Gougères are light and crispy French puffs with a cheesy centre. Made from choux pastry, they’re an elegant canape to serve with champagne or a kir royale, or they can be stuffed, split or served in place of bread rolls for soups.
I can’t do soggy food. And that includes bread that has been sitting in soup.
Don’ get me wrong, dipping is absolutely essential when you’ve got a good soup, when the tomatoes have leeched into the salad dressing, or when you’ve got leftover pasta sauce in your bowl. But bread – even croutons – that have been sitting in the soup before it’s served to you? That disintegrates into the soup as you dip your spoon in?
No, thank you.
This is how I discovered gougères.
Embarrassingly enough, the old waiter in the Parisian restaurant caught me as I tried to surreptitiously remove the oversized crouton out of my French onion soup and pass it off to my friend. A moment later, and without a word, a breadbasket full of gougères appeared at my elbow.
What are Gougères?
Gougères are French cheese puffs made from choux pastry. They’re light and airy, yet crispy. And cheesy, let’s not forget about the cheese!
Just like profiteroles and sweet cream puffs, gougères create a whole in the middle as they bake, so if you were so inclined, you could absolutely stuff them. Think savoury cream cheese fillings, caramelised onions, smoked salmon mousse.
Or split them open and make little choux antipasto sandwiches!
Traditionally, gougères are served as bite-sized starters with a glass of champagne or a kir royale, or slightly larger in place of bread rolls. And you can’t pass a boulangerie or pâtisserie without seeing spilling mounds of gougères on sale, available for snacking on throughout the day.
So what is choux pastry?
Choux pastry, or pâte à choux, is a common pastry used to make eclairs, profiteroles, crullers, Paris Brest, chouquettes and cheese and cream puffs. It literally translates to cabbage paste, most likely due to the cabbage-type appearance it can sometimes take on when it puffs up and expands. The name has nothing to do with the flavour of the pastry – trust me!
Choux is made with the standard butter-flour-water pastry ingredients, but is bound by eggs that are beaten into the flour mixture, making a looser but more enriched batter-type dough than you would typically use for tarts (pâte sucrée – sweet shortcrust) or croissants (pâte feuilletée – puff pastry). Choux pastry needs the extra eggs so it can be more batter like and be piped or spooned into the various shapes of the treats mentioned above.
The unique preparation coupled with the steam in the oven causes the choux pastry to rise and create the beautiful puffs we all love – so the oven has to be preheated and ready to go before you start mixing your dough together!
Pâte à choux can seem intimidating, but just like any other pastry, read through the recipe, have all the ingredients ready to go and the oven preheating, and you’ll have piping hot gougères in under an hour!
Ingredients for Making Gougères
- Water. Just a cup full of water to ensure the choux pastry has a high moisture content and the steam helps the gougères puff up like magic in the oven.
- Butter. Not the star this time, but still essential to making a light and crispy – and flavourful – choux pastry.
- Seasoning. As gougères are savoury, some salt is essential. I also add a grind or two of pepper and a touch of chilli… just because I can, though it’s not traditional by any means. You can use chilli flakes, chilli powder, aleppo chilli flakes, chipotle powder, even smoked or sweet paprika. If spice is not your thing, or you want a more traditional gougère, sub the chilli for a couple of gratings of fresh nutmeg if you like.
- Flour. Perhaps if you were making profiteroles or Paris Brest, you might consider using cake or pastry flour, but for gougères, which don’t rise quite as much as their sweet counterparts because of all the cheese, all-purpose flour works well.
- Eggs. The star of this pastry. The eggs are what take choux from a dough to a thick batter, or paste. (For more info on the science behind the importance of eggs in choux pastry, check out Daniel Gritzer’s article on Serious Eats.)
- Cheese. Now to the important matters. Do not use mozzarella for gougères. You need a cheese with a bit of bite. And sure, you can go Italian (pecorino would be better than parmesan here), but if you can, get yourself a French cheese like Gruyère, Comté or Emmental. If you can’t find a good French cheese, cheddar or tasty cheese work really well, just don’t buy the pre-grated stuff; you’re looking for finely grated cheese that doesn’t have a non-stick flour coating on it!
