryan)
Method:
Make the lean dough: Mix the flour with the salt, then turn out onto your work surface in a pile. Run your fingers down the centre to create a trough. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of water into the trough. Quickly fluff the dough with your fingers, keeping your fingers loose & using a scooping motion. Gather the flour back in to a mound, create a trough, & add another tablespoon of water. Continue sprinkling & fluffing until the flour clumps together in large pieces & holds together when pressed.
Chill the dough: Press the dough into a square & wrap in plastic. It is fine if it looks a little shaggy & unkempt at this stage. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Prepare the butter block: Cut the butter into a few large pieces & sprinkle with a teaspoon of flour. Begin pounding the butter with a French rolling pin to soften it, sprinkling flour on your rolling pin as needed. Pound the butter flat, then use a pastry scraper to gather it up again. Sprinkle with another teaspoon of flour, pound flat, & repeat. Add one more teaspoon of flour, then continue pounding & gathering, pounding, & gathering, until the butter is very pliable & does not break when you fold it over on itself.
Chill the butter block: Once the butter is pliable, shape it into a 4-inch x 4-inch square, wrap in plastic, & chill 10 minutes (no longer).
Roll out the lean dough: Remove the dough from the fridge & roll out to a roughly 7-inch square.
Wrap the butter in the dough: Place the square of butter on top of the dough at a 90-degree angle to the dough. Fold the corners of the dough over the butter so they meet in the middle. Pinch to seal.
First turn: Flour the work surface lightly & flip the butter package over so the seams are down. Roll it out to a rectangle roughly 12 inches long by 6 inches wide. Fold the top third over the bottom third, & the bottom over the top third, like a letter
Second turn: Rotate the folded dough so it looks like a book about to be opened. Roll it out again into a rectangle 12 inches by 6 inches. Fold it again.
Chill for 30 minutes. Mark 2 divots in the edge of the dough to remind yourself that you’ve done two turns. Wrap the puff dough in plastic & chill for 30 minutes.
Do two more turns: Repeat rolling out & folding the dough two more times. The dough should feel smooth & more pliable at this point. If you notice any butter popping up through the dough, pat it with a little flour.
Chill for 30 minutes: Mark 4 divots in the edge of the dough to remind yourself that you’ve done 4 turns. Wrap in plastic & chill for 30 minutes.
Perform two final turns: Repeat rolling & folding the dough two more times for a total of six turns. By this point, the dough should feel completely smooth & be easy to roll out.
Chill for 1 hour or overnight: Wrap in plastic & chill for a final 60 minutes, or overnight.
Roll & cut the dough: When ready to bake, begin the oven preheating to 425°F. Roll out the puff pastry dough to between 1/4 & 1/8 inches thick. Use the dough as is to make a large tart, or cut the dough into whatever shapes you need. Transfer them to tart pans or baking sheets. If the dough feels very soft & warm at this point, chill for another 30 minutes before baking.
Bake for 10 minutes at 220°C.
Lower the oven temperature to 190°C & continue baking until dry, crisp, & deep golden-brown.
Cool completely: Baked puff pastry is at its crispiest best the same day it’s made, but will keep quite well in airtight containers for a few days.
If it is very warm in your house & the dough seems to be warming very quickly or if the butter seems to be melting, refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes between every turn instead of every two turns.
If you plan to freeze the dough, it is best to do so after just 4 turns; thaw overnight in the fridge & then complete the final 2 turns before rolling out the dough & baking. If necessary, you can freeze the dough after all 6 turns, but the pastries might not be quite as puffy.
Puff Pastry # 1
This is by far the easiest puff pastry recipe you will find anywhere. It takes less than an hour to be ready & can be used in all sorts of savoury puff pastry recipes. Once you try it you will never buy pre-made puff pastry again.
Ingredients:
75mls water
250gms all-purpose flour
200gms plain unsalted butter, with at least 82% fat content)
A pinch of salt
Method:
Sprinkle the butter cubes over the flour & then rub butter into the flour until it is well incorporated, but not to the extent that it resembles bread crumbs. It should be roughly incorporated so that the butter is in flakes & little balls.
Add a little water to the mixture a little at a time & blend it in by hand until a ball of dough is formed that does not stick to the bowl (depending on the flour used, a little more water than the quantity set out in the ingredients description may be required).
