A famous dish that tests a pastry chef’s skill, Maxine Scheckter shares the secrets to mastering this French favourite.
A true classic, a mille-feuille is a real test of a pastry chef’s skill. You want your puff pastry to be crisp, and your custard to be set enough that it holds up, but not so firm that it’s like a piece of rubber. The glaze has to be done in one or two swift motions to prevent the pastry from breaking up, and the feathering has to happen quickly before the glaze starts to set. It sounds stressful, but this gâteau is definitely worth it. And even an ugly mille-feuille will still be delicious.
Makes 12
- Preheat the oven to 200C.
- Split the puff pastry into three 250g pieces.
- Roll each piece into a 20 x 30cm rectangle that’s 1-2mm thick.
- Freeze each piece for 5-10 minutes, or chill for 10-20 minutes.
- Place each sheet of pastry on a separate tray of any size lined with baking paper, put another piece of baking paper on top, then another tray to weigh it down – you may need to bake the pastry sheets one at a time depending on how many trays you have.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, checking the pastry after 15 minutes. It should be a light golden brown all over.
- Remove the top tray and baking paper and sift 1-2 tablespoons of icing sugar over the top of the pastry.
- Return to the oven for about 5 minutes, until the icing sugar has melted and lightly caramelised. This will prevent the pastry from becoming too soggy.
- Allow the pastry to cool fully before trimming all three pieces to fit inside the tin. Set aside.
- Put the milk in a large pot, scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod and put them in the milk along with the pod, or add the vanilla bean paste. Bring to a boil.
- Whisk the sugar and egg yolks together in a bowl until smooth, then whisk in the custard powder.
- Add an eighth of the hot milk to the eggs and whisk to combine, then pour this back into the pot.
- Cook over a medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture boils.
- Boil for at least 30 seconds, making sure to whisk and scrape the bottom of the pot to stop the pastry cream scorching.
- Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter.
- Allow to cool to room temperature, either on the bench or in the fridge, stirring every 5-10 minutes.
- Once the pastry cream is cool, use it immediately to build the mille-feuille.
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- Place the first pastry layer on the base, icing sugar side up.
- Pour 600g of pastry cream on top and level off with a palette knife.
- Place the second layer of pastry on top, once again icing sugar side up, and press down slightly to stick.
- Repeat with the remaining pastry cream and the final layer of pastry.
- Chill for a few hours or preferably overnight.
- Melt the butter and glucose together.
- Whisk in the milk and then whisk this into the icing sugar until you have a thick but smooth glaze.
- Melt the chocolate and pour into a piping bag. Cut a small tip just big enough for the chocolate to easily flow out when squeezed and set aside.
- Follow the instructions for glazing and decorating the mille-feuille.
There are two gateaux in this book that use puff pastry, the mille-feuille and the tarte tatin. You can most definitely use store-bought puff pastry, but nothing really beats the taste of homemade puff. Making puff pastry from scratch is a little bit of a process, which is why it’s in the techniques section rather than with the base recipes. There are a few different methods for making puff pastry. My favourite, and the one I use here, is inverse puff pastry. This involves mixing the butter with flour to create a paste. This makes the butter much more pliable and easier to handle. You’ll need:
- Mix the first measure of flour and water together until you have a just-combined, very shaggy, dry dough. Leave to rest at room temperature for half an hour. After half an hour of rest (for the dough, not just for you!), you can begin your butter paste. Dice the butter into 2cm cubes and put it in a stand mixer bowl together with the second measure of flour. Use the dough hook to mix the butter and flour on a low speed until they have formed a smooth, stiff paste that is a uniform colour. You need to make sure the butter stays cold so that the paste doesn’t become too sticky.
- Generously dust your bench with flour and press your butter paste into a rectangle about 2cm thick. Press your dough that you made earlier into a rectangle, half the width of your butter paste rectangle, but the same length.
- Dust any excess flour off the surface of your butter paste and press the dough rectangle in the centre, so that the top and bottom edges of the butter and the dough line up (approximately!). Try to work quickly as being too fussy at this stage will significantly soften your butter and make it harder to work with. Fold the two edges of the butter rectangle to the centre of the dough, and pinch lightly to seal the seam.
- Flip your dough over so that the seam is now on the bench and generously dust the bench and the dough with flour. Roll your dough into a long rectangle, rolling only in the direction of the open ends, which is where you can see the dough centre poking out of the top and bottom. Once your dough is about 2cm thick, dust any excess flour off. Fold the top third of the dough down to the centre third, and then the bottom third up over this. This is called a single fold, and we need to do five of these in total.
- Once you’ve completed your first fold, rotate your dough 90 degrees, so the open ends are once again facing you. Repeat the rolling and folding process once more, bringing your fold total to two.
- Wrap your dough in cling film and chill for 15-20 minutes before repeating the rolling and folding process to get to your total of five single folds. If your dough is getting too soft and sticky at any point, return to the fridge for a maximum of 20 minutes before continuing. Once you’re finished you can use your pastry immediately or store in the fridge for up to one week, or in the freezer for up to one month. The dough may acquire a slight grey tinge after a few days in the fridge; this is due to the flour oxidising and isn’t anything to worry about.
- Portion the mille-feuille into 12 pieces that are 4 x 7cm rectangles.
- Use a large serrated knife to portion it, using a sawing motion to gently cut through the top layer of pastry, and then slice down through the remaining layers.
- Store in the fridge and serve within 12 hours.
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Edited extract from Patisserie Made Simple: The Art of Petits Gateaux by Maxine Scheckter, $69, published by Bateman Books.
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