Choux pastry

Choux pastry is a cooked dough made from liquid, butter, flour, and eggs. Its high moisture content creates steam that expands the dough during baking, leaving a hollow center.

Panade: A cooked mixture of flour and liquid used as the base of choux pastry. Cooking the flour with liquid and butter forms the paste that receives the eggs.
Wheat flour: A powder produced by milling wheat kernels, used as a staple ingredient in baking. Its starch and proteins give cooked choux dough enough structure to trap steam.
Profiterole: A small round choux pastry typically filled with cream or ice cream. Its hollow baked shell is a standard vehicle for sweet fillings.
Puff pastry: A laminated dough that rises into flaky layers as water vapor separates sheets of dough and fat. Unlike choux, it gets its lift from laminated layers rather than a wet cooked paste.
Steam leavening: The expansion of water vapor that raises baked goods without chemical or biological leaveners. Water in the dough becomes steam and inflates the pastry in the oven.
Butter: A dairy fat made by churning cream, used in cooking and baking. Butter contributes richness and coats the flour as the liquid comes to a boil.
Éclair: An elongated choux pastry filled with cream and topped with icing or fondant. The dough can be piped into long forms that bake into fillable shells.
Shortcrust pastry: A crumbly pastry dough made with flour and fat, commonly used for tarts and pies. Shortcrust aims for a tender solid shell, not a hollow steam-expanded one.
Egg proteins: Proteins in egg white and yolk that coagulate when heated and help set food structures. As the shell bakes, coagulating egg proteins help preserve its expanded shape.
Egg: An animal-produced food whose whites and yolks provide water, proteins, fats, and emulsifiers. Eggs add moisture and structure while making the cooked paste workable and glossy.

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PastryBroader topic: Its high moisture content creates the cavities used for cream-filled pastries.