Choux pastry always look so easy to make but there are actually plenty of hidden steps and techniques that you must make and avoid! Apparently, not everyone will explain these steps to you in detail. Here is a breakdown of frequently made errors while baking choux pastry.
1. Your puff pastry rose nicely in the oven but suddenly deflated? ðŸ˜
That’s one of the worst feeling ever haha. It’s like false hope. One reason is that you did not stir fry your dough long enough to dry up the excess moisture or you added too much eggs. Too much moisture causes the choux pastry to sink. The other important reason is your oven was not preheated enough. The oven must be very hot the moment you put your choux pastry dough in to bake. The last reason your pastry collapsed is because you baked with uneven heat. You MUST bake the pastry dough at 180-190•C for at least 15 minutes before turning the heat down to somewhere between 160-170•C for the remaining duration. (Turning the heat down too much will cause your pastry to rise and sink immediately.)This ensures that the pastry forms a stable crust that prevents it from collapsing. If you want to achieve the softer old school bakery puff pastry texture, bake it at 170•C throughout the entire duration. It will be something like the choux pastries I used in my matcha cream puffs and yakult cream puffs videos. (Do note that I added a layer of cookie crust on the puff pastries in the photos but the matcha and yakult cream puffs were plain choux pastry without an extra cookie layer.)
2. Your choux pastry rose unevenly? 😫
This is because you did not give it enough space to bake. When the choux pastry touch each other while baking, it causes the sides in contact to sink and not rise properly. Always make sure they are far apart from the sides of the tray and each other.
😎 Extra tips to get the perfect choux pastry:
- Make your cookie dough as thin as possible to avoid adding excess weight on the choux pastry while baking.
- Bake in a fan oven.
- Properly stir fry your dough to remove excess moisture from the water and milk.
- Add the eggs in bit by bit. You may not need the full amount at all.
- Preheat the oven at 190•C for 5-10 mins prior to putting your dough in to bake.
- Do NOT ever open the oven door while baking.
- Immediately open the oven door the moment the pastries are done baking.
Hope this is helpful!
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