To make eclairs at home, you need the simplest and most inexpensive ingredients. But the choux pastry often fails, settling down during baking, and the cakes are flat. To prevent this from happening, you need to achieve the correct consistency of the dough. It must be dense and strong so that the steam generated during baking forms a cavity inside, which is necessary for filling with cream.
It is necessary
- For the test:
- - flour - 200 g;
- - butter - 100 g;
- - eggs - 5 pcs. large or 6 small
- - water - 180 g;
- -salt - 1 pinch.
- For the cream:
- - egg yolks - 4 pcs.;
- - milk - 400 ml;
- - sugar - 80 g;
- - flour - 40 g;
- - vanilla sugar - 1 sachet.
Instructions
Step 1
Place the butter in a non-stick dish, add water and salt. We put on medium heat and bring to a boil. Add the sifted flour. Mix thoroughly without removing from the stove. After the ingredients have completely mixed, the mixture has become thick and homogeneous, remove it from the stove and let it cool to about 50 degrees. Add eggs to the cooled mixture, having previously shaken them with a fork. Using a mixer, knead the sticky elastic dough.
Step 2
Place the dough in a pastry bag. Instead of a bag, you can use a thick plastic bag with a small corner slot. Place sticks about 15 cm long on a baking sheet lined with paper. Then place the baking sheet in an oven preheated to 220 degrees. After 10 minutes, lower the temperature to 180 degrees and bake for another 25 minutes. Compliance with the exact temperature regime is very important - without this, the dough can settle. It is also not recommended to open the oven door.
Step 3
To prepare the custard, add 40 g of sugar and a bag of vanilla sugar to the milk. We put on a small fire, bring to a boil, then remove and let cool slightly. In a separate bowl, mix the yolks with the remaining sugar and flour. Pour the milk into the yolk mixture, mix with a whisk until smooth. After that, put the resulting mixture on the stove again and heat it over medium heat, stirring constantly. When the cream thickens, remove from heat, without boiling.
Step 4
We fill the cakes with cream. To do this, you can cut the cooled sticks lengthwise, and lay out the cream with a spoon. If you want to keep the cakes whole, you can use a piping bag to fill them. Sprinkle the finished cakes with icing sugar or decorate with chocolate icing.
