Pour the water into a saucepan, add the butter and a pinch of salt;
When it starts to boil, pour in all the sifted flour at once and mix well, it should come away from the edges;
Pour the still hot mixture into a stand mixer and turn on the whisk, then leave to cool for a few minutes;
Immediately after, add the eggs, a little at a time, mixing well with the whisk after each addition;
The mixture will be ready when it has the consistency of a cream and is slightly runny and not too compact;
At this point pour the mixture into a pastry bag with a star tip if you are making Zeppole di San Giuseppe, or with a smooth tip if you are making Bignè;
Close well so that excess air escapes;
How to make cream puffs:
Place the mixture in a pastry bag with a smooth nozzle and form little tufts of dough on a baking tray lined with baking paper;
After that, with the back of a slightly moistened spoon, flatten the tips a little, so that your cream puffs take on a round and not conical shape;
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and bake the cream puffs in the middle;
Cook without ever opening the oven for about 25 minutes, during this phase you will see the cream puffs swell and brown;
When they are nice and puffy after 25 minutes you can lower the temperature to 180 degrees and continue cooking for another 5 minutes;
How to make Zeppole di San Giuseppe:
Take a baking tray, cover it with baking paper, then with the pastry bag (filled with the mixture) make a circle of 8 cm diameter and a second circle just inside, of about 6 cm, without completely closing the pastry on the surface;
Cook without ever opening the oven for about 25 minutes, during this phase you will see the zeppole swell and brown;
When they are nice and puffy after 25 minutes you can lower the temperature to 180 degrees and continue cooking for another 5 minutes;
Once cooled, we can fill our cream puffs, zeppole, profiteroles and eclairs with all the creams we want!
