Pichet Ong's Pate Choux

[chefpeon]

Recently, my friend, Abra, asked me for a good pate choux recipe. I supplied her with my favorite choux recipe, but it didn't turn out for her. She decided to try another one since she was making the puffs for a Vietnamese dinner party, and she tried Pichet Ong's. She loved the results and shared the recipe with me. I tried it too, and I'm converted! My old recipe is now crumpled up in a little ball in the trash. This one definitely goes in the "best of" recipe box!

Check 'em out!

They look great, taste great, and are beautifully hollow. Just love it.

Here's the recipe:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

*1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. water

*1/2 cup whole milk

*4 ounces butter (1 stick) cut into pieces

*2 Tbsp. sweetened condensed milk

*1/2 tsp. salt

Put all above ingredients into saucepan and bring to a full rolling boil.

*1 cup AP flour

Add the flour all at once to the boiling mixture. Stir with wooden spoon or heatproof spatula until a smooth mass forms. Keep cooking and stirring it around over moderate heat to dry out the dough as much as possible, about 4-5 minutes.

Transfer dough to mixing bowl. With the paddle attachment, beat at medium speed to release steam and cool a bit for one minute.

*4 large eggs

*1 large egg yolk

At low speed, beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated between additions.

The dough should look smooth and glossy. When you lift up some of the dough with a spatula

it should take 5-7 seconds to fall back into the bowl. If it doesn't fall back into the bowl at all,

you need more eggs. I found that I needed 2 more when I did this recipe. Eggs, in pate choux

are ALWAYS variable. The above is only a guide. When I need to add additional eggs, I add the yolk first and check the dough. If I still need more, I add the white, and so forth. Sometimes one whole egg can be too much. The amount of eggs to add, is usually the trickiest part to pate choux.

When your dough is ready, fill a pastry bag with a plain tip and pipe out as desired. Beat one egg yolk with 2 Tbsp. water to make an egg wash. Egg wash the choux, and sprinkle with a little coarse salt if desired. Put in pre-heated 400 degree oven for 10 minutes, then turn oven down to 350 to continue baking for about 20 minutes more.

When done, the puffs will be deep golden brown, and nearly weightless. Do not remove from oven too soon, or they will collapse! A lot of people have the tendency to do this.

[Carrot Top]

They do look rather glorious!

Is the texture different at all?

[chefpeon]

No I wouldn't say the texture is different. It's just a nice delicate crispy pate choux with a wonderful flavor!

[Ling]

I have to try this out. I'm making a formal dinner for this guy soon, and I was stuck on dessert. Looks like it'll be profiteroles! These look much, much better than my choux pastry normally does. Thanks!

[Abra]

The only trouble with these is that they taste so good straight out of the oven that it's really hard to avoid eating 5-6 of them before you even notice what you're doing. They're really good! And they keep perfectly in the freezer, too. My (lucky) husband's been getting profiteroles every night for dessert since I "discovered" this recipe in the September Food and Wine.

[tejon]

Those look perfect. Into my recipe box that goes. Now I'm off to yoga to work off all the extra calories I will be consuming in the form of wee round puffs in the next few weeks.

[Artistic Sugarworks]

Chefpeon, How big are the puffs in your photo? I need to make these for my sister's wedding only bite-sized. How long should I bake them for? Also, How many did you get from this recipe? Thanks!

[chefpeon]

Chefpeon, How big are the puffs in your photo? I need to make these for my sister's wedding only bite-sized. How long should I bake them for? Also, How many did you get from this recipe? Thanks!

The puffs in my photo are bite sized....about the same sized puff you would make for a Croquembouche. Baking time is in the above recipe.....

Put in pre-heated 400 degree oven for 10 minutes, then turn oven down to 350 to continue baking for about 20 minutes more.

I only made half this recipe, since it was a test batch, and I came out with about 35 puffs.

[Abra]

And isn't it interesting how they bake up relatively quickly, compared to some other recipes? I kept thinking they'd need more time, but they don't.

I've gotten 31 from a half batch, but I've also piped them a bit bigger and got about 44 from a full batch.

[Artistic Sugarworks]

Thank you both, Ladies! You've just made my life easier since I'll only need to make 2 1/2 batches of this!

