PORCH PONDERINGS

Pate Choux

PROMPT January 17th

What do you do to escape or distract yourself from negative thoughts and emotions? How do you take your mind off something you don’t want to think about?



I go to bake something. Today I did French pastry. Pate choux. I first saw it on The Great British Baking Show. I found the recipe in my ‘Joy of Cooking’ cookbook. This is where you boil milk and butter. Then you pour in flour in one fell swoop with a pinch of salt. Then you beat this like mad over the heat. You think it looks like wallpaper paste. What? You don’t know what that looks like? Well, look up the recipe and try this and you’ll understand. Then you take it off the heat. Now you wait a few minutes. Have five eggs waiting. Be sure those eggs are at room temperature. Now you beat in the eggs one by one with a wooden spoon. You beat until you think your arm will fall off. Literally your arm will feel like it is made of rubber. As soon as the paste stands erect when you put it on a spoon it is ready. You will put this mess in a piping bag. The idea is to pipe little puffs or long cylinders on a tray. Bake them at 400 degrees for 10 minutes then at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. The high temperature will make steam that will expand the dough while the lower temperature will then bake the dough.

Curious, I thought, who first thought of this wondrous procedure? Must have been some bored French baker.

After you bake these, you fill them with some kind of custard or whipping creme. Then ice them with chocolate. Wonderful.

I did these today while I was roasting a chicken and frying potatoes and doing laundry. Nothing like making a new recipe while multi-tasking to take your mind off your troubles. I did burn the potatoes, but the pate choux turned out great.