Choux Pastry

[Amwazable]

I've recently been learning to make choux pastry. I was wondering if anyone could tell me the actual scientific reason for cooking the flour at the start. What does it do, and why is it necessary? Why couldn't you just mix the batter using cold ingredients and cook it from there?

Thanks

 

[GLC]

I've heard some explanations about drying the dough in the initial cooking that don't make much sense to me. I think the main reason is that choux pastry depends on eggs for the "puff," and the initial cooking drives the water into the flour, so that there's little free water to compete for space with the egg. Alternately, it may also exhaust the flour's ability to take up liquid internally, so that the egg can stay thoroughly integrated but still very wet, so that when it's baked, the steam can form to help cause the puff.

I was just waiting for your phone call
When they came along to say
That a rose done chased you clear away

You had said I was gamine
But we didn't mean the same thing i think
Broke my choux pastry heart
Guess life's, no picture post card
​

Corinne Bailey Rae: Choux Pastry Heart - YouTube

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

A look at this thread - http://www.discusscooking.com/forum...ded-as-in-a-cake-made-from-scratch-79114.html
might help you understand how choux paste works.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Lognwind of the North
http://www.discusscooking.com/forum...ded-as-in-a-cake-made-from-scratch-79114.html