Mille-feuilles

Puff pastry deliberately held down under a weight so it stays flat and dense, then caramelised under a fierce heat.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter), dairy (double cream), dairy (whole milk).

Ingredients

• 1 batch puff pastry, as on its own page
• 1 batch crème pâtissière, as on its own page
• 300 ml double cream
• 4 tablespoons icing sugar, plus more for the glaze
• 100 g fondant icing sugar, optional, for the feathered top
• 20 g dark chocolate, melted, optional

Method

1. IT IS BAKED UNDER A WEIGHT, which is the opposite of what puff pastry is for and is the entire point of this dish. A second tray laid on top stops it ballooning and forces the layers to stay thin and tight. Allowed to rise freely it becomes a pillow: it will not stack, it will not cut, and the cream squeezes out of the sides. Held down it comes out flat, dense and shatteringly crisp.
2. THEN THE SUGAR IS CARAMELISED UNDER A FIERCE HEAT, right at the end and on the top sheet only. Icing sugar sieved over and five minutes at 220C, or a blowtorch. That thin glassy layer is also what waterproofs the top against the cream.
3. IT IS ASSEMBLED AT THE LAST POSSIBLE MOMENT. An hour is already too long: pastry in contact with cream is soft within ninety minutes and there is no recovering it. Bake, cool and chill the components separately and build it as people sit down.
4. AND IT IS CUT WITH A SERRATED KNIFE, SAWING GENTLY. Any downward pressure crushes three layers of pastry into the cream. Some cooks cut the top sheet into portions BEFORE assembling and lay the pieces on, which is the only reliable way to get a clean edge.
5. Puff pastry made as on its own page, rolled to a 3 mm rectangle about 30 by 20 cm, and rested in the fridge 30 minutes.
6. Laid on a lined tray, pricked all over with a fork, covered with baking paper and a SECOND TRAY laid on top.
7. Baked at 200C for 25 minutes, the top tray lifted to check, then 5 to 10 minutes more until evenly deep gold all through -- pale patches are raw pastry.
8. Cooled completely, then cut into three equal strips with a serrated knife.
9. Crème pâtissière made as on its own page and chilled.
10. The double cream whipped with the icing sugar to firm peaks and folded into the whisked-smooth crème pâtissière in two lots. This lightens it enough to pipe and to bite through.
11. The best strip set aside for the top. Icing sugar sieved generously over it and 5 minutes at 220C until the sugar runs glassy and amber. Cooled.
12. If feathering: fondant icing spread on that glazed sheet, lines of melted chocolate piped across it, and a skewer drawn through them in alternating directions.
13. The top sheet cut into six portions NOW, before the stack is built.
14. Assembled: pastry, piped cream, pastry, piped cream, then the cut top pieces laid on. Served at once.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under France · All recipes