Page 638 - YC Cooking School

Crème brûlée custard troubleshooting

Here’s a quick checklist to run through to get perfectly cooked custard every time:

Was the oven temperature too high? Anything above 140°C could cause the mixture to
bubble.
Too long a bake at medium heat is also not recommended. The process of heating the

custard mixture to the coagulation temperature should happen quickly. That’s why it’s
also important to bring the custard to room temperature before baking it.
Grainy or watery custards could either be caused by over-baking or not maturing the
mixture for long enough.

Prepare a crunchy profiterole topping
The crunchy profiterole topping is a great way to add texture to and improve the visual
appeal of profiteroles. It’s a simple, sweet paste rolled and cut to size to fit over the top of
the choux paste before it goes into the oven. The choux and sugar paste bake together
creating a cracked crunchy topping. The trick here is that the sugar paste keeps the choux
even and uniform while baking.

To make the paste, add flour, sugar and unsalted butter to a mixing bowl. A helpful tip to
prevent the butter from sticking to the bowl is to add the dry ingredients first. You’ll know
the sugar paste is ready when it holds together but doesn’t stick to your fingers.

Roll out the sugar paste between two sheets of plastic or baking paper. This will ensure that
you keep your work surface clean and tidy. You’re ideally looking for a paste thickness of
3mm. As this paste is quite soft, it’s much easier to cut and place it on top of the choux
paste while still frozen so put it in the freezer.

What is choux pastry?
Pâte à choux or choux paste/pastry is a classical recipe used to make a host of pastry
delights including chocolate éclairs, profiteroles, beignets and classical pastries like Paris
Brest and Gateau St Honoré. In French, pâte à choux means cabbage because when baked,
the original choux buns looked all cracked and uneven on the surface – just like the head of
a cabbage.

Keep the perfect liquid to flour ratio
When boiling the milk mixture for the choux pastry, it’s important to take it off the heat
immediately after it comes to the boil. Any longer will cause some of the liquid to evaporate
and upset the ratio of flour to liquid.

Add the flour all at once
At this stage, care needs to be taken to quickly mix in the flour in a controlled, vigorous
manner until it is all incorporated. As you work, you’ll notice the flour absorb all the milk

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