Monday 17 June 2013

The French Laundry's Gougère - Baking Partner Challenge #11 | Cheese Puffs



It's time for yet another Baking Partner Challenge. This time it was to learn to prepare Pâte à choux - the light French pastry dough, which is used to make sweet and savory delicacies. The challenge was to make Chocolate Eclairs or French Gougère or both using Pâte à choux. I was in deep confusion on which one to choose to bake this time & the problem was I have not had both before, so it was kinda difficult to decide.. If time had permitted, I would have done both. After much thought & research I zeroed in on the savory Gougère a.k.a the Cheese Puff.



So foremost, a small note which I had gathered on the pastry dough & the savory appetizer, before I take off on the recipe. Gougères are made all over France though they are said to have originated from Burgandy. They are small & light on the outside and soft, eggy & cheesy on the middle or inside. These puffs are best served warm & usually as an accompaniment to Wine. Some like to fill them up with some stuffing or sandwich them with ham. I personally enjoyed having them with Nutella (Nugatti) ;) And you must be wondering what's with the name 'The French Laundry's Gougère', it's nothing else but Thomas Keller's Michelin 3-star restaurant 'The French Laundry' in California. There these famous little Gougère appetizers are served with wine.

And talking about pâte à choux, here the dough is cooked first before baked. That's instead of using a raising agent it uses the heat from cooking the dough to puff the pastry. Also cooking the dough dries it out a bit & makes it easier to absorb the eggs. And while baking it uses two different temperature that allows it to first puff and then dry into crispy little delights. So that's a lot of information for now I guess, so quick into the recipe  ..


Recipe Source: Adapted from Bouchon Bakery Book


Makes: 30 bites


I Took: 

Preparation Time: 20 minutesBaking Time: 30 minutes


I Used:

Water - ½ cup + 1 ½ tbsp
Butter - Unsalted - 4.5 tbsp
Kosher Salt - ½ tsp
Freshly ground pepper - ¼ tsp
All purpose flour - ½ cup + 2 ½ tbsp
Eggs - 150 gm / 2 large nos
Gruyere Cheese (Aged & shredded - scant 1 cup


The Way:

  1. Preheat the oven at 220 degrees for 10 minutes
  2. In a saucepan, combine water, butter, salt & pepper and place over medium heat and stir until the butter is melted
  3. Increase heat to medium high once the butter has melted. Then bring to simmer and remove from fire
  4. Using a wooden spatula stir in the flour for about 2 minutes until it has a paste like consistency
  5. Now place this saucepan again over medium-high heat and stir rapidly for 1 minute, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pan and the bottom of the pan is clean. Remove from fire
  6. The dough should be glossy and smooth but not dry
  7. Now beat in the eggs, ONE AT A TIME, beating until each addition is completely absorbed by the dough. Use only large eggs not extra-large or jumbo or small as this may cause the puff to be too liquidy or be under-baked
  8. Mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl pulled with the spatula but immediately grabs back on again. When the dough is lifted, it should form a bird's peak- it should hold it's shape and turn down on itself but not break off
  9. Now add the cheese and mix to incorporate
  10. In a baking tray place the baking sheet and take a tablespoon of the dough & drop on into the baking sheet with a distance of at least 1 ½ inches in between each drop. Use wet fingers to smooth the surface of each drop
  11. Bake for 10 minutes and then turn down the temperature to 190 degrees and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes or until they are completely golden brown. Make sure they bake until they’re completely browned up the sides so that they don’t sink when cooling
Cheers,
Chitz

39 comments:

  1. nice dear,first time hearing this,awesome clicks

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  2. Mouthwatering and awesome chitz, OMG I just want to grab them and eat them all...
    very beautiful and tempting clicks...

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  3. just perfect. too tempting ..! by the wy..drop by picks quicks and u are in for some real laughter.

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  4. Love the clicks, they look lovely

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  5. Oh the last pic is so tempting chitz.. Lovely and baked so perfectly! Thank you for sharing the recipe :-)

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  6. Im not sure how to pronounce Gougère, so will stick to cheese puff :) - Will google the pronunciation later! The tiny puffs look crunchy, fresh and perfectly baked. Love the color and texture. The inner texture, wants me to jump in and eat. Love the idea of using Nutella, perfect combination, I must say. I can have these puffs with a cup of tea, I'm sure it is a good combination. I don't know if I will ever get a chance to make this, but trust me.. I'm gonna look around french bakeries in Bangalore and going to eat my heart out! Thanks for introducing a new recipe. BTB, awesome clicks!
    I must say, learned a lot of new terms today - pâte à choux, Gougère - Wow!!

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  7. Wow great job,you did it perfectly..looks so yummy

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  8. they are so cute bites...simply mouth watering

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  9. Loved the recipe and the presentation....

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  10. So good and its really fabulous. Thumbs up to you.

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  11. Wow...gr8 effort dear!!! Looks so good... :)

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  12. I just love french pastry and these look good.
    I was given an opportunity to pick some blogs,so I nominated your for the Versatile Award. Please do check out the link below to accept it..All the best.

    http://foodfashionparty.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-versatile-blogger-award-thank-you.html

    Ash

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    Replies
    1. Thanks a lot Asha. Will collect it soon :)

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  13. Love to start my day with this beautiful and addictive gougere.

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  14. Couldn't spell the name.. Your dish looks gorgeous.. Addition of nutella is mouth watering..Wish I could grab it..

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  15. Looks good, nicely browned Gougeres.

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  16. sounds interesting...perfectly made...

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  17. Perfect and mouth-watering gougeres.. Awesome clicks Chitz :-)

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  18. aah cheese cheese gimme cheese ! great looking puffs !

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  19. delicious looking puffs Chitz..Super, who says no to cheeeese

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  20. Gougere looks soo tempting dear especially the pic with choclate spread..feel like picking it up..

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  21. they look real yum ! looks so soft and moist inside...I love cheese and this goes to my 'try-next' list :)

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  22. wow!!they look so delicious!!

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  23. Delicioso y muy tentador me encanta la masa choux,saludos y abrazos.

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  24. deliciously done wonderful presentation

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  25. Tempting :)
    glad to follow you.

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  26. Una fantastica e golosa ricetta!!!! Complimenti!!!! Felice giornata

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  27. Nice recipe...i have tasted them and i really like them....nice click by the way,

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  28. i too had some of the eclair shells with Nutella. great minds think alike.. haha

    on a serious note. yours gougeres look great.

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  29. That looks so perfect lady! Loved the clicks as well :)

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  30. Thanks everyone for ur wonderful & lovable comments :)

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  31. Hi Chitz, so nice to your comments in my blog....Love the dish...looks to so perfect and tempting....

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  32. Well baked and nice clicks

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