[maggie]

YUM!!! I made them for brunch this sunday, frying them for beignet, instead of using the tired old recipe I inherited from the previous pastry chef. I added cinnamon, vanilla and apple chunks and served them with a syrup that was half maple syrup and half a steeped cinnamon-brown sugar simple syrup. They fry up perectly round with a delicious crisp crust. I haven't used the recipe to make cream puffs yet, but I will soon, probably for a pre dessert. Thanks for the recipe, Anne and Pinchet (albeit unknowingly!)! I multiplied it by 12 and got enough, using a one-ounce scoop, to feed Bolivia. Next sunday, I'll only multiply it by 8, for two portions per guest, several for each line cook, sous chef and server.

[cookman]

While we're on the topic of profiteroles, I'm curious what everybody thinks of baking them in a convection vs regular oven. Some suggest that they rise more dramatically in a convection oven, while others say the outside dries out too fast in a convestion oven, limiting their initial rise. I'm curious what members of this forum prefer.

[chefpeon]

  I'm curious what everybody thinks of baking them in a convection vs regular oven. Some suggest that they rise more dramatically in a convection oven, while others say the outside dries out too fast in a convestion oven, limiting their initial rise. I'm curious what members of this forum prefer.

I was just telling Abra that I don't quite know the answer to that.....yet. I can see why a convection would be good, in that it provides a great initial blast of sudden heat to get those babies to rise. But then, if you think about it, the fan just might set the surface of them before they reach their full potential. There's only one thing to do........a test is in order! I know how the recipe worked in my home oven (a non-convection). I will make a batch at work (hopefully tomorrow) and use my convection on them and see if there's a difference. I'm really curious too.

[Abra]

I did test them at home, using both convection and conventional bake in my GE Profile and found a better rise without convection. But it was a subtle difference, in my relatively feeble home oven.

[Patrick S]

Consider me converted! To be honest, I've only tried two other choux recipes before this one, and neither one was all that good. But these do actually taste good all by themselves. I think they will make for awesome gougeres. I baked a full batch, filled half of them with a whipped cream peanut butter "mousse," and put the other half in the freezer.

Thanks so much for bringing this recipe to our attention!

[Joni]

I made a practice batch last night...the taste is super! However, mine seem still "wet" on the inside...should I have slit them when taking them out of the oven? I was afraid to bake them the full 20 minutes since the bottoms seemed like they were getting really brown. (just a regular electric oven).

[Patrick S]

After I baked mine, I turned the oven off and let them sit in the oven with the door cracked for about 15 minutes. You might want to try that.

[Bond Girl]

I made a practice batch last night...the taste is super!  However, mine seem still "wet" on the inside...should I have slit them when taking them out of the oven?  I was afraid to bake them the full 20 minutes since the bottoms seemed like they were getting really brown. (just a regular electric oven).

←

Pichet is doing a pastry focus right now. Why don't you guys ask him for suggestions or a few possible solutions?

[Wendy DeBord]

I also made his recipe. I LOVE it! It's going to be my new default choux paste recipe.

The addition of the sweetened condensed milk is genious! It gives it a great sweetness. I am curious what it is about his recipe that hollows out so beautifully.

I'm going to ask him look here.

[spaghetttti]

Marvelous recipe, Chef Ong. Glorious height, absolutely glorious puffs. I can't wait to taste them.

Edited October 22, 2005 by spaghetttti (log)

[JayBassin]

I'm converted! My old recipe is now crumpled up in a little ball in the trash. This one definitely goes in the "best of" recipe box!

←

Glowing testimonials, but I'm curious: what exactly makes these so different? I notice the sweetened condensed milk, but isn't that pretty much the same as adding sugar to the recipe? The only other thing different appears to be a very slightly higher ratio of liquid than the traditional 1:1. Any ideas about what makes it so much better?

[Shalmanese]

Possibly the extra milk protein and lecithin from the SCM?

[Daniel]

Consider me converted! To be honest, I've only tried two other choux recipes before this one, and neither one was all that good. But these do actually taste good all by themselves. I think they will make for awesome gougeres. I baked a full batch, filled half of them with a whipped cream peanut butter "mousse," and put the other half in the freezer.

Thanks so much for bringing this recipe to our attention!

←

Patrick is a P I M P when it comes to baking so, if he says they are good, I cant wait to try them..Spaghetti those are awesome pictures too.. Awesome..

Edited October 24, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[spaghetttti]

Patrick is a P I M P when it comes to baking so, if he says they are good, I cant wait to try them..

←

Daniel, you're so funny! But I agree, Patrick is magnificent. I think you should try them, but don't make the two mistakes I made, can you tell what I didn't do?

[Daniel]

I cant..I cant..I will honestly say, the two look completely different, yet no better then one another.. Sitting here looking at the photos, would I rather have a photo or the pastry???

Edited October 24, 2005 by Daniel (log)