Mille feuilles 💕
The mille-feuille (French pronunciation: [mil fœj], "thousand-leaf".. vanilla slice, custard slice, also known as the Napoleon, is a French pastry whose exact origin is unknown. Its modern form was influenced by improvements of Marie-Antoine Carême.
Traditionally, a mille-feuille is made up of three layers of puff pastry (pâte feuilletée), alternating with two layers of pastry creamcrème pâtissière), but sometimes whipped cream or jam are substituted. The top pastry layer is dusted with confectioner's sugar, and sometimes cocoa, pastry crumbs, or pulverized seeds (e.g. roasted almonds). Alternatively the top is glazed with icing orfondant in alternating white (icing) and brown (chocolate) stripes, and combed.
All the elements of the recipe are present in numerous cookbooks since, at least, the 16th century but the exact origin of the mille-feuille is unknown. The earliest mention of the name mille-feuille itself appears in 1733 in an English-language cookbook written by French chef Vincent La Chapelle. Unlike the modern cake, the 18th-century Mille-feuille is served stuffed with jam and marmalade instead of cream.
In French, the first mention of the Mille-feuille appears a little later, in 1749, in a cookbook by Menon.
The word mille-feuille is not used again in the recipe books of the 18th century. However, under the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, several of the fanciest Parisian pastry shops appear to have sold the cake. During the 19th century, all recipes are filled with jam with the exception of the 1876 recipe byUrbain Dubois which is served with Bavarian cream.
According to Alan Davidson in the Oxford Companion to Food (p. 505), the invention of the form (but not of the pastry itself) is usually attributed to Szeged, Hungary, where a caramel-coated mille-feuille is calledSzegedinertorte.
Our recipe for today is : Mille feuille !!
The ingreadients:
Puff Pastry:
2 cup all purpose (500 ml)
1 tsp salt (5 ml)
1 ¾ cup cold unsalted butter (400 grams)
2/3 to 1 cup ice water (150 ml to 250 ml)
1 tsp lemon juice (5 ml)
Flour, for rolling dough
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Pastry Cream
5 egg yolks
1/3 cup + 1 tbsp. sugar (90 ml)
1 ½ cup whole milk (375 ml)
3 Tbsp flour (45 ml)
1 vanilla bean, split in half and scraped
Pinch salt
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Assembly
Icing sugar, for dusting
Strawberries, for garnish, optional
The directions:
Puff Pastry
1. Combine the flour, salt and 1/3 cup of the butter in a large bowl. Work flour with hands, breaking up butter into pieces until mixture resembles coarse meal. Make a well in the center and pour in the 2/3 cup ice water and the lemon juice. With a fork, gradually bring the flour into the well and mix until incorporated. If dough seems too dry, add the remaining water.
2. Knead very gently to make a semi smooth dough. Pat the dough into a flat 1-inch thick disc. With a knife mark an “X” across the entire width of the dough. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
3. In a stand mixer fitted, with the paddle attachment, add the remaining butter and beat until softened, about 2 minutes. With your hands, form the butter into a square that is about 1/3 smaller than the dough. Wrap butter in plastic. Refrigerate. Chill until firm.
4. Remove the dough and butter from the refrigerator. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll the corners of the dough out to about ¼-inch thick forming a large X shape leaving the center of the dough unrolled. Place square of the butter in the middle of the X. Pull the rolled out corners up over the butter to completely encase the butter in dough.
5. Roll the dough into a 10 x 20-inch rectangle. Roll dough to evenly. Rotate the dough so it is horizontal to you. Do one envelop fold or one half turn. That is, fold the right side into the center then fold the left side to the center. Now fold dough in half. This is a completed full turn. Wrap dough in plastic. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
6. Repeat the full turn, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 2 hours. Do one more full turn and refrigerate for 2 hours. Now the dough is ready to use.
Pastry Cream
1. In a medium bowl, stir together 1/3 cup milk with flour, salt and whisk until smooth. Add the yolks and 3 tbsp. sugar and whisk vigorously until mixture is smooth and pale lemon in colour.
2. In a heavy bottom saucepan, heat remaining milk with the remaining 3 tbsp. sugar and vanilla scraping over medium heat. Heat until milk just comes to a boil. While stirring the yolk mixture, slowly pour ¼ of the hot milk into the yolk mixture. This will temper the egg yolks so they don’t start to scramble. Immediately pour yolk mixture into hot milk in the saucepan.
Whisk over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Remove from heat immediately. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent skin from forming. Cool completely.
Assembly
1. Cut 1/3 off pastry square. Freeze remaining pastry or save for another use. Roll puff pastry to a very thin rectangle measuring 12 x 16-inches.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle with water. Lay dough on top and poke with fork all over to prevent over rising. Chill 15 minutes.
4. Bake until golden brown and very crisp. Cool completely on rack.
5. Trim pastry so edges of rectangle are straight and even in shape. Divide the rectangle into 3 even strips, each about 4-inches wide.
6. Evenly divide cooled pastry cream onto two strips of puff pastry. Spread evenly. Lay one strip, covered with cream on top of first, lining up evenly. Top with final strip of puff pastry. Dust with icing sugar. Chill for 1 hour before serving.
7. To serve, cut with serrated edge knife using sawing motion. Garnish each with half of strawberry.
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