I'm trying to make eggless choux pastries for an egg-allergic friend (my eventual targets are croques-en-bouche and saint-honorés).
I have experience with choux pastry, but I've never made an eggless version.
I'm following this recipe at Gretchen's Vegan Bakery.
Here's my sorry result:
Well, that didn't work great. The gooey bottom eventually does dry up after a few hours, so it's not too bad, but that paper-thin top is miserable.
The problem doesn't seem to be specific to the particular recipe I picked: I get the same results, more or less, if I use my regular 2-1-1-2 choux pastry recipe, and use egg replacer.
I tried a many variations on both my usual recipe and the vegan recipe I linked to:
- Strengthening the flour by using bread flour and even adding a bit of vital wheat gluten
- Adding a bit of xanthan gum and guar gum
- Making smaller dough balls
- Wetting the tops with sugary milk before cooking
- Omitting baking powder
- Letting the dough rest before baking it
- Using a different brand of egg-replacer (ENER-G)
- Using a friend's oven (!)
All of my attempts ended up very similarly: a gooey bottom which eventually dries up (it gets fairly compact and doughy, but the taste is OK), and a paper-thin dome.
What causes this paper-thin dome to form, and how can I fix this recipe? I'd like to achieve something like the following picture (not taken by me), which is close to what I get with my usual (eggy) recipe: