What i love about eclairs is that there's a science behind it all. It's using the very act of steaming to create that delicate crater in the middle of your pastry. The french call this art Pate A Choux (pa-teh-ah-shoe) and this is the same method used in cream puffs and ice cream sandwiches.
Basically, what we do is introduce water into the recipe and while the batter bakes, it steams, creating a hole right in the middle of the pastry. That hole, my friends, can be filled with anything. Strawberry jam, chocolate, ice-cream - ooo lah lah.
This is why, I stress, we need to use a very high protein flour, because proteins soak up more liquids. This recipe calls for Bread Flour - by all means stick to this.
Because I'm a traditionalist at heart, I stuck to the fairly traditional Chocolate Eclairs with Vanilla Cream Filling. Oh, there's a cheat in my recipe too ;)
