Roughly 3 weeks ago, I’ve decided to stress bake something other than cheesecake (cream cheese is pretty expansive, roughly $10 cost for each bake). I was playing Bakery Story on my tablet and one of the option is to make cream puff.
It then lead to some thought of my encounter with cream puff in Toronto and SF. In Toronto, we have a place called J-Town (Japan Town), where they make delicious pastry. They sell cream puff and each one is roughly $2.50. Another option to buy good cream puff is at the chain store – Beard Papa’s. They have it in SF as well, actually right next to the hotel I lived in, but I didn’t get a chance to try it there. Each one is $2.75 in Toronto. The down side with buying it there is that there’s always huge line up. I’ve bought cream puff at local grocery store before, but I’ve found most of those frozen kinds are too sweet for my taste. Well, when it comes down to it, you can’t rely on others to satisfy you – you gotta do it yourself.
First thing I did was youtube “how to make cream puff” and decided to follow the first video that came up with the search. Below is the receipt.
- 0.5 cup Milk
- 0.5 cup Water
- 80g Unsalted Butter
- 1 cup All-purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 0.25 tsp Salt
- 4 Eggs
I’ll post the video at the end but here is the general process.
Bring Milk, Water, Butter, Sugar, Salt mixture to boil. Let it bubble and rise and add in the flour. Mix until all the flour has been incorporated in to the dough. Let it cool (comfortable when touching) and mix in eggs one-by-one. It is important to let it cool, else the egg would cook and not mix well.
Use wooden spoon to mix and also use it to scoop dough on the parchment paper and tray. I found this combination can usually make 10 huge cream puffs. Wet fingers with water and smooth all pointy edges on the dough prior to putting the tray in to the oven. 450 degree F for 17 min and then 375 degree F for 13 min; 30 min baking time in total.
This had been modified to my liking. The longer high temperature zone can ensure the puff to rise, so it won’t taste doughy. I guess the other option is to make each cream puff smaller as well. The puff rises due to the heat and evaporation of water in the dough, so don’t open the oven to check progress, just look through the oven window. At 375 degree F, this will cook the inside and make it dry. I did find that smaller puff is less doughy; I guess instead of 10 puffs, I’ll aim to make 13 so they are smaller. At the end of 30 Min, the surface of the cream puffs have a smooth and even brown colouration – Oh they look beautiful.
For the filling, here’s the receipt for filling 10 huge cream puffs. Oh this filling has a fancy name, it’s called Creme Chantilly.
- 450 ml 35% Whipped Cream
- 4 tbsp Powder Sugar
- 2 tbsp Brandy
- 1.5 tbsp Vanilla extract
Toss them all in the chilled mixing bowl and mix on high speed until it reaches stiff peak (oh baking lingo – this means when you lift the mixing thing, nothing falls, I guess this is what it means). I personally like it a bit over mix, almost butter like.
When ready, put them into a zip-lock bag (the one for sandwich and has easy seal at top would do) and cut the tip. Don’t cut too wide tho. Use a knife and insert a hole at the bottom of the cooled cream puff shell; move around the inside so you remove the membrane and these fillings can go through. Well, Start filling away. You can feel it when it gets totally filled with whipped cream – oh my apology, I meant to say Creme Chantilly.
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Here’s the flow chart and time requirement for each step:
Dough: Prior to adding egg –> 10 min. Pre-heat oven. Mix in egg and place mixed dough on tray –> 15-20 min.
Baking: 450 degree F for 17, 375 degree F for 13. Total 30 min.
Chill: Leave the cream puff shell to cool for roughly 4-6 hours. Also put mixing bowl and mixing thingy in the fridge to cool.
Whipped cream: Actual Whipping time –> 5 min. Filling time –> 10-15 min.
Total “actual” working time: 50 Min.
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I’m not sure if these should be put in the fridge at this point but I do it anyways. I personally found those lidded pyrex containers to be most suitable for the job. I tried to put powder sugar on them before going into the fridge, but it always melt in the fridge when I remove them from the container the next day. Haven’t been able to solve this problem yet. Damn, why can’t they stay pretty.
When transport, after arrival, chill a bit before eating. That’s all; Happy baking. Here’s a photo of my cream puffs. Looks great eh (yes I am Canadian and I speak like one).
As promised, here are the youtube videos; I have found them very useful. The videos (well the chef) explained every detail. Look at my puff, they were taken from the first batch of cream puff I made. I know, isn’t it crazy.
Enjoy!!
Let me know how your’s turn out.