- Milk. Just a tablespoon to make an egg wash so the gougères come out all toasty and golden brown.
How to Make Gougères
Making gougères can be broken down into four easy steps:
Step 1. Heat the water, butter and salt and pepper over medium heat. Once the butter melts and the mixture just starts to boil, remove the saucepan from the heat.
Step 2. Add the flour to the butter mixture all at once. Use a wooden spoon to mix everything together and make a ball of dough. Put the saucepan back on the heat and over low heat, move the dough around for 3-4 minutes, cooking out the flour and removing any excess moisture. A good indication that the dough is dry is by the film that develops on the bottom of the saucepan.
Step 3. Allow the dough ball to cool for 3-4 minutes and then add the eggs, one at a time, beating with a wooden spoon to incorporate the eggs into the dough and make a batter-dough. When you first add the egg, it will look like the dough has split, but it will come together as you continue to mix vigorously (similar to the way béchamel becomes a sauce). It’s important to remember to add the eggs one at a time, and to not add the next egg until the one before is completely incorporated.
The batter-dough that is choux pastry is ready when you lift the wooden spoon and ribbons of thick batter flow from the spoon, ending in a little ‘v’ shape on the tip of the spoon.
It does require a bit of elbow grease to incorporate the eggs into the dough, but it’s not too difficult or time consuming. If you don’t mind the extra dishes, you could also use a stand mixer for this step.
Step 4. Pipe, spoon or scoop out tablespoon-sized dollops of batter onto parchment paper-lined baking trays, leaving some room around each puff. Brush each gougère with the egg wash and then top them with extra grated cheese and a sprinkle of chilli, if using. Place them in the hot, preheated oven and bake. Easy done! (Temperature, times and details are in the recipe card below.)
Looking for more starters, sides or grazing dishes? Try these:
Gougères (French Cheese Puffs)
Ingredients
- 250 ml water
- 85 g butter, unsalted, cut into small cubes
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper
- 150 g all-purpose flour
- 4 eggs
- ¼ teaspoon chilli powder, plus extra to serve
- 120 g cheese, plus 50g extra for the top
- Extra egg plus a tablespoon or two of milk for an egg wash
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 220°C. Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper and set aside.
- Place the water, butter and salt and pepper in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter has completely melted and the mixture has just come to the boil, remove the saucepan from the heat.250 ml water, 85 g butter, ¼ teaspoon salt, ⅛ teaspoon pepper
- Add all the flour into butter mixture all at once. Using a wooden spoon, mix until incorporated and a dough ball forms.150 g all-purpose flour
- Put the saucepan back onto a low heat and move the dough ball around for 3-4 minutes, cooking out the flour and removing any excess moisture. A good indication that the dough is dry is by the film that develops on the bottom of the saucepan. Take it off the heat and allow to stand for 3-4 minutes.
- Add the eggs, one at a time for a total of four eggs, beating vigorously with the wooden spoon to incorporate the eggs into the dough and make a batter-dough. When you first add the egg, it will look like the dough has split, but it will come together as you continue to mix (similar to the way béchamel becomes a sauce). Do not add the next egg until the one before is completely incorporated. The batter-dough that is choux pastry is ready when you lift the wooden spoon and ribbons of thick batter flow from the spoon, ending in a little ‘v’ shape on the tip of the spoon. You’re looking for something roughly between pie dough and pancake batter in consistency.4 eggs
- Add the chilli powder, if using, and the grated cheese and stir until combined.¼ teaspoon chilli powder, 120 g cheese
- Pipe, spoon or scoop 1 tablespoon dollops onto the prepared baking trays, keeping a little space between each gougère.
- Whisk the extra egg and milk together to make an egg wash. Brush each gougère with the egg wash and then top with the extra grated cheese and a sprinkle of chilli, if using.Extra egg plus a tablespoon or two of milk for an egg wash
- Bake for 7 minutes, then – without opening the oven door – lower the oven temperature to 190°C and continue baking for 20 minutes and each gougère is golden brown all over. For extra crispy gougères, remove them from the oven at this point, quickly stab each one in the side with a sharp knife, and put them back in the oven to cook for a further 5 minutes.
- Remove the gougères from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving warm as an elegant starter or in place of bread rolls for soups.
