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Gougeres

gougeres
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Gougeres are the stars in my bread basket and disappear faster than Cartman eats a cheesy poof. Wait, these are cheesy poofs! Mix up your basket with cornbread, focaccia and sourdough, but your guests will pick through them to eat these first. A favorite local restaurant rations them like gold, but you can have as many as you want at home.

Making and Eating Gougeres

I love these because they taste wonderful and are so easy to make. I prefer to make them in advance and freeze them until ready for a batch. Pop them into the oven and 25 minutes later you have a foolproof pre-dinner app, or accompaniment for soup and salad.

These are equally delicious with butter or with Italian butter, better known as herbed olive oil. Regardless which one you choose, do your best to eat them warm because, well – just because!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cup water
  • 8 TBL unsalted butter
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 4 large eggs – room temperature
  • 1–1/2 cups finely grated gruyere cheese (or parmesan – optional)

Instructions

butter water salt

  1. Don’t forget to bring your eggs to room temp!
  2. Line 1 large or 2 small baking sheets with parchment paper (to fit in your freezer)
  3. Bring the water, butter and salt to a boil in a heavy bottom pot
  4. Add the flour all at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until all the liquid is absorbed
  5. Lower the heat to medium low, remove the pan from the heat and continue to stir until it looks like mashed potatoes
  6. Return the pan to the heat and stir for 3-5 more minutes until it is nice and doughy
  7. A film may form on the bottom of the pan – don’t worry, that’s okay
  8. The dough is ready when it’s thick and smells nutty
  9. Transfer the dough to a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and beat on low speed for 1 minute to cool the dough
  10. Add 1 egg at a time, incorporating each egg into the dough before adding the next egg
  11. The dough will come together after adding the last egg
  12. Add the grated cheese and blend it in. Don’t over mix the dough
  13. Scoop out gougeres onto the baking sheet using 2 big spoons or an ice cream scoop to form uniform size balls

dough mixing gougere

gougere dough

gougeres 2 gougeres

Freeze and Bake Later – Recommended

  1. Freeze on the baking sheet(s) overnight
  2. Bag them in serving portions of 6-8 per bag. They will keep for two months
  3. When ready to serve, preheat the oven to 375
  4. Bake for 25-30 minutes on a parchment lined baking sheet until the tops are golden brown
  5. Serve warm with Italian Butter! Get the recipe HERE

Bake Immediately

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 and bake for 5 minutes
  2. Reduce the heat to 350 and bake 20-25 minutes more without opening the oven
  3. Warning: Be careful of burning the tops. There is a fine line between done and over-cooked
  4. Wrap in a towel in a bread basket. Serve warm

Find it online: https://www.cooksavorcelebrate.com/gougeres/