Gougere Sandwiches

 These are 2 words that don't often go together. We had a Covid-19 post vaccination celebration recently. The eppaetiver dish were small gougeres (about 2" in diameter). Gougeres are choux paste, cheesey puffs that are a dish from Burgundy. And, by the way, they go really well with white wines from the region.

I had made around 20 of these little delights, so of course there were left overs. Knowing that they go stale quickly, it became quite a dilemma as to what to do. And then it occurred to me, that they would make great sandwiches - small bites, obviously. But nonetheless, open them up, put some filling in them, reheat in the microwave for 15 seconds (if you want them warm), and voila, delicious sandwiches. - albeit small, so one has to eat a few.

Ingredients - Gougere

4 Fl oz water (1/2 cup in the USA)

4 oz butter (1 stick in the USA)  + butter for greasing baking sheet, unless using parchment

1 tsp Kosher salt

1 Cup bread flour

4 eggs, beaten

7 oz. Gruyere cheese (divided use)

1/2 tsp. Dry mustard 

1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

A few grinds of black pepper

Method - Gougere

Melt the butter very slowly in a saucier. When the butter is almost melted, add the water, and bring the mixture to the boil. Once the water is boiling, immediately dump all the flour and the salt into it, and beat with a wooden spoon until the flour/water/butter become a cohesive mass. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until there is a white, floury film on the bottom of the pan. This will probably take at least a minute.

Transfer the flour to the bowl of a mixer, and allow to cool until the temperature is below 165F. This is to make sure that the eggs don't scramble wehen they are added. Add the eggs a little at a time.  Beat each egg in thoroughly before the next addition.

Grate 4 oz of the cheese coarsely, and the other 3 oz finely. Add the mustard, pepper and nutmeg to the coarsely grated cheese. 

Once the eggs have been incorporated, incorporate the cheese/mustard/nutmeg/pepper mixture into the dough, and mix thoroughly.

The dough can rest in this state for at least a couple of hours.

When you are ready to bake, heat the oven to 425f allowing at least 20 minutes of preheating.

Form the dough into 1" balls, and roll them in the finely grated cheese. Arrange them on a prepared baking sheet, flatten them slightly, and bake in the pre-heated oven for 15 - 20 minutes - until golden brown.

When they come out of the oven, slit the sides of each pastry to allow steam to escape. They will have puffed and spread out a bit, so will be quite light. You don't want them soggy.

Sandwiches

If   you are fortunate enough to have leftovers, then store them in a plastic bag - after they have cooled. To make sandwiches, using these as the wrapper (instead of bread, croissants, etc.) fill them  with whatever sandwich filling you want. You do want to make sure that there is a small omount of a spread of some kind, otherwise they can be a bit dry. We filled ours with a leek/tomato saute, some leftver roast lamb. 30 seconds in the microwave and they are delicious.