Recipe: Gougères Using Choux Pastry

A gougère, in French Cuisine, is a baked savoury choux pastry made of choux dough mixed with cheese. There are many variants. The cheese is commonly grated Gruyère, Comté or Emmentaler, but there are many variants using other cheeses or other ingredients. As we are in England, I would suggest you use extra mature Cheddar (which is what I have put in mine)

Gougères are said to come from Burgundy, particularly the town of Tonnorre in the Yonne department.

Gougères can be made as small pastries, 3–4 cm (1.2–1.6 in) in diameter; aperitif gougères; 10–12 cm (3.9–4.7 in); individual gougères; or in a ring. Sometimes they are filled with ingredients such as mushrooms, beef, or ham; in this case the gougère is usually made using a ring or pie tin.

In Burgundy, they are generally served cold when tasting wine in cellars, but are also served warm as an appetiser. This delicate dish is best for special celebrations, such as parties.

Once again, I have used my trusted schoolgirl set of recipes and translated it from French to put on this blog!

This “Pâte à Choux” can be used for sweet or savoury recipes. The quantity should make 12 decent size éclairs or 12 good size profiteroles. If you want to use this recipe for sweet choux, add 1 tablespoon of sugar.

Ingredients
125g flour
180g water
60g to 90g butter (I used what I have left in the butter dish and it was 70g)
3 large eggs
Pinch of salt
Pepper and I added some paprika (to taste – approx. ½ teaspoon)

Method

Put the water, salt, butter (and sugar if sweet pastry) in a pan
Bring the ingredients to the boil, move away from the heat, add the flour all at once and mix well
Work for approx. 2mn on a low heat until the dough forms a skin at the base of the pan
Move from the heat and leave to cool a little
Add one egg at a time (I usually brake it in a small dish) mixing vigorously until you have a smooth dough. (If your eggs are small, you may need to add ½ to 1 more but be careful not to get too sloppy dough. It needs to drop from the spoon and look like a ribbon.
Add the cheese and mix well.
Line a couple of baking trays with paper and either pipe or spoon the mixture onto the paper. With this mix, you should get around 30 gougères. To make it easier, I have spooned mine using two teaspoon and working to get a roundish shape.
Bake for 20 to 25mn in a pre-heated over at 190C (less if it is fan)

By : Brigitte Kershaw

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