Eclairs, recipe with photo. Video
Eclairs are some of the most famous pastries in the world. Choux pastry rolls filled with aromatic cream and covered with icing or powdered sugar are served at the most sophisticated receptions, but even a novice pastry chef can make them if they strictly follow the instructions.
Eclairs recipe in 10 minutes on video
Choux pastry is light, tender, airy. Not only eclairs are made from it, but also buns, rings, tiny cakes – profiteroles. You will need: – 150 g of wheat flour; – 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar; – 1 teaspoon of salt; – 100 g unsalted butter; – 4 chicken eggs; – 250 ml of cold water.
This amount of products is enough for 20 eclairs, 16 buns or 30 profiteroles
Pour cold filtered water into a saucepan, cut the butter into cubes and place in a saucepan. While the water is boiling, sift flour, salt and sugar onto a piece of parchment paper. Stir the boiling water until all the butter is melted. Take a sheet of parchment, fold it so that it is convenient for you to pour the flour sifted with spices into boiling water. Remove the pan from heat and immediately stir the contents with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula until a ball of dough forms. It won’t take more than a few minutes.
Start hammering eggs into the dough one at a time. It is best to take a mixer here, since the preparation of choux pastry is highly dependent on the speed with which you will do it. If the dough is very hot, the eggs will curl, but if it is too cold, they will not be able to combine. The finished dough should be smooth, thick and shiny and easily detach from the mixer attachments when tapped on the edge of the pan. If the dough is not the same, add another egg.
Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Take a pastry bag equipped with a 2 cm round nozzle, fill with dough and squeeze out 10 cm long tubes. Moisten your fingers with water and gently smooth the edges of the tubes. Bake in an oven preheated to 210 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 190 degrees and bake for about 20-25 minutes more. Finished eclairs are golden, light, hollow inside. Let the straws cool.
Classic cakes are stuffed with custard or whipped cream. For confectionery cream, take: – 1 glass of milk, 3,5% fat; – ½ vanilla pod; – 3 large egg yolks; – 3 tablespoons of sugar; – 2 tablespoons of cornstarch; – 2 tablespoons unsalted butter.
Pastry cream is also called patisier cream
Pour the milk into a ladle, add the seeds from the vanilla pod and the half of the pod itself. Bring to a boil over medium heat, but do not let the milk simmer. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks, sugar and starch until smooth, thick, fluffy. While whisking, pour the hot milk into the egg mixture in a thin stream. Strain the resulting mixture through a fine sieve back into the saucepan. Stir with a silicone spatula and cook the custard until thick and glossy, add butter, cut into slices. Whisk the cream again and rub through a sieve again. Cover the bowl with cling film and refrigerate. Before filling the eclairs, you can add natural cocoa powder, various alcohol, other flavors and colors to the finished cream.
For heavy cream cream, take: – 100 ml of cream with a fat content of at least 30%; – 1-2 teaspoons of powdered sugar.
Whisk the cream until soft peaks, continuing to beat gradually, add the icing sugar in a thin stream. You can add a few drops of vanilla essence to the whipped cream. If you replace vanilla essence with orange essence, you get a Sicilian version of butter cream.
For a glossy chocolate glaze, you will need: – 100 g of dark chocolate; – ¼ cup unsalted butter; – 1 tablespoon of corn syrup.
Place the coarsely grated dark chocolate, corn syrup, and chopped butter in a small saucepan, place in a deep skillet of boiling water, and cook, stirring occasionally, until all the ingredients are combined into a smooth, shiny mass.
Icing
For white, sugar glaze, take: – 1 ½ cups of powdered sugar; – 3 tablespoons of milk, 3,5% fat; – 1 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter.
Melt the butter. Sift the icing sugar. Mix the powder with warm milk until smooth, add melted butter and, if desired, food coloring.
How to stuff eclairs
You can stuff eclairs by piercing each one and stuffing with cream using a pastry bag and then icing. For eclairs with fresh berries and whipped cream, cut the tubes in half, squeeze out the cream in waves into one half, place the raspberries in a row, slightly pressing them in, and cover with the other half. Sprinkle the finished cakes with powdered sugar.