Preheat an oven to 350°F (180°C). If you want to bake all of the puffs at once, position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or baking mats. If you’re going to freeze half or more of the batch, center a rack in the oven and line just 1 baking sheet.

Put the water, milk, butter, fine sea salt and ground cumin in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. When the butter is melted, add the flour all at once, grab a sturdy flexible spatula and begin beating. Beat until you’ve got a dough that pulls away from the pan and leaves a film on the bottom (you might not get a film if your pan is nonstick), about 4 minutes.

Turn the dough out into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or into a large bowl that you can use with a hand mixer (or the spatula). Add the eggs one by one, beating for a minute after each goes in. You’ll have a smooth, shiny dough. Beat or stir in the cheese.

Scoop out balls of dough with a small cookie scoop (one with a capacity of 2 teaspoons) and arrange on the baking sheet(s), leaving a scant 2 inches (5 cm) between them, or use a teaspoon to portion out rounded spoonfuls of dough. (You can make the puffs ahead and freeze them on the baking sheets until solid, then pack airtight and freeze for up to 2 months.)

Sprinkle the tops of the puffs with cumin seeds and top each with a few flakes of sea salt. Bake the puffs for 30 minutes; if you’re baking 2 sheets, quickly rotate the sheets from top to bottom and front to back after 15 minutes.

Turn off the oven, open the door a crack—prop it slightly ajar with a wooden spoon—and let the puffs dry for about 10 minutes; they should feel firm and you should be able to peel them off the paper easily. Serve immediately—although these are delicious warm or at room temperature, they are really at their best when they’re hot. Makes about 55 puffs.

Storing: Please try to serve these as soon after they’re baked as possible. If you must hold them, you can give them a few minutes in a 350°F (180°C) oven to refresh them before serving.

A Word on Working Ahead: The easiest way to have fresh puffs when you need them is to scoop out the freshly made dough and freeze the puffs on the baking sheets until solid, then pack airtight and freeze for up to 2 months. When you’re ready to bake, arrange the frozen puffs on a lined baking sheet and let them sit on the counter while you preheat the oven. Sprinkle with the cumin and salt right before baking.

Playing Around

Cheese Sticks: Pipe the dough out into long sticks. You can use a pastry bag or a disposable pastry bag with a ½-inch (12-mm) opening cut in the tip for this; or cut an opening in a bottom corner of a ziplock bag.

Bake the sticks for 25 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back after 12 minutes, then dry the sticks in the turned-off oven with the door propped slightly ajar for 15 minutes. While the puffs are good hot, the sticks are best at room temperature.

Classic Gougères: The classic cheese for gougères is Gruyère or Comté. You can add a couple of pinches of herbes de Provence or 2 to 3 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary to the dough and sprinkle some finely chopped walnuts on top of the puffs (or sticks) before baking them, if you like. Parmesan is also good with rosemary and walnuts. Cheddar is always a fine idea: Pair it with about ¼ tsp. mustard powder or smoked paprika (a little of either can go a long way) and finely chopped almonds for the sprinkle—smoked almonds, if you’ve got them. Sesame seeds go with just about everything.

Adapted from Baking with Dorie, by Dorie Greenspan (Mariner Books, 2021)