Mille-feuille
Hey! Hello food lovers!
This morning I'm sharing the recipe for one of my favourite cakes! The "Mille-feuille"
I actually have an existential question... Why??? But why do we say Mille-feuille and not Mille-feuilles??? There are a thousand of them after all, right? So lots of layers... Anyway... that was my question of the day. lol!
Here is my 100% homemade mille-feuille that I made at my son's request! Already 10 years old! :o)
I really wanted to make my mille-feuille from scratch, so there was no question of using ready-made puff pastry... It's so much better homemade. :o)
My recipe makes a mille-feuille of approximately 22x27cm, serving 15 to 20 people. If you want to make a smaller mille-feuille, you will need to adjust the quantities.
To make this recipe, you will need:
Puff pastry:
Make 1.5x the blog recipe.
Diplomat cream:
- 8gr powdered gelatine
- 40gr cold water
- 100gr sugar
- 80gr egg yolk
- 20gr flour
- 20gr cornstarch
- 500gr milk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 40gr butter
- 240gr heavy cream
- 2 punnets of fresh raspberries
- 1 pastry fondant
Start by making the reverse puff pastry recipe, which you can find here: Reverse Puff Pastry
Puff Pastry
This puff pastry keeps perfectly in the freezer, so don't hesitate to prepare a little extra to store in the freezer. :o)
There you go, your puff pastry is ready! Let's move on to preparing our mille-feuille!
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Get yourself a large rolling pin, two perforated baking trays (or more), 3mm thickness guides and baking paper.
Cut your dough into three pieces of approximately 450-500gr. This will give us our three layers of mille-feuille.
Start by rolling out your puff pastry to 3mm thickness. Yes, it's quite a workout...
The dough will likely extend slightly beyond the baking sheet. Cut off the excess and fold it (not into a ball) over itself to preserve the layers. With the offcuts, I made ham croissants. :o)
Once the dough is well rolled out, remove the top baking paper, then place the dough in the fridge for 15 minutes. This way the dough will retract slightly.
Preheat your oven to 180°C fan-assisted.
Cut a rectangle of approximately 25x35cm, suited to the size of your perforated tray.
Then place your dough on it, nice and flat.
Add a new sheet of baking paper on top of the puff pastry, then place a perforated tray on top.
This technique allows the dough to rise evenly during baking. You will therefore need 2 perforated trays for baking.
It's really important to use a perforated tray rather than a regular tray… The baking is completely different. I tested it, and the result was striking: the dough struggles to bake properly on a regular tray, whereas on a rack with a perforated tray, it's really perfect!
Place your puff pastry in the oven preheated to 180°C fan-assisted for approximately 25-30 minutes.
During baking, prepare a sieve filled with icing sugar.
Once the 25 minutes of baking are up, take out your puff pastries, they will already be nicely coloured.
Increase the oven temperature to 240°C, still fan-assisted.
Then cover the puff pastries with a thin layer of icing sugar. Really thin... avoid overdoing it! :o)
Put them back in the oven for 4 to 5 minutes, keeping a close eye on them.
Be careful, they burn very quickly!
Tada!
The puff pastries are nicely coloured! This is very important — if they are not baked enough, they won't be crispy... Puff pastry must be well golden, almost brown.
Trim them using a knife, a ruler and a set square to make sure you have a nice rectangle. Then let them cool completely.
Adding a thin layer of icing sugar has two effects:
Firstly, it seals the puff pastry, helping it to better resist the moisture from the diplomat cream.
Secondly, it adds a little extra crunch and sweetness.
Now let's tackle our diplomat cream!
Diplomat cream is simply a pastry cream to which you add gelatine and whipped cream. :o) The result is a light cream that holds its shape when piped.
I tested it on my mille-feuille... I prepared and piped it on Saturday evening, and we were still eating it on Tuesday without any issues. The cream never moved and the puff pastry had softened slightly, but barely at all.
Start by pouring 8gr of powdered gelatine into a bowl. Then add 40gr of cold water, mix with a spoon and set aside.
Next, pour 100gr of sugar and 80gr of egg yolk into a large bowl, then whisk until the mixture is foamy.
Then add 20gr of cornstarch and 20gr of flour to the mixture, and whisk again until you have a smooth, homogeneous mixture, then set aside.
In a saucepan, pour 500gr of milk with 2 tsp of vanilla extract, then heat the mixture.
It doesn't need to boil — if it starts to steam, that's perfect.
Once the milk is heated, pour a small amount (about one third) into the egg/sugar/flour mixture, then whisk until you have a smooth, liquid texture.
When the consistency is right, pour the entire bowl back into the saucepan with the remaining milk, and whisk again.
This way, we avoid cornstarch lumps forming…
Put the saucepan back on medium heat and whisk continuously until the mixture thickens.
At first it will be quite foamy, then as it thickens, there will be less foam on the surface.
At the first PLOP! remove the saucepan from the heat, but continue whisking for another 1 minute, to make sure the bottom doesn't burn.
Then add the gelatine, and mix well so that it melts completely into the pastry cream.
