Saturday, August 30, 2008

Daring Bakers Challenge #3

This month the challenge was host by Tony & Meeta of http://whatsforlunchhoney.blogspot.com/ and this month's challenge was Chocolate Éclairs by Pierre Hermé. The recipe can be found on Meeta's blog.
After the first 2 challenges, it is a relief to get something that I am familiar with. I have baked choux pasty many times so it was nothing new to me. Except the convoluted way of making way of making the chocolate glaze. It was a 2 part process and I've always made it all in one. Anyway it tasted the same as the one part process that I always make. The other thing this recipe is different to the one that I use is that the oven door is set ajar after 10 minutes which I did not follow. Instead, when the eclairs are nearly done (say another 5-10 minutes to go), I take them out and make a small slit on the side and put them back in the oven for the last 5-10 minutes. And mine always comes out nicely puffed up and crisp and no problem of deflating.
I waited till the last minute to make these because I made a big batch of round choux pasty just 1 week before the challenge was announced.
This is my result of the challenge :-

5 comments:

Argus Lou said...

Nice job. The puff really appears crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The pastry cream looks like it's coffee-flavoured. Is it?

fatboybakes said...

yeah, i was gonna ask the same question. what was the filling? you know, there's this cream puff shop here called beard papa. i love the choux puffs, coz they're crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. how does one obtain that texture? is it more flour? or longer baking time? hotter oven?

My Food Safari said...

argus and FBB: Normally I fill mine with egg yolk custard cream. And make something else with the egg white. I really like the custard cream. But this time I went the easy way and filled them with chocolate dairy cream. I think it is how long you bake them. If you don't bake them long enough, they deflate and becomes soft on the outside. And if you like the soft inside, don't make the slit at the end of the baking. That tends to dry the inside a bit more.

~Amber~ said...

Looks delicious!

Lisa said...

So funny that you had the same issue with the chocolate sauce! Your's look lovely, and the choux looks perfectly puffed and crisp. Thanks for visiting my blog!