Cookery Elisabeth Luard

PASTRY PYRAMID SCHEME

Weighing scales and sugar thermometers are out. Handfuls and pinches are in. You heard it here first (don’t you always?).

No-recipe recipes are on trend in the cookery section of the New York Times. Resident food columnist Sam Sifton discusses ingredients and method but fails to deliver exact quantities or numbers the dish will feed. The idea has proved so popular – readers’ complaints of lack of culinary discipline are disregarded – that the non-recipes are now available between hard covers.

The method works well for the basics. Take choux pastry, a very forgiving recipe. In theory, the idea is daunting. In practice, it’s easy as pie. Once you’ve prepared the basic dough, classic choux-pastry recipes are: profiteroles (cream-stuffed choux buns); éclairs (piped fingers of choux pastry, stuffed as above, finished with chocolate or coffee icing); pets de nonne (‘nun’s farts’: choux-pastry fritters dusted with sugar); the Burgundian gougère (a ring of choux pastry flavoured and studded with cheese); and the basic mix makes delicate little dumplings when poached in broth. But the glory of the choux tribe is the

croquembouche, the traditional French wedding cake since maître pâtissier Marie-antoine Carême first came up with

the recipe for a tall pyramid of choux buns stuck together with caramelised sugar. It’s light, easy-going and perfect for anyone obliged to delay a wedding for reasons we don’t mention. And, when the moment comes to cut the cake, all the bride has to do is crack the pile with a silver hammer, sending choux buns skittering in all directions. So much more fun for the wedding guests than a slab of fruitcake.

Basic choux pastry

To prepare enough profiteroles for a wedding croquembouche (or a decentsized party), you’ll need half a pack (125g) butter, 2 mugfuls (300ml) of water, 10 rounded tablespoonfuls (250g) plain flour and four middle-sized eggs.

Roughly chop the butter and put it in a heavy saucepan with the water. Bring to the boil and remove from the heat as soon as the butter melts.

Sprinkle in the flour one spoonful at a time, beating till perfectly smooth with no visible pockets of flour. Set the pan back on the heat and beat the mixture until it’s solid enough to leave the sides clean – a few minutes.

Allow the dough to cool to finger heat. Beat in the eggs one by one (easiest in a mixer), beating thoroughly between each addition. At first, the dough will seem reluctant to accept the egg. Persist – it becomes easier as each one is added. By the end, the dough should be smooth and shiny but firm enough to hold its shape. Preheat the oven to bread-baking temperature (350°F/180°C/GAS4). Rub a couple of baking trays with a little butter (not necessary if you’re using non-stick trays). Using a teaspoon and a damp finger, drop little blobs of dough on the trays, allowing plenty of room for expansion.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, till well puffed, prettily browned and crisp. As soon as you take them out of the oven, slip a knife into the sides to let out the steam, or the pastry is likely to soften and collapse (no matter – you can still stuff them). If the innards are still a little doughy, scoop out excess dough with a sharp teaspoon.

Transfer to a baking rack to cool. Then stuff with sweetened, whipped cream, crème pâtissière or vanilla ice cream. Trickle with melted, caramelised sugar and pile in a pyramid.

Or serve un-caramelised with hot chocolate sauce – dark chocolate melted with a little water.