For a beautiful even bake and a crunchy layer on top I add a craquelin on the batter. This dough disc will form around the batter while baking them.
For that mix the flour with the sugar and the butter. Knead this till it’s an even firm dough.
Place the dough on a silicon sheet and place another sheet on top. Then roll it out until the dough is around 3 to 4 millimeters thin. The dough is very soft, especially when it becomes warm. That’s why you need to roll it between two sheets.
Now place it on a cutting board or on tray and let it set in your fridge.
After an hour or two remove the top sheet and cut it with a round cutter. The trimmings you can reuse for your next choux pastries. Keep it in your fridge for later. Now for the choux batter.
Choux batter
Mix the water with the milk, the sugar, the salt and the butter. Heat this up till the butter is melted. I do this on a medium high heat.
Once it’s melted add the flour and directly start mixing to prevent lumps from forming. Then while stirring cook the batter for three to four minutes on a medium heat. We do this to give the dough more strength and remove the floury taste. Once it’s starts to shine you know it’s done.
Then take the pan off the heat and let it cool down for 5 minutes.
After that mix in the egg. Do this egg by egg and mix it every time to insure it’s well incorporated.
Then transfer it into a piping bag that’s fitted with a round nozzle and pipe small dots on a silicon sheet. At the end of each dot I give the bag a little swirl to prevent a tip from forming. When baking with a craquelin disc this doesn’t really matter, but it you bake it without this will give a beautiful round choux without a burned tip on top.
Now place a disc on every choux. Don’t take them out of the fridge all at once, because they turn soft quite fast.
Then bake them at 190 °C for 30 minutes. Absolutly don’t open the oven in between, then they will collapse!
Now after the 30 minutes I always leave them in the oven with the door slightly open for another 10 minutes. This to insure all the moisture has evaporated. Then keep them dry and covered for later.