Form the dough into a rectangular shape, wrap it in cling wrap & rest it in the fridge for 30 minutes or longer.
Dust the work bench lightly with flour.
Roll out the rectangle of flour lengthwise until it measures 45 cm (18 inches) by 15 cm (6 inches). I recommend that you use a tape measure or ruler.
Brush off any excess flour & fold 15 cm (6 inches) of the dough back towards yourself & then fold the remaining 15 cm over the top so that the piece of dough will be 15 cm square.
Again roll the parcel out (if necessary, dusting with flour) until the parcel is 45 cm (17.7 inches) by 15 cm. (in the process it may be necessary to push in the sides of the strip of dough so as to maintain the 15 cm width).
Again, brush off any excess flour, fold 1/3 of the dough back towards yourself & fold the remaining 1/3 over the top to form a 15 cm square.
Again flatten the parcel a little, lightly dust with flour & turn it 90 degrees, ensuring that the direction of the turn is the same as before, & roll out to a 45 cm by 15cm rectangle.
Fold as before into a parcel one last time.
The pastry should then be rested in the fridge for 15 minutes & is then ready to be rolled out into any desired shape.
Puff Pastry # 2
Wonderfully flaky, buttery, tender pastries, turnovers, cheese straws, elephant ears (palmiers), shells for savory fillings, & more can be yours with a minimum of effort.
Ingredients:
240gms All-Purpose Flour
½ tsp table salt*
½ tsp baking powder
227gms unsalted butter, cold, cut in pats*
113gms sour cream
*If you use salted butter, reduce salt to ¼ tsp
Method:
Whisk together the flour, salt, & baking powder.
Add the butter, working it in to make a coarse/crumbly mixture. Leave most of the butter in large, pea-sized pieces.
Stir in the sour cream; the dough will not be cohesive. Turn it out onto a floured work surface, & bring it together with a few quick kneads.
Pat the dough into a rough log, & roll it into an 8″ x 10″ rectangle.
Dust both sides of the dough with flour, & starting with a shorter end, fold it in three like a business letter.
Flip the dough over, give it a 90° turn on your work surface, & roll it into an 8″ x 10″ rectangle. Fold it in three again.
Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes before using. To make pastry, roll into desired size.
Freeze dough for prolonged storage, up to 2 months. To use, thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
Tips from the bakery:
To make puff pastry sausage rolls: Looking for a tasty hors d’oeuvre? You’ve found it. Divide the puff pastry into four equal pieces, & roll each piece on a lightly floured surface into a 4″ x 12″ rectangle.
Divide 1 pound of uncooked sausage meat into four equal pieces. Working with one piece of meat at a time, form a ¾”-diameter rope. Place the rope down the centre length of the rectangle. Wet one of the longer edges of pastry with water, & roll the other edge over the filling to enclose it. The two edges should meet; the water will help seal them. Place the finished long roll on a baking sheet lined with parchment.
Repeat with the remaining ingredients to form three more rolls. Put them on the baking sheet, & place the whole baking sheet in the freezer for 30 to 40 minutes, to firm up. Cut the semi-frozen rolls at 1″ intervals — you should get 12 pieces from each roll. Place the individual rolls, seam-side down, on lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake the rolls in a preheated 400°F oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. Remove them from the oven, & cool slightly before serving. Yield: 48 small sausage rolls.
Puff Pastry # 3 - Croissants
Known in France as croissants de boulanger, this yeasted dough is layered with butter & given a succession of folds that create the distinctive profile of classic croissants. Light & airy & shatteringly crisp, with a deeply caramelized buttery flavour, these croissants are a labour of love that’s absolutely worth the time.
Ingredients:
Dough
2 large eggs & + warm water to make 454gms of liquid
50gms granulated sugar, divided
660g to 720gms all-purpose flour
2¼ tsp instant yeast
28gms butter, melted
56gms non-fat dry milk, optional
16gms table salt
1tsp Vanilla Extract, (optional; for sweet pastry)
Butter block
425gms unsalted butter, cool to the touch
¾ tsp table salt
60gms all-purpose Flour
Method:
To make the dough: Put the eggs & water in a large mixing bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of the sugar, 362gms of the flour, & the yeast. Mix until well blended; set aside to let the sponge work.