Once the gelatine is fully melted, add 40gr of butter cut into pieces. This will add even more indulgence to our diplomat cream. :o)
Whisk together, then pour the mixture into a fairly wide dish to allow the pastry cream to cool quickly. Place the dish in the fridge for about 30 minutes. The mixture should reach a temperature of approximately 25°C.
Once the pastry cream is at 25°C, prepare the whipped cream.
Pour 240gr of heavy cream into a bowl, then whip it until just whipped — neither too firm nor too liquid. As soon as I get a small peak on my whisk... it's ready.
Whisk the pastry cream again to restore a beautiful texture.
Then add the whipped cream, little by little, in three additions.
You will get a beautiful smooth and shiny cream.
This texture is still a little runny... That's normal, don't worry.
Get yourself a 12mm piping tip, a 40cm piping bag and two IKEA-style clip closures.
Place the tip in the bag, then close it just below the tip to prevent the cream (still runny) from escaping.
Then fill your piping bag and close the top as well.
Place the diplomat cream in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, 1 hour is even better!
Your diplomat cream is ready! Woohoo!
Get yourself a rectangular serving board, fresh raspberries (I used 2 punnets here) and your diplomat cream.
Place the puff pastry making sure to put the shiny side on top.
I always pipe around the edges first, as this is the visible part of the mille-feuille, and so it needs to be as even as possible. Then I fill in the middle. :o) And it doesn't really matter if it's not perfectly straight.
ATTENTION: Your diplomat cream must be well set! If it isn't yet, put it back in the fridge until it sets. This cream doesn't move once piped.
Cut the raspberries in half with a knife, then scatter fresh raspberries over your diplomat cream.
Never use frozen raspberries — they lose too much water when defrosting.
Then repeat!
A layer of puff pastry, then pipe the diplomat cream, and add the raspberries. :o)
Once done, place your mille-feuille as is in the fridge while you prepare the glaze.
Place your last puff pastry layer on an easy-to-clean board.
Pour a jar of pastry fondant into a bowl, then heat it in the microwave at 600W for about 20 seconds. You can add a teaspoon of water to make it slightly more liquid and easier to work with.
Add a touch of food colouring if you want a coloured glaze.
Pour the fondant over your puff pastry, then spread it with an offset spatula.
Try not to touch the puff pastry to avoid crumbs... Your spatula should only touch the fondant. :o) Good luck!
If you have small marks on your fondant, you can give it a quick pass with a kitchen torch to smooth it out. No one will ever know.
There you go! All that's left is to clean up the edges of your puff pastry.
Then, place the last layer of puff pastry on your mille-feuille! Tada!
A little decoration, a candle, some sprinkles or whatever you fancy!
Single serving version.
I hope this recipe has inspired you! I promise it's absolutely delicious! I ate it for 4 days without any issues! :o) And I'm almost nostalgic that there's none left! lol
As always, I recommend spreading the work over several days... Prepare your puff pastry in advance, so you don't feel exhausted by the time your mille-feuille is finished.
The raspberries are not mandatory — you can replace them with strawberries or even add nothing at all. No problem! I find they add a little touch of acidity to the dessert, which is nice on the palate... but it's also delicious without.
Have a lovely Sunday, food lovers!
Karin
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Comments
Question de Carine
By: Carine R. On 2024-08-05Bonjour, à la place de la gélatine en poudre, peut-on utiliser des feuilles de gélatine? Si oui, combien pour cette recette? Merci d’avance ?
Replied by: Karin On 2024-08-05
Question de Marie
By: Marie B. On 2024-03-24Bonjour,
J'ai encore de la gélatine de poisson ... est-ce que je peux l'utiliser à la place de la gélatine en poudre ?
Dans l'affirmative, qu'elle quantité je dois mettre ?
Merci pour votre retour et cordiales salutations.
Marie
Replied by: Karin On 2024-03-25
Question de Noémie
By: Noémie T. On 2022-01-27Bonjour, plusieurs questions, si on met la pâte feuilletée au congélateur, quel est le meilleur moyen de la décongeler frigo? Combien de temps? Pour la crème diplomate, j'avais envie d'essayer d'en faire une au chocolat, pouvez vous me dire les proportions des ingrédients que je dois modifier pour ajouter le chocolat? Merci d'avance
Replied by: Laura On 2022-01-27
Replied by: Noémie T. On 2022-01-27
Replied by: Noémie T. On 2022-01-29
Replied by: Karin On 2022-01-30
Question de Géraldine
By: Géraldine D. On 2022-01-08Bonsoir! J ai une petite question, j’aimerais faire votre recette pour dimanche prochain, mais est ce que si je cuit juste la pâte feuilletée sans faire le montage, je peux la garder sans problèmes??
Et si je prépare la crème diplomate le samedi pour faire le montage le lendemain, je peux la laisser au frigo ou elle sera trop froide??
Belle soirée
Géraldine
Replied by: Karin On 2022-01-10
Réponse à Aline
By: Karin On 2019-11-21Oui oui vous pouvez montez le mille-feuille la veille sans soucis. :o)
Plutôt le soir d'avant pour éviter qu'il prenne l'humidité quand même.
Belle journée.
Salutations.
Karin