Perfecting Gougeres

[Chris Amirault]

Over in my recent holiday foodblog, I had the great fortune to obtain, share, and use a terrific gougeres recipe from Pichet Ong. We've had a topic on bacon gougeres and one on paté a choux in general, but never one that focuses on getting gougeres just right.

Here's that recipe by Ong:

Gougeres

250 g milk

4 g salt

2 g ground white pepper

1/16 teaspoon fresh nutmeg

125 g butter

150 g water

90 g gruyere + 50 g more for dusting the top before baking

125 g AP

4 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2. Put the milk, salt, pepper, nutmeg, butter, water, and 90 g gruyere in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, 4 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly by scraping the bottom of the pan and folding the dough over and over with a spatula, until the mixture is smooth and just starts to stick to the bottom of the saucepan, 6 minutes. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.

3. Mix the dough on medium speed for 1 minute to allow steam to escape and the dough to cool slightly. With the machine running, add eggs, one at a time, and continue mixing until everything is well-incorporated, 2 minutes. Turn the mixer speed to high and mix for 10 seconds.

4. Transfer the dough to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch diameter plain piping tip and pipe out 1-inch diameter,1-inch tall rounds set 2 inches apart. Try to form a peak at the top of each. Sprinkle a generous pinch of cheese on top of each piece. Bake for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350ºF and bake until risen and golden brown, 15-18 more minutes. Resist the temptation to peek in on the puffs; do not open the oven door while baking. Remove from the oven and cool completely on the pan.

A few comments from my meager experience to follow.

[Chris Amirault]

I've now made these a few times with different tweaks, and can report back as follows:

One inch means "one inch." It seems somewhat vague, but that's just exactly the size to get a great rise and firm crust hiding a moist interior. The ones the first time around were more in the 1 1/2" range, and they had some ceiling crashes as a result.

There may be some other cheeses worth trying, but the moisture level of the gruyere is just right. I substituted another cheese -- the name escapes me -- that someone said was "better than gruyere," but it didn't melt in the pan the same way and, I think, affected the outcome.

I didn't find the "stick to the bottom of the pan" instruction as useful as setting a timer to 6 minutes.

Finally, a quart Ziplok holds this recipe perfectly, and you can trim a corner to neat effect.

[vice]

I've had great success with this recipe, too. For my first trial, I was using a stove that I wasn't familiar with, so that 6 minutes of dough cooking was more like 3 before it started sticking to the pan. I would be happier to time that step when I can accurately gauge the heat, but his indicator seems a good fallback.

My one gripe, and something that I also mentioned on your blog: what gives with letting them cool before serving? I don't think I'm alone in believing that a cold gougere is a sad gougere. Is it possible the recipe intends pan cooling to dry them out that last little bit to avoid deflation?

[David Ross]

I agree, a cool, or cold, or room temperature, Gougere is not very appetizing for my liking. It's one of those dishes that really should be served straight away out of the oven.

One thing the recipe doesn't mention and something that I do is to brush the Gougere's with egg wash once they've been piped onto the baking sheet. It gives a golden shine to the baked Gougere and may help prevent any "deflating" since the egg wash seems to act like a protective shield.

The moisture content of the cheese is an interesting point. I never considered that but I'm sure it can affect the dough and the rise. My favorite Gougere is made with bleu cheese and I haven't a clue as to the water content.

[KD1191]

I agree with David, Bleu d'Auvergne makes my favorite, but I've never made them that way myself, so I don't know the particulars.

Another great riff is some shredded chicken thigh folded in a traditional Gruyère version.

[David Ross]

The last time I made Gougeres was in June when the last of the Copper River Salmon was running in Alaska. I did a take on the traditional salmon lox on a bagel with cream cheese.

Aquavit Cured Copper River Salmon, Anchovy-Parmesan Gougeres, Dijon Mustard Cream-

[LindaK]

David, that's a lovely plate!

I've never had any problems making gougeres, even larger ones, so long as I follow Julia's advice:

- cook the panade until it starts to dry out a bit, as your recipe suggests

- make them while the dough is still warm

- larger puffs especially benefit from slitting them a bit with a sharp knife and returning them to the oven for a minute or two to let the inside dry a little. I find this esp. important if I am making puffs that I won't be serving right away, either gougeres that I'll be reheating or for profiteroles.

