Pâte à choux

• Pate a choux can be baked freshly done right after being piped or made ahead and kept frozen for awhile. Good news, Pate a choux can be thrown in the preheated oven while still frozen. In most well organized patisseries, large Pate a choux batches are made once or twice a week, stored in the freezer and baked daily according to sales and orders.
  

Mise En Place

• Pate a choux can be baked using silicone mat, micro perforated silicone liner or old school parchment paper. On parchment and for large puffs/choux, draw 18 number – 2.2 inch/5.5 cm circles. Flip parchment onto the tray so the ink won't be in direct contact with the food. Stick paper using cooking spray or oil.
  
• For faster incorporation, mix eggs.
  
• Bring milk, water, butter, salt, and honey to a boil.
  
• Remove from heat. Using a wooden spoon or a flat heat resistant spoon, quickly stir in flour and stir until flour is completely incorporated.
  
• Once homogenized, cook dough on medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture pulls away from sides and a film forms on bottom of pan, for about 2 minutes.
  
• Transfer dough to mixing bowl and mix on low speed with the paddle attachment. Let mixer run until most of the steam is gone, about 2 minutes. If eggs are added too early, you may end up with little dots of scrambled eggs.
  
• Add eggs all at once.
  
• Mix until soft peaks form when batter is touched with your finger. If the consistency of the batter is still firm, add the 30g milk or more.
  
• Use the French star pipping tip #869 for choux...
  
• ...and eclairs.
  
• Pate a choux can be egg-washed or dusted with powdered sugar or topped with a thin pastry called craquelin (thin crust). The crust addition allows choux pastry to puff up more evenly.
  

Baking

• When it comes to how to bake pate a choux, things can get tricky. A convection oven is ideal for choux pastry, yielding a more uniform color and puffiness. Though, back in the days there were no fan ovens and all pastries were then baked in deck ovens accordingly. In general and this applies for professional kitchens as well, you learn how to use your oven overtime. A useful tip to prevent pate a choux from collapsing is to make sure that the whole puff, especially bottoms are evenly cooked and colored prior to opening the door. If underdone, the remaining moisture will weaken the inner structure of the puffs creating the perfect environment for the dreaded deflating outcome. At home, and for most baking and cooking situations, the middle rack will cook and bake food more evenly. Bake one tray at the time.
  

Fan Oven

• Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Bake for 35 minutes, turn the oven off and leave the oven door ajar for 10 minutes (it allows remaining steam to escape). Leave pate a choux to cool off on baking tray.

Conventional Oven

• A large pizza stone is recommended to mimic the deck oven. Preheat oven to 375ºF/190ºC. Bake for about 40 minutes. Turn the oven off, and leave the oven door ajar for 10 minutes. 

Storage

• As mentioned earlier, pate a choux can be stored raw, frozen and ready to bake. Once baked, pate a choux should be filled and served the same day. Depending on the filling, finished choux or eclairs shall be frozen but unglazed for a couple of weeks.

Craquelin (Optional)

• In a food processor, blend butter with flour. Add sugar and blend well. Roll out pastry into a 2 millimeter thick sheet between 2 parchment papers and freeze. Cut into 2.5 inch/6.5 cm rounds for large puffs or strips for eclairs. Cover pate a choux with frozen crust and bake as described.