Mille-feuille is a basic French pastry that interprets to “a thousand sheets.” It’s a conventional French dessert composed of three layers of puff pastry, which we stuffed with luscious crème mousseline and adorned with sweetened whipped cream and berries to replicate the colours of the French flag. Through the use of fast tough puff pastry and baking the dough between two baking sheets, we obtain the right flatness required to assemble these iconic layers to get you to your end line in record-breaking time.
French Flag Mille-Feuilles
Makes 12 pastries
Filling:
- 1½ cups (360 grams) entire milk
- 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar, divided
- 4 giant egg yolks (74 grams)
- ¼ cup plus 1½ tablespoons (44 grams) cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup (113 grams) plus 2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature and divided
- 1½ teaspoons (9 grams) vanilla bean paste or (6 grams) vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour, for dusting
- Tough Puff Pastry Dough (recipe follows)
Topping:
- 1 cup (240 grams) chilly heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon (12 grams) granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon (1.5 grams) vanilla bean paste or (1 gram) vanilla extract
- Recent blueberries and recent strawberries, to serve
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For filling: In a big saucepan, warmth milk and ¾ cup (150 grams) sugar over medium warmth, whisking ceaselessly, till sugar dissolves and combination is steaming. (Don’t boil.)
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In a big bowl, whisk collectively egg yolks, cornstarch, salt, and remaining ¼ cup (50 grams) sugar. Step by step add heat milk combination, whisking continuously. Pour egg yolk combination into pan; cook dinner over medium warmth, whisking continuously, till thickened and bubbly, 4 to five minutes.
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Pressure combination by a fine-mesh sieve right into a medium heatproof bowl. Whisk in 2 tablespoons (28 grams) butter and vanilla bean paste or extract till butter is melted and combination is easy and effectively mixed. Cowl with plastic wrap, urgent wrap immediately onto floor of pastry cream to stop a pores and skin from forming. Refrigerate till an instant-read thermometer registers 65°F (18°C) to 70°F (21°C), 2½ to three hours.
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Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Reserve 2 extra baking sheets and a pair of extra sheets of parchment paper.
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On a evenly floured floor, roll Tough Puff Pastry Dough right into a 25×13-inch rectangle (about ⅛ inch thick). Utilizing a pastry wheel, trim ½ inch off all sides of rectangle. Lower dough into 36 (4×2-inch) rectangles; place rectangles a minimum of 1 inch aside on ready pans. Place a sheet of parchment paper on prime of dough rectangles; prime parchment with one other baking sheet.
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Bake for quarter-hour. Rigorously take away prime pans and parchment, and bake till deep golden brown, 3 to five minutes extra. Let cool utterly on pans on wire racks.
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Within the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat remaining ½ cup (113 grams) butter at medium pace till easy, about1 minute, stopping to scrape backside and sides of bowl.
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Whisk chilly pastry cream till easy. With mixer on medium pace, step by step add pastry cream to butter, beating till mixed after every addition and stopping to scrape backside and sides of bowl and paddle.
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Switch filling to a pastry bag fitted with a ¼-inch spherical piping tip (Ateco #802). Place 12 items of pastry on a baking sheet, and pipe 2 rows of huge dots of filling on prime of every pastry. Prime every with one other piece of pastry. Pipe 2 rows of dots of filling on prime of every pastry. Unfold a skinny layer of filling on prime of remaining pastry items; place on prime of layered pastries.
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For topping: In a big bowl, whisk collectively chilly cream, sugar, and vanilla bean paste or extract till stiff peaks type. Switch to a pastry bag fitted with a small petal piping tip (Ateco #102.)
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Place 2 rows of blueberries on left aspect of every pastry and 1 row of strawberries on proper aspect. Pipe whipped cream combination between blueberries and strawberries. Refrigerate till able to serve. Greatest served similar day as assembled.
Tough Puff Pastry Dough
Makes about 24 cookies or 12 pastries
- 1⅓ cups (300 grams) chilly unsalted butter, cubed
- 2¼ cups (281 grams) all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
- 2 teaspoons (6 grams) kosher salt
- ½ cup (120 grams) ice water
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Freeze chilly butter till agency, 15 to twenty minutes.
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Within the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat chilly butter, flour, and salt at low pace simply till butter is coated with flour. With mixer on low pace, add ½ cup (120 grams) ice water in a sluggish, regular stream, beating simply till dough comes collectively, about 1 minute, stopping to scrape backside and sides of bowl and switch dough to hydrate evenly. (There’ll nonetheless be giant items of butter; it’s OK if a couple of dry bits stay.)
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Prove dough onto a evenly floured floor, and roll right into a 7-inch sq.. Wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
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On a evenly floured floor, roll dough into an 18×10-inch rectangle, evenly flouring floor and prime of dough as wanted. Fold dough in thirds like a letter. Rotate dough 90 levels; roll into an 18×10-inch rectangle, and fold in thirds like a letter. Repeat process for a 3rd and last flip. (If, at any level, the butter is simply too mushy after a fold, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze till butter is agency once more, checking each 5 minutes.) Wrap dough in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour or as much as 8 hours.
