Tim Chin is a professional cook and writer who has contributed to Serious Eats and America’s Test Kitchen. A graduate of The International Culinary Center, Tim has cooked at restaurants in New York and Boston, working at Rouge Tomate, Northern Spy, and BiSq.

Tim Chin

700 g; about 3 cups; makes about 30 choux puffs, 24 choux au craquelin, or 12 to 16 éclairs

Choux pastry, or pâte à choux, is a classic French dough used to make all kinds of delicious sweet and savory treats. You know, like gougères, <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/recipes/choux-au-craquelin">choux au craquelin</a>, <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/recipes/eclairs">éclairs</a>, <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/recipes/crullers">crullers</a>, and even <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/recipes/foolproof-parisian-gnocchi">Parisian gnocchi</a>.Pâte à choux is something of an anomaly. Is it dough? Is it batter? Does it matter? (Not really!)The way it works is through starch gelatinization and mechanical leavening via the conversion of water to steam, and all choux is cooked in two stages. First, flour, water, and fat are cooked to produce a thick paste, which indicates the starch granules in the flour have gelatinized and, consequently, have trapped water. Gelatinized starch is also a good emulsifier, which makes it relatively easy to incorporate whole eggs into the dough, adding even more water and protein and loosening the paste to pâte à choux’s signature batter/dough consistency.Once baked, all the trapped water converts to steam, puffing up vigorously, producing pastries with a cavernous interior that’s perfect for filling.This foolproof recipe gets you picture-perfect choux pastries, no matter what you’re making. The only question is: What choux waiting for?!

Perfect Pâte à Choux