I always love going to bakeries only to buy eclairs and random eye catchy pastries off the display. they last with me 1-2 days. and they taste soft and good.

I tried making eclairs at home, the choux pastry turned out okay, but the next day it became REALLY STIFF. (I store em in the fridge), but my bakery bought eclairs don’t go stiff at all when I put them in the fridge.

for the choux pastry I’ve been following this recipe exactly as it is (without the extra egg):

Pastry:

  1 cup water
  8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
  1/2 teaspoon salt
  1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
  1 cup all-purpose flour
  3 eggs, plus 1 extra, if needed

I’ve been suspecting my all purpose flour since I tried baking mini donuts and it also went stiff the next day, but where I live there is no other kind of flour.  is there any trick to make them softer/moist? anything I can add?

your help is greatly appreciated

Are you bringing the refrigerated eclairs and doughnuts back up to room temp before eating them?

How are they wrapped, etc. while in the fridge?

Are the eclairs refrigerated filled, or unfilled?

sorry for the late reply,

no. but I noticed that when I heat the donuts they soften up.

in the fridge I just put them on a plate and don’t cover them with anything

they’re filled with a chocolate mousse

.. I was wondering, would it become soft if I add cornstarch to the mix? instead of a whole cup of flour, I’d put 1/2 cornstarch and 1/2 flour. would that work fine?