1. preheat the oven to 400ºF and adjust rack to middle position, if making cream puffs, profiteroles or gougères.
2. heat milk, butter, sugar and salt in a medium sauce pan set at medium heat, just until it comes to a boil and the butter has melted.
3. take pan off of the heat source and dump in the flour. stir with wooden spoon until flour is mostly incorporated into liquid and then vigorously beat until batter pulls from wall of pan and forms a ball. some cooks would put pan back onto heat source and continue to beat until a thin, dry film forms on the bottom of the pan. i don't see the point and just beat it off of the heat for maybe 3-5 minutes.
4. now that the batter has cooled down a bit, add the eggs 1 at a time, making sure that it is completely mixed into the batter before adding the next one. the batter will look slicky at first and then more dry and sticky as the egg becomes more incorporated into the batter. beat to incorporate as much air into it as possible.
at this point, some people, would transfer the mixture to a separate bowl and use paddle attachment on the stand mixer or a just a hand-held to beat in the eggs one at a time. this is to avoid incorporating the dry film into the batter, to transfer to a cooler bowl to help cool down batter but mostly because the batter is now a sticky batter that is more difficult to beat. i prefer to wash less dishes and beat more.
5. gougères
now that the batter is properly mixed, add the cheese. stir just enough to incorporate cheese into batter.
6. cream puffs, profiteroles, éclairs or gougères
a) either pipe with a pastry bag or spoon golf-ball size puffs, 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
if making éclairs, pipe 3-inch long, 1-inch wide logs, with a 1/2-inch tip, onto the parchment-lined sheet.
b) bake for 15 minutes, then turn down the oven to 350ºF, rotate and continue baking for another 5-10 minutes, 'til it's a golden brown.
c) prick the bottom of each puff, to release the steam, and set on top of drying rack set on top of cookie sheet, and set in oven, with door propped open and turned off, to let it dry out for another 5 up to 30 minutes. after cooled, they are ready to be filled with cream filling of your choice.
7. pets de nonnes, aigrettes or beignets
a) in a large sauce pan, heat 3 inches of vegetable oil to about 350-360ºF.
b) spoon rounded teaspoonfuls of batter into hot oil. try not to fill up pan as dough should puff up to twice it's size. you might have to test run a few sacrificial puffs to get the right temperature. the trick is to have the oil hot enough to seal the batter from soaking up too much oil and also not too hot that it burns the exterior, not allowing them to puff up properly. fry up until pastry puffs up and poofs out some steam and becomes a golden brown.
c) set on top of paper towels on top of cooling racks to wick away the oil. after they have cooled enough, sprinkle with sugar or a combination of cinnamon and sugar (1 part cinnamon, 3 part sugar).
