Pâte à choux, the dough that bakes hollow
Éclairs are made from pâte à choux, a dough cooked on the stove before it is baked. Water or milk, butter and salt are brought to a boil, flour is stirred in until it forms a smooth ball, and eggs are beaten in one at a time. The paste is piped into long fingers and baked. In the oven, the water in the dough turns to steam and puffs the shell, leaving a hollow middle and a crisp, light crust. The same dough becomes cream puffs, profiteroles, gougères and French crullers.
The choux should be golden all over, dry and crisp rather than soft, and even along its length. A pale or collapsed shell will turn soggy as soon as it is filled.
Filling and glaze: what to look for
- Pastry cream (crème pâtissière) is the classic filling: milk, egg yolks, sugar and starch cooked until thick, then flavored with vanilla, chocolate or coffee. It should be smooth and creamy, not rubbery or overly sweet.
- Full filling: a well-made éclair is filled through small holes in the base until it feels heavy for its size. Air pockets are a shortcut.
- Fondant glaze: the shiny top on a classic French éclair is poured fondant, a smooth sugar icing, flavored to match the filling. Chocolate ganache is common too.
In many American bakeries an éclair is filled with whipped cream or a lighter custard and topped with chocolate. That is a fine pastry, but it is not the same as a French éclair au chocolat or au café.
A pastry that does not wait
The moment choux meets cream, the shell begins to soften. The best éclairs are filled close to serving, and a good patisserie fills its trays in the morning and again later in the day if needed. Ideally, buy them the day you plan to eat them, keep them cold on the way home and finish them within 24 hours. They should be refrigerated, since the filling is a dairy-and-egg custard.
Expect about $4 to $8 per éclair at a French bakery, more for elaborate modern versions, and around $2 to $3.50 for the simpler chocolate-topped éclairs sold at donut shops and grocery bakeries. Mini éclairs, often sold by the dozen, are popular for parties and dessert tables.
Éclair or Long John?
Donut shops sell a yeast-raised, chocolate-topped oblong often called a Long John, and filled versions are sometimes labeled éclairs. They are fried, soft and bready, quite different from baked choux. If you want the patisserie version, look for a French or European bakery. The donut-shop version is often filled with Bavarian cream, a custard set with gelatin, while a French éclair relies on cooked pastry cream thickened with starch and yolks.
