This is the dough from which so many good things spring. Think cream puffs and profiteroles, éclairs and Paris-Brest, gâteau St. Honoré, churros and beignets, my beloved gougères and more and more. The cream puff clan is large, delicious and fun. I’ve written about pâte à choux before, so here, I’m just going to give you the information you need to make this magical dough. I’m also going to bet that once you learn to make it, you’ll be making it often. And forever.
The OG (original Greenspan) Gougères
A note on my personal history with pâte à choux: We go back a long way. Over the years, I’ve made lots of cream puffs and even more gougères from pâte à choux and I kept tinkering with the recipe. I changed the number of eggs in some recipes; I added an egg white in some other recipes. I started some batches in a hot oven and then turned the temperature down; I did others in a straight 375-degrees-F oven, and some in a straight 350-degrees-F oven. I dried some in a turned-off oven for a longish time; and for a shortish time; and for no time at all.
