Thanksgiving 2010: gougeres

We spent our Thanksgiving this year with Jake's family, and I volunteered to add a pie and a roll to the mix.

Well, as previously mentioned, the seollangtang took up much more of my morning than expected, so I quickly realized I wasn't going to have time to let a yeast roll rise, so I switched gears for cheese gougeres.

I inherited a nice chunk of fancy Gruyere from a friend and tossed it through the food processor.

I folded this cheese into a big batch (double what I normally make, I think) of pate a choux.

Choux paste is painfully easy to make and so versatile. Melt butter and water together, then dump in flour and beat in a pot over medium heat until steam is mostly gone.

 

Beat the dough on medium to high speed to release heat, then beat eggs one by one. For this double batch I think I added 8 eggs total. Dough will be sticky and shiny. You can also use a hand mixer for this. 

I also added about 1 TBS of bouquet garni herbs to the dough with the cheese, then piped the gougeres onto parchment lined baking sheets with a star tip.

Bake the gougeres at 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes until they are puffed up and slightly golden. Rotate the pans and switch racks, then lower the heat to 350 (325 if the bottoms seem burnt) another 10-20 minutes. To test, break open a gougere. The inside should be mostly dry.

Cool the gougeres and serve warm or reheated in the oven at 200.