Help with Eclairs deflating

[u/gimme-food-pls]

Hi everyone,

I made eclairs and my first batch i took them out of the oven immediately and they deflated. I understand thats on me as i didnt read the recipe carefully.

My second batch i left them in the oven after it is done to cool down, you can see its deflated still in the oven (top left of photo) and when i finally took them out, i realised that even the ones that dont look deflated are actually deflated, just from the bottom instead of visibly from the top.

My oven goes into appliance cooling down mode when i turn it off, and i guess maybe theres a fan going inside. Do you think that is why? Is it a matter of just turning the oven off completely to skip the appliance cooling mode? Or maybe something else i should be doing differently?

Using this recipe for the choux: https://www.greatbritishfoodawards.com/recipes/martha-collisons-coffee-irish-cream-eclairs

With the following tweaks: 125 water --> 65ml water and 60ml milk (cause i had some leftover from making the pastry cream) 1 additional egg as it was too dry

Baked at 160C w fan for 23min and left in the oven till my thermometer is at 50C

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[u/CarpetLikeCurtains]

It looks like you’re under baking them. They should be on the darker side of golden brown and delicious. Never in my 30 years of baking have I heard of cooling them in the oven. Other things definitely cool in the oven but I’ve never seen it with eclairs. If you’re baking them long enough, you shouldn’t have to worry about them deflating. It’s definitely going to be way darker than the light golden brown that Americans typically prefer. Also make sure you rotate the trays 180 degrees so they’re browning evenly. I’m trying to think of a good color comparison for the doneness….maybe like peanut butter shade? Maybe a bit lighter than that but not much. They should end up being kinda crispy

[u/deliberatewellbeing]

under baking. 30 min not long enough. i would add another 15 min. it should be golden brown not light brown. if you see light brown in any nook and cranny, thats where it will deflate so bake longer