To make the butter block: Cut the butter into 1″ chunks & combine with the salt & flour at low speed in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment just until smooth, with no lumps. Be careful not to beat too much; you do not want to incorporate any air.
Spread the butter on a piece of plastic wrap & shape into an 8˝ square. Wrap & refrigerate for 30 minutes.
To finish the dough: Add the melted butter to the sponge. Whisk together the remaining sugar, 2 ½ cups (298g) of the flour, the dry milk, & salt & add to the sponge. Mix until the dough forms. Knead for 5 minutes; touch the dough lightly with your finger. If it’s still sticky, add the remaining flour 2 tablespoons at a time until the dough is the desired consistency. Once the dough is smooth & elastic, pat it into a 9˝ square, then wrap & refrigerate for 30 minutes.
To laminate the dough: Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator & gently roll it to a 12″ square.
Unwrap the butter square & place it in the centre of the dough at a 45° angle, so it looks like a diamond in a square. Pull the corners of the dough into the centre of the butter diamond. Moisten the edges with a little water & pinch the seams together well to enclose the butter. Dust the top with flour & turn the packet over.
Tap the dough all over with a rolling pin, encouraging it into a rectangular shape. Once it’s pliable, roll it to a 20˝ x 10˝ rectangle, picking it up & dusting lightly with flour as needed.
When you’ve reached the proper size, use a dry brush to sweep off any excess flour & fold the dough in thirds, like a business letter. Take care to keep the edges straight & line them up directly over each other. If the dough slides around, use a little water at the corners to tack them in place. This is your first turn.
Rotate the dough out so it looks like a book about to be opened. Roll the dough out once more to 20˝ x 10˝ & fold it as before. This is the second turn. Wrap the dough & refrigerate it for 30 minutes to allow the gluten in the dough to relax.
Give the dough two more turns after its rest, then wrap the dough well & refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight before using. You can also freeze the dough at this point.
To shape the croissants: Cut the packet of dough in half. Wrap & refrigerate or freeze one half.
Roll the other half to a 13″ x 18″ rectangle. Trim the edges about 1/4″ all the way around with a ruler & pizza cutter. This removes the folded edges that would inhibit the dough’s rise.
Cut the dough in thirds lengthwise & in half down the centre. This will give you six 4″ x 9″ pieces. Cut these pieces in half diagonally & arrange them so the points are facing away from you. Stretch them gently to make them a little longer, then cut a 1″ notch in the centre of the base of each triangle.
Take the two inside corners of the notch & roll them up toward you, building a curved shape as you roll the base of the dough toward the tip. Make sure the tip ends up under the bottom of the croissant. Place the shaped pastry on a parchment-lined baking sheet, curving the ends toward each other. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Take the croissants out of the refrigerator, & let them warm & rise for 60 to 90 minutes at room temperature. They should expand noticeably, & when you gently press one with your finger, the indentation should remain.
Towards the end of the rise time, preheat the oven to 425°F. Brush each croissant with an egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven’s temperature to 350°F & bake for 10 to 15 minutes more, until deep golden brown & no raw dough is visible where the layers overlap. Remove from the oven & let cool on the pan on a rack for 20 minutes before serving.
Tips from the bakery:
Bubbles & leaks: It is not unusual to have air trapped inside your laminated dough. If this happens, simply pop the bubble with a toothpick & press the dough down to lie flat. If there is a bare spot where butter is coming through, dust the leak with flour, pressing down lightly so it sticks, & continue on with the fold. Refrigerate the dough as soon as the fold is done, to firm it up.
As you work, keep the dough, work surface, & your rolling pin well dusted with flour. Turn over the dough from time to time. As you roll, you tend to expand the top layers more than the bottom. By flipping the dough over, you’ll even that out. Before folding the dough over on itself, use your pastry brush to sweep off excess flour. This will help the dough stick to itself after folding, so the layers don’t slide around.
When rolling the dough, especially for the first time, be sure the dough & butter are at the same consistency; this will make rolling much smoother & the layers will be more even.
To make Danish from this dough, add ½ teaspoon ground cardamom, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, & 1/8 teaspoon of ground cloves to the dough when mixing. Proceed with the rest of the recipe as shown until the dough is finished.
