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