First Try: Patachou Pastry

Not everything works out at the first try. An important lesson in baking is not to expect perfection and allow for the little lessons that come with each new treat. 

However, I'm always the last person to remember this lesson. This dessert I originally planned to show you was supposed to have a delicious fig filling, but sadly the filling turned too stiff and the process of filling the pastry was trickier than I expected. But, lesson learned and I'm sure I'll be able to produce a fantastic treat on my next try. In the meanwhile, these pastries are just as delicious in their own right and worth sharing with you all. 

Patachou or Pate a choux is a puff pastry that's airy and eggy, sweet and versatile. It's the pastry you'll commonly find surrounding your eclairs or beignets. The dough can be used for savory or sweet variations, but today we'll be looking at the sweet.

I based my recipe on master-chef-mixalot Alton Brown's recipe, but I also took guidance from Martha Stewart as well, for added tutelage.  This recipe will make about a dozen.

Patachou:

1/2 cup water

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 tablespoon sugar

Pinch salt

1/3 cup flour

1/2 cup eggs (2 eggs and 1 egg white)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Boil water, butter, sugar, and salt together in a saucepan. Add flour and remove from heat. Stir until mixture starts to congeal and flour is absorbed. Return to heat and continue to stir until mixture forms into a ball, as shown in the photo above. 

3. Transfer mixture to the cold bowl of the stand mixer and let cool for 5 minutes. 

4. Add one egg at a time while mixing at slow speed. Make sure each egg is completely incorporated before adding the next one. The mixture will be smooth when done.

5. Fill piping bag with mixture and pipe it on to the parchment or silpat lined cookie sheet. I used one of my new fancy piping tips, but some of the texture was lost when it baked. A round tip could be used just as easily. 

6. Bake for 10 minutes. Then turn heat down to 375 degrees and continue to bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven when golden tan in color.

7. Pierce side to let air escape. This would also be the stage when you pipe a creamy filling inside, but I didn't have luck with that this time since my fig filling was too thick. Perhaps next time, I'll have a better filling prepared to share with you all.

8. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve. 

Rating of Difficulty: 4 out of 5. Patachou involves two stages of cooking, one on stove top and one in the oven, which increases the difficulty. It also involves using a mixer and a piping bag, so some experience is helpful. It was a bit trickier than I expected, and I did have difficulty with adding a filling inside the patachou. While the insides baked hollow as they were supposed to, I suspect it takes some practice to fill them without tearing such a large hole in the sides. When I have this figured out, I'll share in another post.

Enjoy! What's your favorite pastry? 

Linking at: Craft-O-Maniac, The Dedicated House, Home Stories A to Z