You can make rectangular, filled croissants, too. See our blog for step by step instructions on how to do this. Fill croissants with ham & cheese, spinach, or use our pain au chocolate sticks for a special treat.
Choux Pastry (Pâte à Choux)
The Science of Choux:
Of all choux’s peculiarities, perhaps the biggest is how it’s actually made. Choux isn’t new to me, but only in recent weeks have I spent so much time reflecting on what a bizarre dough-batter it is. Most doughs & batters call for combining cold liquid, like water or milk, with flour & then cooking it. But choux starts with a cooking step: the liquid is brought to a boil with butter, flour is mixed in, & then the doughy paste (what the French would call a panade) is cooked on the stovetop. After the panade has cooled down slightly, eggs are beaten in, & the resulting choux pastry can be piped or shaped before it’s cooked for the second time. This makes choux a twice-cooked dough-batter.
To understand why choux is twice-cooked, it’s important to know that choux needs lots of moisture: it’s the steam generated by its high water content that causes it to swell & puff so much (there’s no baking soda, baking powder, yeast, beaten egg whites, or any other leavening agent to help give it extra lift). Normally, a batter with such a high water content would be more of a liquid, like the batter for Yorkshire pudding, making it impossible to pipe into the stable shapes we need to make churros & cream puffs & éclairs. By cooking the initial flour-water paste, we rapidly hydrate & gelatinize the starch granules in the flour so that they swell & burst. Just as a cornstarch slurry thickens a gravy once it’s brought to a simmer, the gelatinized starch in the choux paste thickens the batter, helping give it that strange hybrid dough-batter consistency that’s so dang useful yet uncommon in the kitchen.
Cooking the flour panade does more than that, though. It also alters the choux’s gluten structure so that it’s less elastic, meaning it’s less capable of retracting into its original shape the way a stubborn bread dough often does after it’s been kneaded for a while. Its limited elasticity is essential for forming—& then holding—whatever shape you’re trying to produce.
After that initial cooking of the flour panade, the eggs are mixed in to give the final choux paste its necessary texture, consistency, & baking qualities: the gluten-rich, starch-strengthened mass is stretchy enough to swell as steam inflates the expanding pocket of air within it, strong enough to contain that growing bubble without tearing apart, but not so elastic that it might spring back on itself before the exterior has set & collapse like a deflating balloon. The added fat from the butter & egg yolks, along with the proteins from the whites, help crisp the choux for a firm, golden exterior.
The Origins of Choux:
The more I’ve thought about how choux works, the more I’ve marvelled at this weird bit of pastry engineering. How the heck did anybody ever think this up? Many stories point to a chef named something like Pantarelli, who, it’s said, invented the original choux pastry sometime after he travelled with Catherine de Medici when she moved from Tuscany to become the Queen of France in the mid-1500s.
That may be—I certainly don’t want to deny the chef his due, if it is at all deserved—but it seems to me there’s a more obvious origin for choux beyond a single cook’s stroke of culinary genius. Really, it’s likely just a variant of a hot water crust pastry, the kind that is used today to make things like British pork pies.
Hot water crust doughs are old, older than chef Pantarelli, & they’ve long been used as casings for pies, with their particular advantage being that they have enough structure to not require a baking vessel beyond the dough itself (compare that to an American pie crust, which would flop flat on the counter with all its contents spilling out if it didn’t have the pie plate to support it). They get their structure—can you guess?!—by mixing fat & flour with boiling water, which gelatinizes the starch & produces a stronger pastry that can hold its shape & keep its contents locked inside.
When you realize hot water crusts were already being made all the time in Medieval European kitchens, it’s not much of a stretch to see how the extra eggs got incorporated. Instead of a hot-water crust container for pie fillings, choux is an egg-enriched hot-water crust container for…air!
*In fact, there are hot water crust recipes dating at least to the 16th century that add at least a couple eggs, something that is still done by some today. It’s yet another sign that choux was, as a technical concept, well within reach without any single chef inventing it all on his own.
Essential Choux Ingredients:
Let’s take a closer look at each of choux’s primary components, in order of appearance.
