Cheesy Discard Puffs
Cheesy puffs, AKA gougères, are a French savory pastry made using choux batter/dough - similar to how one might make éclairs or profiteroles. There are oodles of gougère recipes out there in the world, but here I’ve adapted one from David Lebovitz and incorporated sourdough discard. Traditionally these are shaped by piping the choux into rounds, but I’ve managed to make it work by shaping them with two spoons and/or a small ice cream scoop. The fun part about the dough is that it’s primarily mixed on the stovetop to cook out some moisture before beating eggs into it, followed by folding in the shredded cheese. These don’t need terribly long in the oven, and they’re best enjoyed right away!
Makes 12 — Ingredients:
70g water
55g unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
50g flour
100g sourdough discard (100% hydration*)
2 eggs, beaten
70g grated pepper jack plus extra (40g) for topping the puffs just before they go into the oven (I prefer Cabot pepper jack)
*100% hydration starter is one that is regularly fed the same amount of water and flour by weight.
Process:
Pre-heat the oven to 425F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine butter, water, salt and cayenne in a medium sauce pan on the stove. Cook on medium-low until the butter has just melted and stir to combine.
Add the flour and sourdough discard and mix/stir with a wooden spatula (or silicon spatula) very quickly until a ball of dough forms (see above right picture). Continue to cook for about 1-2 minutes until it is very smooth and some moisture has cooked out. It should hold its shape and not spread out when you stop mixing it. If it’s too wet, the puffs will go bleh in the oven rather than springing up.
Transfer the dough to a medium sized mixing bowl and let it cool by occasionally stirring it around every couple of minutes. Once it’s not too hot to touch, it’s ready for the eggs. [Note- if you’re doubling this recipe you can use a stand mixer here. But I found that for the amount detailed above it works best to mix by hand.]
Pour the eggs into the bowl and beat them into the batter as best you can. It will look messy and lack cohesion at first, but just keep mixing. Eventually the eggs will blend in and fully incorporate into the dough.
Next, gently fold the 70g of shredded cheese into the dough.
Recipe continues below. See bolded note above about when to use a stand mixer for this recipe.
7. Take a small ice cream scoop or two spoons and begin to shape the puffs into little balls - you’ll end up with about 12. Place them 1 inch or so apart on the parchment lined baking sheet.
8. Just before putting them into the oven, sprinkle the tops with the remaining shredded cheese. Bake for 5 minutes at 425F and then reduce the oven temp to 375F and bake for another 25 minutes. You can rotate the sheet pan halfway through if your oven has hot spots.
9. Allow the puffs to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before tearing into them!
I recommend eating these the day you make them. If you have some leftover, you can keep them in a sealed container at room temperature for a day or two.
If you make these, I’d love to see! Tag @nokneadtoworry on Instagram.
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