R E C I P E S


Gougère (Gruyère Puff Pastry)

By Edward Behr

The savory gougère, its crunchy outside contrasting with the tender inside, is made in various parts of France but associated especially with Burgundy. A recipe from the early 1700s sounds like today’s, and the gougère may be much older than that. It can be formed in a large ring, but now the shape is more often petits choux, little balls, to go with apéritifs. In theory, the gougère flatters wine and, as usual with cheese, the flattery occurs much more often with white wines than reds. The dough is pâte à choux, the same as for cream puffs, which is raised miraculously by the tiny bubbles of air in the dough, although the addition of cheese weighs down the gougère a little. The cheese is Gruyère, much of which is insipid; be sure to taste when you buy and choose a well-flavored one.

Someone who read the manuscript for The Art of Eating Cookbook pointed out that it’s far easier to combine the eggs with the rest of the dough by machine than by hand, which is true. But I sold my KitchenAid years ago because it did so few things well in proportion to the space it occupied on my counter. I also bought and tried, and similarly got rid of, several competing mixers, keeping only my tough old Cuisinart, which I use now and then and which would surely work here. But machines get in the way of the sensuality of cooking, and it’s the senses that teach us how to cook. And while beating the eggs into the dough in the pan takes time and effort, so does cleaning a machine. I go for the direct handwork.

 

7/8 cup (200 ml) water

¼ cup (60 gr) unsalted butter

¼ teaspoon salt

1 1/8 cups (150 gr) unbleached allpurpose flour

4 large eggs

3 ounces (85 g) Gruyère, coarsely grated, plus more for the top

either milk or one egg yolk for glaze, optional

  

Bring the water, butter, and salt to a boil in a saucepan. Remove the pan from the heat and add the flour all at once, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon until the dough detaches from the sides of the pan and forms a mass. Return the pan to medium heat and cook the dough, flattening it against the bottom of the pan and turning it over repeatedly for 1 to 2 minutes, until a subtle haze of butter appears on the surface of the dough and a thin film of dough cooks to the bottom of the pan — don’t let it color. Cool the pan for several minutes off the heat. Add the 4 eggs, one at a time, incorporating each fully before adding the next. Stir in the 3 ounces of cheese.

To make gougère in a ring, heat the oven to 375° F (190° C). Butter a baking sheet and, using a pair of tablespoons, arrange mounds of the dough to form a continuous 8-inch (20-cm) ring with a 2- to 3-inch (5- to 7-cm) opening in the center. Smooth the top of the ring with the back of a wet spoon, and brush with milk or with a glaze of the egg yolk beaten with 1 teaspoon of water.

To make the gougère in petits choux, heat the oven to 400° F (200° C). Butter a baking sheet and on it set small mounds far enough apart to allow them to triple in size without touching. Don’t smooth their tops, but do brush them with milk or the egg yolk–water glaze.

Distribute the remaining grated cheese over the surface of the gougère. Bake until deep golden, about 50 minutes for the ring and 25 for the petits choux at their higher temperature (with these, start checking after as little as 15 minutes). If the gougère isn’t fully cooked and crisp, it may collapse. Cool the ring briefly, placing it on a rack so the bottom doesn’t soften from its own moisture, and serve warm. The small balls are best eaten as soon as they’re cool enough to safely put in your mouth. Serves about 6 to 8 before a meal or as the opening to it.


From The Art of Eating Cookbook

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