The Liquid: You can use water or milk, or a combination of the two. Water allows you to bake either hotter or longer (or both) without as much risk of the choux over-browning, while milk, thanks to its extra proteins & sugars, leads to a more rapidly browned crust. In many instances you can use one or the other in the same choux recipe without issue, though it can be useful to take advantage of a milk-based choux’s enhanced browning when baking smaller pastries like chouquettes & éclairs, allowing you to achieve a good level of colour development without risk of over-baking the choux puff & drying it to a crisp.
The Fat: Butter is the fat of choice for choux, making for a rich & crispy pastry that plays just as well sweet or savory.
The Seasonings: At the very least, choux should be seasoned with salt. If it’s going to be used for a dessert, a small amount of sugar can also be added to the paste to gently push it in a sweet direction.
The Flour: Choux can be made with a range of wheat flour types. Some cooks prefer low-protein cake or pastry flour for the delicate choux puffs they can create, while others swear by high-protein bread flour for the sturdier choux it produces. I focused my recipe development on a standard all-purpose flour like Gold Medal. It works well, sitting nicely between the delicacy of a low-protein flour & the heft of a high-protein one. It’s also the one type of flour home cooks are most likely to have in stock at all times.
The Eggs: Eggs loosen the thick, cooked flour-water-butter paste thanks to the high water content of the whites, & enrich it with more fat from the yolks. & because eggs solidify as they cook, they also help ensure the cooked choux will set properly & hold its final shape.
The Optional Add-Ins: A basic choux dough ends with the eggs, but in some cases, you’ll want to mix in some other ingredients. For cheesy gougères, that would be grated Gruyere, plus possibly a pinch of nutmeg, &/or black pepper. For pommes dauphine (fried potato puffs), you’d fold your choux with mashed potatoes, then form it into balls & deep fry it. I’m sure if creativity struck, one could think up plenty more to mix into choux in new & delicious ways.
The Key Techniques for Choux Success:
Most guides to choux pastry throw a lot of hocus-pocus baking nonsense at the reader, offering vague warnings about the humidity level of the air, uncertainty about evaporation rates during boiling & cooking, & your-guess-is-as-good-as-mine dithering over inconsistent egg sizes & flour amounts. It’s not uncommon to hear bakers say that they might reserve a teaspoon or two’s worth of egg, just to dial in the final choux paste consistency depending on subtle differences from one batch to the next. Read these guides, & the average home cook would be justified in walking away with the assumption that it’d take a lifetime of experience to learn to correctly read these ghostly signs. And it’s all just a bunch of garbage.
I don’t mean to say that the wetness of choux dough doesn’t matter, or that evaporation can’t be an issue. But based on my rounds of testing, I don’t think they matter nearly as much as so many bakers like to pretend, especially if you understand the science behind the process & make any effort to control those variables from the start. You have a decent amount of play on hydration levels while still being able to produce choux that puffs up reliably; a little more or less egg due to small differences in the size of a “large” egg isn’t going to do anything dramatic to your éclairs.
To the degree that these variables do matter, we can control them. That was my goal when setting out to develop this recipe, & it was easy to accomplish. The most important stages in making a choux batter are measuring, forming, & cooking the paste, & then beating in the eggs. Get those parts right, & you’ll be golden, just like your choux.
The Ratios:
Given that so many choux tutorials warn about minor variables like the humidity in the kitchen, you’d think you’d be walking an insanely precarious line as far as ratios go—just a fraction of a gram more or less water could ruin the whole thing!
But of course, it won’t. * I analysed about a dozen classic choux recipes, comparing their ingredient ratios to see just how much variation existed from one to the next. They mostly followed a familiar pattern. For every one cup of flour (at Serious Eats, we define that as four-&-a-half ounces), almost all of them called for anywhere between a three-quarter cup of water to one cup water. And in our tests, while we had slightly more success with the full cup of liquid that our final recipe calls for, we mostly managed to make good choux with the lesser amount too; ambient humidity is clearly a non-issue in light of just how much wiggle room there is on the water quantity in the paste itself.
*It’s worth noting that this aligns with Kenji’s findings when testing Yorkshire pudding batters: the ratios are more flexible than many will lead you to believe.
Egg & butter quantities shifted around from recipe to recipe too, though four large eggs per one cup of flour was by far the most common, as were six tablespoons of butter. I tested a range of four to eight tablespoons of butter in combination with different hydration levels, from a half-cup of water to a full cup. At the extremes of these ratios, some minor problems emerged—splitting & deforming at the lowest end of the butter spectrum, & emerging with a slightly dry & pasty texture at the highest end when combined with the least amount of water—but most of the permutations came out well.
