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I just wrapped a production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park With George. The girl who played Dot cannot eat gluten. Because of the play, she had to eat 1-2 “cream puffs” for each show. We live in a very remote area, and cannot find gluten-free cream puffs commercially. This lead me to experiment with making gluten-free choux.
I did a little research via Google, and decided to go the most straightforward route: 1 to 1 gluten-free flour. The “1 to 1” part just means that it measures exactly the same as regular flour. The kind I got was King Arthur, which is a blend of different gluten-free flours: rice flour, whole grain brown rice flour, and whole sorghum flour. Tapioca starch, potato starch, and xanthan gum provide similar structure as gluten, so the flour works the way you expect it to.
I have to confess something: I hate the smell of the choux batter when it’s on the stove. Seriously, I mean hate it. I put up with it because I love things like eclairs and cream puffs. I was hoping that the gluten free mix would smell better. It really doesn’t. Don’t let that put you off making these things, just be aware that it’s not the tastiest smelling thing.
Smell opinion aside, the gluten free mix was behaving exactly like my regular flour. I took this to be a good sign. In next to no time, the flour was fully and smoothly integrated into the water and butter. I have another confession to make: I did not wait for the batter to cool quite enough before I added the eggs. I was in a rush, and I figured I could use it as a learning experience. What happens if you DON’T let it cool correctly? I’d find out soon enough.
After mixing it up, I plopped it all into a piping bag, snipped the end off, and started piping blobs. My friend took one look at the blobs, and dubbed them “choux poo.” It was perfect. Using a bit of water, I de-poo’d the choux blobs. I took this as further evidence that the gluten free choux pastry was behaving properly.
I baked those little choux blobs. They did not puff as much as I would have liked, but they did puff. I’m fairly sure this is because of the eggs going in too soon. We’ll find out when I do another experiment. Back to this guy. After the baking time was over, I put a wooden spoon in the oven door.
After the puffs cooled a bit, I put a hole in the bottom of each one, to ensure that all of the steam escaped. This is an important step, one that prevents soggy insides. While they dried out, I made the filling and the chocolate ganache. I may have made a little too much filling.
Using the small holes I’d put into each puff, I filled them with cream. You have to be really careful with this part, as it is very easy to overfill and split the puffs. It took two split puffs, but I finally got the feel of filling them. I decided to utilize the dipping method for covering the tops of the puffs with ganache. That got mixed results. I was able to spoon more ganache over the tops of the not-so-great ones, and they all worked out in the end.
I could hardly wait to taste these gluten free choux puffs. My husband caught wind of what we were doing, and circled closely when it looked like we were finishing up. Luckily, there were several…less than perfect examples, that were easily munched. So good. The choux did not have any weird taste (which can happen with gluten free baking), the chocolate was silky and yum, and the cream filling was smooth and light. A very successful go at gluten free choux pastry, if I do say so myself. Do you have any experience with gluten free baking? What are your go-tos?
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