r/AskCulinary • u/[deleted] • Nov 28 '21
Why did my cream puffs collapse?
After taking them out of the oven, they completely deflated into flat pancakes. Never had this happen before. What went wrong?
Edit: This was my recipe. It's the standard NY Times recipe. Only thing I did different was use 4 eggs instead of 4 eggs + 1 egg white (i.e., I omitted the egg white).
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u/texnessa Pépin's Padawan Nov 28 '21
Pâte à choux is one of the most variable pastry products and is the thing I always make for demonstrations for prospective culinary students to explain to them that a recipe is merely a vague guideline.
To walk thru the process:
The water/milk and butter needs to come to a boil quickly and immediately come off the heat and have the flour added, in order to preserve the ratio of liquid to solid.
The hydrating power of flour is highly variable based on its age and how it has been stored. So how much moisture is cooked out of the panade will dictate how many eggs get added in- which is why most recipes will list a range of number of eggs, rather a specific quantity.
The best method of working the panade is a flat bottomed wooden spatula, when a film covers the entire bottom of the pan, the panade is ready.
Transfer to a stand mixer with a paddle and let it go on low to cool the panade down and start to work the dough. When the bowl is cool to the touch, start to add eggs. One at a time, incorporating each completely before adding the next.
Egg size varies and the older the egg, the less liquid it contains. This step should be judged by visual cues. The dough is done when it slaps the side of the bowl, is glossy and folds over into a hook when pulled.
The process of baking the choux is a race between the inside expansion of moisture versus the outside shell hardening to provide the structure to maintain the expansion. Too low a temperature and it will not maintain that balance. Even after it has expanded, undercooking the choux will cause it to collapse. Colour is a poor way to judge this process, the choux must be crisp and dry to the touch to maintain their structure after cooling.
Too thick craquelin will also impede expansion, weighing the dough down as it struggles to expand and harden.
While NYT recipes are usually quite reliable, this one pretty much sucks. 350°F is low for choux. I have made thousands of these things and I always start them in a 500°F oven. Slap in the tray and turn the oven off for fifteen minutes to allow for high heat to expand them and start the process of hardening the shell, then turn the oven back on to 350°F to finish.
Also, when providing a recipe behind a paywall its best to copy and paste it for those that don't have the same subscription [or aren't sneaky and know that hitting the esc button as it loads halts the wall so you can see it anyway.]