Ultimately, we settled on a very classic ratio of four large eggs, one cup liquid, & six tablespoons butter to one cup of flour. It works well across a range of applications, is most in line with the majority of other choux recipes, & should produce excellent results in just about any recipe for which you might need choux.
This ratio flexibility, of course, doesn’t mean one should be sloppy with measurements when making choux. Most importantly, the flour should be measured by weight, not volume. As Stella has demonstrated before, flour is a compressible powder, meaning that depending on how you load up the cup of flour, you can pack wildly different amounts into it. You want reliable choux? Stop fussing about a teaspoon of egg here or a tablespoon of water there & start weighing your flour. That’ll take almost all of the guesswork out of the equation.
Cooking the Panade: It’s All About Temperature:
Once your ingredients are weighed & measured, it’s time to cook the panade. This begins with bringing the liquid, butter, & salt (plus sugar, if you’re using it) to a boil. By cutting the butter into small, half-inch pieces, you’ll ensure that it fully melts just about when the liquid hits a rolling boil. (If you just drop a huge block of butter into the pot, you may have to let the liquid boil longer as you wait for the butter to melt, which will lead to more evaporation. Given my ratio tests, it’d probably still be fine, but why add that variable if you can control it?)
As soon as the liquid hits its boil & the butter is melted, you take the pot off the heat & fully mix in flour. I call for sifting your flour, though you can technically use unsifted flour if you don’t mind working your spoon to get out any & all lumps. Once it’s combined & smooth, the mixture goes back on the heat.
This is another stage at which traditional recipes are really unhelpful. They tell you to cook the panade until a film forms on the inside of the pot & the mass of dough pulls together into a nice ball. There’s nothing wrong about any of that—those things do happen—but they’re vague enough that a home cook could easily undercook or overcook the panade here.
The solution is simple…..use an instant-read thermometer. I knew that tracking the temperature of the panade would likely be critical to consistent results, but before testing, I researched extensively & concluded that the general consensus amongst bakers was to bring the panade to between 74 to 79°C.
The reason is simple if you understand the science: You need to gelatinize the starch in the flour. Get the panade hot enough & the starch will properly hydrate & swell, readying it to thicken the choux as the eggs get mixed in.
Lots of guides to choux talk about this step as important for drying out the panade so that it can absorb more eggs later. But while some drying does occur, it’s really not what’s most important. The evaporation of liquid that happens in the two or so minutes it takes to cook the panade isn’t going to drive off all that much water. Instead, it’s the gelatinization of the starch that both traps water (important for that blast of steam for a good rise during the second cook) & properly thickens the batter so it can take the eggs without becoming as thin as a traditional batter.
Adding the Eggs:
Once the panade has cooked, it’s time to incorporate the eggs. It’s most easily done in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, & there are really only two important things to know here.
The first is that you want to let your panade cool down a bit before adding the eggs, since there’s a risk of cooking them prematurely if they hit it while still hot. Briefly beating the panade with the paddle attachment will cause its temperature to drop rapidly; as long as you have your thermometer out, you can confirm it’s cool enough with a quick temperature check: 145°F (63°C) puts you safely below the point where the eggs would coagulate.
After that, just make sure to beat the eggs in one at a time, letting each one fully incorporated before adding the next. If you try to put too much egg in at once, you’ll end up with egg soup with bits of thick panade floating in it, & no one wants that.
For those who don’t have a stand mixer, yes, you can add the eggs by hand, right in the pot where you cooked the panade. Same rules apply: cool the panade down first, then beat the eggs in one at a time. It takes a little elbow grease but isn’t too hard.
That’s it, you’ve made basic choux pastry that can now be used all sorts of ways. It will work in any recipe that calls for choux. That said, if you’re perfecting a specific recipe that uses choux, you may want to optimize it for that purpose, for example, opting for milk over water for enhanced browning in a shorter time (something that can be useful for smaller choux puffs that cook more quickly), or even reducing the water content of the panade from one cup to three quarter cups if you want a slightly drier choux puff (this could be helpful if it’s going to hold wet fillings like ice cream without softening too quickly), but those small tweaks aren’t at all required, & are better left to a discussion of those specific recipes.
