Mille-feuille
Ingredients
- 1 kg puff pastry (homemade or all-butter store-bought), rolled into three sheets
- For the pastry cream: 500 ml whole milk, 4 egg yolks, 100 g sugar, 40 g cornstarch, vanilla, 30 g butter
- Powdered sugar, or a simple fondant glaze, to finish
Mille-feuille — known as a Napoleon outside France — is built from three layers of puff pastry, baked flat and weighted so they stay crisp and even, sandwiched with two layers of vanilla pastry cream. The top is traditionally finished with a thin, shiny fondant glaze, though a simple dusting of powdered sugar is common at home.
Method
Roll puff pastry into three even rectangles, dock well with a fork, and chill.
Bake at 220°C (425°F) for about 10 minutes uncovered, then cover with a second sheet pan to keep the pastry flat and continue baking about 12 minutes until deep golden and crisp throughout.
Make the pastry cream: whisk yolks with sugar and cornstarch, temper in hot milk, cook until thickened, then stir in butter and vanilla; chill completely, covered, for at least 2 hours.
Trim the baked pastry sheets to even rectangles.
Spread a layer of chilled pastry cream over one sheet, top with a second sheet, spread with more cream, and top with the third sheet.
Chill briefly to firm up, then dust the top with powdered sugar (or coat with a thin fondant glaze) before slicing with a sharp serrated knife.
Ingredients
- 225 g plain flour, plus extra for rolling
- ¼ tsp salt
- 45 g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
- 90 g unsalted butter, frozen and grated
- About 120 ml cold water
- 300 ml whole milk
- 200 ml double cream
- ½ tsp vanilla paste
- 5 medium egg yolks
- 40 g cornflour
- 100 g caster sugar
- 100 g unsalted butter, softened
- 48 raspberries
- 150 g white ready-to-roll fondant icing
- 50 g red and 50 g orange ready-to-roll fondant icing
- Icing sugar for dusting and sugar syrup for glazing
Set as the technical challenge in the 2015 Great British Bake Off final, Paul Hollywood's millefeuille skips classic lamination in favour of his cheat's rough puff: a plain dough is rolled out, showered with frozen grated butter and folded like a letter, twice. The pastry is baked between two trays so it rises evenly and stays flat, then cut into neat rectangles. Each is layered with a rich crème pâtissière beaten with butter and studded with raspberries, and the top layer is covered with white fondant marbled with red and orange for a feathered finish.
Method
For the rough puff, rub the cubed butter into the flour and salt, add enough cold water to bring it together into a dough, and roll it into a rectangle. Scatter the frozen grated butter over the bottom two-thirds, fold the top third down and the bottom third up like a letter, turn, roll and fold once more, then chill for 30 minutes.
For the crème pâtissière, heat the milk, cream and vanilla to just below the boil. Whisk the yolks with the sugar and cornflour, pour on the hot milk, return to the pan and cook, whisking, until thick. Pass through a sieve, beat in the softened butter, cover and chill.
Roll the pastry to a 35 x 45 cm rectangle, lay it on a lined baking tray and chill. Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan). Cover the pastry with parchment and a second baking tray to keep it flat and bake for 20-30 minutes until deep golden. Cool.
Roll out the white fondant, scatter small pieces of red and orange fondant over it and roll again so the colours streak through the white. Cut four 12 x 5 cm rectangles.
Trim the pastry and cut it into twelve 12 x 5 cm rectangles.
Pipe bulbs of crème pâtissière over eight of the rectangles, tucking a raspberry between each bulb.
Stack two filled rectangles for each millefeuille and top with a plain rectangle.
Brush the fondant rectangles lightly with sugar syrup and lay them on top to glaze and finish.
