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Baked and breads

Gougères

Small Burgundian choux puffs baked with grated cheese, served warm or cold with wine.

Gougères are savoury choux pastry puffs mixed with grated hard cheese and baked until crisp outside and hollow within. They belong to Burgundy, where they are served cold in the wine cellars at tastings and warm with an apéritif at home. Gruyère and Comté are the usual cheeses.

What goes in

Comté or Gruyère: 24%24%Eggs: 24%24%Flour: 18%18%Butter: 12%12%Water or milk: 18%18%Nutmeg and pepper: 6%6parts
  • Comté or Gruyère424%, Finely grated, aged.
  • Eggs424%, Beaten in one at a time.
  • Flour318%, Cooked into the paste.
  • Butter212%, Melted in the water.
  • Water or milk318%, The steam that raises them.
  • Nutmeg and pepper16%, Seasoning.

Rough parts by weight. The ring shows each ingredient's share of the dish.

Made step by step

Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Quantities and timings differ from house to house; this is one traditional way, in outline.

  1. Step 1: Simmer Bring water, butter and salt to the boil.
  2. Step 2: Knead Tip in the flour and stir hard until the paste leaves the pan sides.
  3. Step 3: Knead Off the heat, beat in the eggs one at a time until glossy.
  4. Step 4: Grate Fold in most of the grated cheese.
  5. Step 5: Layer Pipe or spoon small mounds onto a tray and top with the rest of the cheese.
  6. Step 6: Bake Bake in a hot oven until puffed, golden and crisp, without opening the door early.
  7. Step 7: Serve Serve warm, or cool and pass round with wine.
  8. Comté or Gruyère: 24%24%Eggs: 24%24%Flour: 18%18%Butter: 12%12%Water or milk: 18%18%Nutmeg and pepper: 6%
    Finished Gougères, by share.

Burgundy and the wine cellar

Gougères are strongly linked with the wine villages of the Côte d'Or and the town of Tonnerre in the Yonne. Producers hand them round during tastings because they are dry, salty and easy to eat standing up, and they do not overpower the wine. The precise origin is uncertain, and some accounts tie them to older savoury pastries of the region.

How they work

Choux paste is made by cooking flour in boiling water and butter, then beating in eggs one by one. Grated cheese goes into the paste, and more is scattered on top. In a hot oven the steam inside each puff makes it rise. The cheese must be dry and well aged, or the puffs will sink. A pinch of nutmeg or mustard is common.

Where it is used

Wine tastingApéritif

The cheeses in it

ComtéCommon Burgundian choice.GruyèreThe classic alternative.EmmentalUsed in milder versions.

More on EveryCheese

🇨🇭 Switzerland and 5 moreEmmentalEmmentaler A yellow, medium-hard Swiss cheese with natural holes, aged for several months.Cow · Semi-hard · Savoury and brothy

Sources and further reading

About this page

Original text and drawings by the EveryCheese desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are a rough, illustrative ratio, not a recipe: every family and kitchen makes it differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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