At this point, you can safely let the choux rest at room temperature for up to a couple hours before using. Some say it performs better after an hour or two of rest; my testing didn’t show an obvious enough difference to say you shouldn’t use freshly made choux, but resting also isn’t a bad idea. Just make sure you keep it sealed in a pastry bag or wrapped tightly with plastic to prevent a skin from forming.
In a pinch, you can refrigerate uncooked choux paste for longer—some sources claim up to three days (& others advise freezing for up to three months)—but in my testing I found basic choux to be so easy to throw together in a matter of minutes that it was hard to imagine why a home cook would need a reserve of choux in the fridge or freezer for such lengths of time. What’s most helpful to know is that if you can’t cook your choux right away, you can safely sit on it for a while, but generally it’s better to make it when you need it.
Choux Baking Tips:
There are so many ways to cook choux batter, from baking to frying to poaching, that there’s no way to cover all the possibilities in this article for basic choux. But since baking is one of the most common methods, it helps to offer just a few general tips on that here.
Know Your Oven:
Of all the warnings & inscrutable advice people offer for choux, this crucial one is usually left out: know your oven, track its temperature, & adjust accordingly. It’s one of the most significant variables, &, as I found in my own testing, can be the secret culprit when choux goes wrong.
An oven can seem so straightforward. Set the temp, give it time to fully heat, then bake in it. But stick an oven thermometer or probe in, & you may be shocked to find that most ovens don’t run true to temp. They can be much cooler or hotter than the dial setting indicates, enough to seriously derail the baking of something like choux.
Worse, even if you get an oven running at the right temp, some fluctuate a little too dramatically over time as the heating element turns on & off, or don’t recover their heat quickly enough after you’ve opened & closed the door to put the choux inside.
This happened to me while testing this recipe. At home, my oven is calibrated well. I always have three dial thermometers in it, & add a digital probe when I want to know its exact status from moment to moment. And in all my testing, my choux puffed up perfectly every time. If I opened the oven door & its temperature dropped, my oven kicked back on & regained its heat in just a few minutes.
When it came time to cook some choux in our test kitchen for the photoshoot, I used the wall ovens, which I know can be temperamental. I spent the first couple of hours tracking their temps & changing the settings until the ovens were where they needed to be. But when I loaded them up with my gougères, they instantly dropped 50 degrees & then failed to recover that heat, even after 10 minutes. My choux puffed & then sank.
Parchment vs. Silicone Baking Mats:
Choux should be piped or dolloped onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. One nice thing with parchment is you can draw lines or circles to help guarantee uniform puff sizes & straight, even éclairs. With practice you won’t need those visual aids, but they can help if you don’t bake choux often.
Piping:
How you pipe or dollop your choux will depend on what specific recipe you’re making, but many classic choux preparations lean on a piping bag & pastry tip combination. It’s simple to fill a piping bag &, with some experimentation, to figure out how much pressure to use as you squeeze the filling through a tip. But if you urgently want to make choux & don’t have the official equipment, worry not: in many cases, you can also get away with filling a zipper lock bag with the paste & then snip off the tip of one corner to pipe albeit less precise dollops of choux. Still other recipes simply call for spooning the choux onto a baking sheet, so assess what you have & then decide which preparation will work best.
Finishes & Washes:
In almost all cases you’ll want to glaze or otherwise finish the choux, which can reduce more extreme cracking & splitting while add even colouring & a nice shine to the baked puffs. Which finish you choose will depend on the recipe & also your own preferences.
An egg wash is one of the most common, but it’s slightly laborious to gently paint each unbaked blob of choux. I’ve found it most helpful when I want some kind of topping, like pearl sugar, to adhere well.
One of the fastest methods is to spray all the choux with a flavourless nonstick cooking spray like PAM. It takes just seconds, but doesn’t offer the adhesive advantage of egg wash. A light dusting of powdered sugar is another good choice for sweet choux, since it’s quick to apply & isn’t visible on the baked choux.
