The classical Mille-Feuille, the French Napoleon Pastry
A brief overview of Mille-feuille.
Mille-Feuille is a french word that means one thousand leaves and it is crumbly layers of overlapping puff pastry giving a special crunchiness and combined with vanilla cream and on the top is garnished by shiny royal icing and elaborate styles of chocolate or colored icing. A traditional and timeless dessert, of French origin, also known as Napoleon in Europe.
Besides thanks to its simplicity, it satisfies everyone's taste, as it can be made and customized according to everyone's taste and on every occasion with berries, strawberries, or chocolate chips!
Let's, in this blog, find out the recipe to prepare the Napoleon dessert, how to caramelize it and how to stuff it!
- Preparation: 40 min
- Cooking: 60 min
- Doses for: 8 pieces
- Chill: 2 hrs
- Origin: France
What is the recipe for this delicious dessert the French Napoleon Pastry?
The recipe is very simple, it seems to be difficult however with a little concentration and precision we will prepare together a delicious dessert. In this recipe, we will use a bought puff pastry and not made at home, so it is easier for people who will make it for the first time.
The necessary ingredients that we need to make this dessert are:
For the dough:
1- 500 to 650 g puff pastry
2- Sugar to taste
For the vanilla cream:
- 120 g flour
- 200 g sugar
- A pinch of salt
- 150 g egg yolks (about 10)
- 200 g whole milk
- 100 g fresh liquid cream
- 300 g water
- ½ vanilla pod
For the Royal Icing and Decoration:
- 80 g melted dark chocolate
- 2 whites eggs
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 350 g powdered sugar
The steps to follow in preparing the Mille-Feuille?
The dough procedures:
1- To roll out the dough, use the granulated sugar instead of using the flour, then sprinkle the dough with the sugar, and with a rolling pin begin to gently roll it out. Then turn the dough and continue to roll it out.
2- As soon as you have widened it enough, continue to stretch it, playing only on the length, and paying attention to the corners. Try to obtain a precise rectangle, in order to obtain a more precise Mille-feuille, always use the sugar. You will need to get a rectangle of about 60x23cm, and a thicker of about 3mm.
3- Let the dough rest for about 5 minutes on the surface. When it is totally relaxed you can cut it into 3 rectangles of equal size.
4- Put those rectangles on two dripping pans lined with parchment paper and before putting them in the oven, prick the pastry with a fork.
5- Then place both plates in the center of the oven preheated to 180° and cook in static mode for 15 minutes. Then lower the oven to 170° and continue cooking for another 35 minutes, so the pastry will be dry inside. Check the cooking from time to time which may vary according to your oven.
The vanilla cream procedures:
. Put the flour and sugar into a bowl, and a pinch of salt and mix with the whisk in this way you will avoid lumps.
. Add the egg yolks a little at a time, always stirring and continuing until you have incorporated all the yolks.
. Pour the milk and cream and water into a saucepan. Cut a vanilla pod lengthwise and take the seeds from only one of the halves, then insert both the seeds and the emptied pod into the saucepan.
. Heat everything, without bringing it to a boil to avoid a thermal shock when adding the eggs. Before adding it to the egg mixture remove the vanilla pod.
. Pour the hot liquid into the batter little by little with the help of a ladle, then mix with a whisk to dilute it. Then pour everything back into the saucepan on the heat, always turning with a whisk so that the batter does not end up on the bottom.
. Always mix with a whisk until it thickens, also going well on the edges of the saucepan, so as not to let the cream stick. It will take a while. Then pour the cream into a low and wide baking dish and cover with the clingfilm; in this way, the skin on the surface will not be created. Leave to cool in the refrigerator.
1- When the pastry is cooked, take it out of the oven.
How to compose the dessert?
- On a cutting board, put the first rectangle of pastry and trim it with a knife to obtain more precise edges.
- Then put it in a serving dish and take the cream and put it over the entire surface, leaving the outer edge free; in this way, you will be sure that with the weight of the other layers the cream will not come out.
- Take the second layer, trim, and place it on top of the cream. Then arrange the cream as done previously, until finished.
- Take the third and last layer, trim it as done before and place it on top of the cream. Now we go to decorate our mille-feuilles.
How to decorate the Mille-Feuille?
First, prepare the royal icing
- With the help of a mixer or mixing by hand, make the royal icing by beating the egg whites, lemon juice, and powdered sugar until the mixture is very smooth and glossy; this may take about 7 to 10 minutes.
- You can add more sugar or water, if necessary, to achieve consistency so that when the icing is drizzled, it will sit briefly on the surface of the icing before sinking back in.
- In a saucepan over very low heat or in a microwave, melt the chocolate then pour it into a decorating tube fitted with a fine round tip.
Second, decorate the Napoleon Pastry
1- Over the top layer of our Napoleon pastry, pour the royal icing and spread it with the help of a spatula. In this stage, you have to work very quickly unless the icing sets.
2- Then over the icing and with the melted chocolate make spaced parallel lines and with the tip of a thin knife drag through the lines of chocolate, spacing them from one side of our Napoleon Pastry to the other.
3- With the tip of a thin knife drag through the lines of chocolate, spacing them from one side of our Napoleon Pastry to the other, going first in one direction and then in the opposite direction to create the classic Mille-Feuille decorative pattern.
4- Refrigerate the assembled napoleon pastry for about two or three hours before cutting it into individual portions.
Serving the mille-feuille
- After three hours, trim the edges of the Mille-Feuilles with a long, very sharp knife if needed, then cut the pastry into a neat and evenly proportioned rectangle.
- Put the individual portions in a serving dish and serve as dessert.
Tips!
- If you don't want to decorate with royal icing you can use powdered sugar.
- So, sprinkle with icing sugar on the surface of the Napoleon Pastry and serve.
Enjoy your dessert and good appetite!
😀
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