I've never tried making them with milk, just water. Nor have I ever used my Kitchen Aid or other mixer. Just elbow grease.

[vice]

One thing the recipe doesn't mention and something that I do is to brush the Gougere's with egg wash once they've been piped onto the baking sheet. It gives a golden shine to the baked Gougere and may help prevent any "deflating" since the egg wash seems to act like a protective shield.

Interesting, I've never seen that before. Another uncommon approach to achieving a golden crust might be to start the oven at a low temp and finish high (see fxcuisine, for example). Most recipes I've come across start high and then lower the temp to cook through. Probably worth a shot to try it the other way.

[Paul Bacino]

I add a bit of Cayenne pepper to mine!! Maybe a 1/4 t.

Top with sea salt too!!

Paul

Edited January 8, 2011 by Paul Bacino (log)

[jsmeeker]

Gougeres are one of my most favorite things to make. They really aren't hard to make, and they can REALLY impress people. Every decent cook ought to have pate a choux in their bag of tricks.

My favorite tweak to a standard gougere recipe is to use a little pinch of cayenne pepper.

[FrogPrincesse]

I've been making gougères and chouquettes (their sweet counterpart) for a few years now. I use the recipe from Anne Willan in the Country Cooking of France which has been foolproof. However, a few days ago I decided to double the recipe for a holiday party I was invited to. I boiled my water + butter mixture and added the flour. Instead of instantly forming a ball, it made a very thick soup. Then I remembered a similar failure I had last year with chouquette, also a double batch. At the time I had tried adding flour and had proceeded with the rest of the recipe, but had ended up with little lead balloons. This time I tried adding cornstarch but was not able to rescue the batch. I still had some butter and plenty of flour (good thing because the party was only 45 min away...) so I just made a regular-sized batch which worked great.

I am not sure what was going on with the double-batch though; that still puzzles me. I mixed the dough for a longer time with the pot on the burner, but it never formed a ball, even after the addition of corn starch and extended/energetic mixing.

Here is the recipe that I use (standard size):

250 mL water

1/4 teaspoon salt (reduced from 3/4 which I find too salty)

pinch espelette (my addition)

110 g butter

125 g flour

4 eggs

110 g cheese (this time I used a blend of gruyere, toscano and pecorino)

1 egg for glaze (I skipped that time due to lack of time in the photos below)

400F/200C oven, 25 minutes

The failed batch had the consistency of a very thick soup. Here is the successful one.

After adding the flour and mixing (before adding the eggs and cheese)

[pastrygirl]

I am not sure what was going on with the double-batch though; that still puzzles me. I mixed the dough for a longer time with the pot on the burner, but it never formed a ball, even after the addition of corn starch and extended/energetic mixing.

Here is the recipe that I use (standard size):

250 mL water

1/4 teaspoon salt (reduced from 3/4 which I find too salty)

pinch espelette (my addition)

110 g butter

125 g flour

4 eggs

110 g cheese (this time I used a blend of gruyere, toscano and pecorino)

1 egg for glaze (I skipped that time due to lack of time in the photos below)

400F/200C oven, 25 minutes

Large batches should not be a problem, there must have been a measuring error in there somewhere.

My standard batch of gougeres is about quadruple that, with 1# butter, 2 c milk, 1-3/4 c water, 19 oz flour, salt, pepper, 6 oz cheese, 12 whole eggs plus a white or two. I transfer the dough to the kitchenaid bowl and add the eggs with the paddle on speed 3 or so. Makes around 100, depending on size.

[FrogPrincesse]

Thanks for the information, pastrygirl. It's a mystery at this point because if it's a measuring error, it looks like I managed to make the same error twice!

The Anne Willan recipe that I am using has 1 cup liquid for 125 g flour and 110 g (1 stick) of butter.

You are using 3.75 cups liquid for 540 g (19 oz) flour, or 1 cup liquid for 144 g flour, so slightly more flour. But that should not make that much of a difference.

I will double check my measurements next time.

[Emily_R]

Chris -- can I ask roughly how many 1-inch puffs that recipe you posted makes?

[Chris Amirault]

Total guess, but here's the math: eight rows of five per row on two sheet pans: 80ish? Probably could have made a few more too. I'll count the next time I make them.