Oven Temperatures & Drying Methods:
As for the best oven temperature, there’s no one answer. The goal is to get a good rise from the batter, & then have the exterior brown & set firmly at around the same time the interior is hollowing out but still has some remnant of custardy moisture. In general, you can go hotter with water-based choux (say, up around 215°C or so) without risk of over-browning, but overall, our testing found 205°C to be a sweet spot that works across a variety of recipes. The one exception were the narrow lines of piped choux for éclairs, which baked better at 175°C, giving them more time to dry & set with good, hollow interiors.
One of the big challenges with just-baked choux is that the humidity trapped inside will soften the crisp exterior as it stands. There are several ways to deal with this. You can cut choux puffs in half, which can be a good, quick option for rapidly freeing that steam if you’re going to fill split cream puffs. If you want to leave your puffs whole, you can poke holes in them (usually on the bottom, but some folks make a tiny hole with a toothpick or cake tester slid into the sides); this is a good option for things like puffs & éclairs where you will pipe filling into them, allowing some steam to vent without fully cutting the choux open, though in my tests poked holes alone won’t stop post-bake softening.
Our best results came from a 30-minute rest in the turned-off oven with its door cracked but still hot from the baking (either with holes poked in the choux or not). This helps keep the exteriors dry as the interior moisture dissipates, resulting in choux that will hold their crunch for at least several hours at room temperature. Though, of course, you’ll probably end up eating them a lot sooner than that.
Ingredients:
235gms water or milk
6 tbsp (84g) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 tsp (8g) sugar (optional; see note)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
128gms all-purpose flour, sifted
4 large eggs (200g)
Method:
In a 3-quart stainless-steel saucier or saucepan, combine water (or milk), butter, sugar (if using), & salt.
Set over high & cook until liquid comes to a rolling boil & butter has fully melted, about 2 minutes (the small butter cubes should be fully melted just about at the same time the liquid hits a strong boil).
Remove from heat & add flour. Using a wooden spoon or stiff silicone spatula, thoroughly mix in flour until no lumps remain (make sure to hunt down & smash out any stubborn ones).
Return saucepan to medium-high heat & cook, stirring very frequently, until dough registers 80°C on an instant-read thermometer; if you don’t have a thermometer, other signs the dough is ready include a thin starchy film forming all over the inside of the saucier & the dough pulling together into a cohesive mass.
To use a stand mixer: Transfer dough to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle & beat at medium speed until dough registers 62.7°C on an instant-read thermometer (you need the dough cool enough that it doesn’t cook the eggs when they hit it).
Add eggs one at a time, making sure each is fully beaten into the dough before adding the next; it can help to start the mixer at medium-low speed for the first egg & then increase the speed to medium once the choux batter begins to develop.
Scrape down sides of mixer bowl, then mix once more at medium speed just to ensure the choux batter is fully mixed, about 5 seconds.
Alternatively, to incorporate eggs by hand: Let dough cool in saucepan, stirring frequently, until it registers 145°F on an instant-read thermometer. Add eggs 1 at a time, stirring well between additions until each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next, until a smooth, shiny paste forms.
Use choux right away, or hold at room temperature for up to 2 hours before using; how you use the choux will depend on the application, though it’s important to prevent a skin from forming, either by transferring the choux right away to a pastry or zipper-lock bag & keeping it sealed, or pressing plastic wrap directly against the choux’s surface.
Notes
Sugar is optional. At the very least, choux should be seasoned with salt. If it’s going to be used for a dessert, a small amount of sugar can also be added to gently push it in a sweet direction.
The choux can be made up to 2 hours before using; keep at room temperature in a sealed pastry bag or with plastic pressed against its surface to prevent a skin from forming.
Pate a Choux Dough & Filled Cream Puffs Tutorial
Fat separates when making paste: When the pot is returned to the stove, the mixture is stirred constantly & continuously flattened against the sides of the pan, drying the paste as much as possible. The whole process will take about 3 – 5 minutes of continuous beating. Immediately remove from heat or the fat will separate out. Note that the bottom of the pan will be lightly filmed with the paste which you shouldn’t scrap while cooking.
Paste separates: It’s very important that each egg be fully incorporated before you add the next so the paste won’t separate. It can be a slow process.
Puff collapses: If they are removed from the oven too soon, the structure of the shell has not solidified, & it will collapse. To check, a wooden skewer inserted into the centre should come out dry. If wet & eggy, return to the oven as necessary. Remove when done & cool on a wire rack.