"Sue K" > wrote in message
...
>
> My eclair pastry just won't puff up enough and when it does it
> collapses. Help!! Any suggestions?
>

Here are a few things you can do
1) use a high protein bread flour instead of AP flour.

2) make sure you remove as much water as possible from the dough before
adding the eggs. Keep stirring the dough over heat to dehydrate it. The
more water you remove, the more egg that the dough will absorbed. Eggs help
make the puff and the strong network of gluten from the bread flour helps to
trap the steam.

3) Replace some of the whole eggs with an equal volume of egg white. For
each whole egg you subtract, add two egg whites. Egg whites add structure
to the pastry dough. After the whites are added, start adding the whole
eggs.

4) Make sure the oven is hot enough. You need the heat to make steam. If
there is adequate heat and adequate structure you should be able to get good
volume and a stabile pastry.