A new passion/obsession is taking shape: éclairs!

I've already mentioned my love and obsession for bread baking, right? Yes, sure I have! What I haven't said, yet, is that it is not my only love.

A few months back I went to visit a friend of mine in Paris! It was all about food and rose wine and pastry. I've been to Paris many times, but it was this time that I have re-discovered éclairs! The proper ones, the modern ones, not the cream filled, chocolate topped ones that, frankly, bore me to death. I've discovered Christophe Adam's Eclair de Genie and now I am absolutely hooked!

Needless to say, I am not hooked on simply eating them, I went on a quest to learn how to bake them. And I am really not one to be happy with half measures! Oh, NO!

My éclairs need to be perfectly shaped, with a crunchy crust, puffed up and hollow on the inside, so that I can fill them with lots and lots of tasty stuff. Yes, stuff! I am not yet at the filling stage, will get there and I'll let you know.

For now this is the story of my éclair shells and choux pastry.

I need to tell you from the beginning that it took around 7 tries to get to the results you can see in the images and I haven't baked them again after that (this was a week ago), so not really sure I will manage to get the same results again. Fingers crossed though! I will weep for weeks if not and trust me that is not a good sight.

Let's talk choux pastry now:

Ingredients:

80gr milk

80gr water

2gr salt

4gr sugar

80gr unsalted butter

80gr sifted French type 55 flour

140gr eggs

10gr eggs for the egg wash

Method:

I thought choux pastry is easy, peasy! Well I was wrong! It is not, but it's not impossible either!

Here is how I've done it:

1. Heat the milk, water, salt, sugar and butter in a pan until the butter is melted, then turn the heat up and let the mixture come to the boil.

2. Remove the mixture from the heat and add the flour all in one go! Mix until you get an even mixture.

3. Return the dough to the heat and cook until it is quite dry! This is really important for the end result! I have read lots of recipes, methods, watched lots of videos and everyone says: dry your dough, otherwise your éclairs will not puff up as expected. I try cooking the dough until a film develops on the bottom of my pan.

4. Remove the dough from heat and leave it to cool for about 5 minutes. In the mean time beat and measure your eggs.

5. Beat in the eggs in three turns, making sure each turn you incorporate all the egg. After all the egg mixture has been added, beat for another 3 minutes, until the pastry is shiny and smooth.

Pre-heat your oven to 200C for about 20 minutes so that it is evenly heated.

Line a baking tray/sheet with parchment paper and  pipe your eclairs on it. Just to make it clear I am no piping master... I use a star shaped nozzle around 1.5cm in diametre and a piping bag. The only thing I have noticed and think works is not to force the pastry out of the bag onto the paper, but kind of let it flow it out by gently squeezing the bag, if that makes any sense! 

I pipe eclairs a bit shorter than norm probably around 9 cm in length.
Egg wash your éclairs, trying not to drop too much egg in the tray as this might result in the egg actually cooking and preventing your shells to rise, by sticking them to the tray.

Now for the bake: transfer the éclairs to the oven and turn down the heat to 190C. I can only bake one tray at the time - as I have noticed that my oven simply can't bake both sets the same.

Bake for 6-8 minutes at 190C (6 does it for me, otherwise they crack), then turn the heat down to 160C and bake for another 40 minutes. This will ensure your éclairs will have a great colour and shine and they will be dry and hollow.

You are ready for the filling! Unfortunately I haven't got a recipe for a great filling and glaze just yet, but working on it and promise I will be back to tell you all about it.

The ones in the images were filled with cream and a dash of lemon curd and glazed with dark chocolate sprinkled with lime zest shavings.

Make sure to serve and eat your éclairs the same day you have prepared them, that way you will get the full WOW!

I must admit I scoff them anyway, even the next day after spending the night in the fridge, when the crunch is gone and the glaze has lost its shine. But that's just me!

xoxo bread addicts!