Mille Feuille (VIDEO)

Start with the pastry cream

In a large enough bowl with the help of a Hand whisk, whisk together sugar and egg yolk until slightly fluffy for about 1-2 minutes

Mix in corn starch, flour, and vanilla until throughly incorporated and have a smooth paste

Bring milk to simmer in a saucepan on medium heat then remove it from the stove.

Pour the warm milk over the egg yolk mixture slowly while whisking vigorously with a Hand whisk.

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook on medium heat for a few minutes until it thickens. Concretely it is approximately 1 min after the first boil. It might get lumpy first, don't worry just keep whisking and the cream will get smooth and glossy

If in doubt, strain the pastry cream for a lump free, creamy end result.

Add in room temperature soft butter and mix with a rubber spatula until completely incorporated. It is worth to add the butter in 3 stages and mix well after each addition.

Place the cream into a shallow bowl and cover the entire surface with plastic wrap to avoid skin forming on top. Let it come to room temperature

Make the mousseline cream

Crème mousseline can be made with room temp pastry cream and room temp butter. Make sure everything is at room temp otherwise the mixture might curdle

Once pastry cream cooled to room temp, prepare the mousseline cream by whipping room temp butter first for 1-2 minutes. Start adding in the room temp pastry cream in 4 stages until cream reaches a stable yet fluffy texture.

Do not over whip the mixture as it can become runny or can curdle. The cream mgiht be on the soft side at this point due to the room temp butter used so place it back into the fridge for an hour to chill before using it.

Bake the puff pastry sheets

Pre-heat oven to 190C / 374F (no fan)

If using my homemade puff pastry recipe, prepare the pastry according to the instructions, then roll the pastry into a large rectangle.

The pastry will be baked in between two large (18 x 12 inches) so it will puff up more evenly. Cover a large tray with parchment paper, place the puff pastry sheet on top then poke small holes with a fork all around the surface of the pastry. Cover the dough with another layer of parchment paper and place another large tray on top.

Bake the pastry at 190C / 374F for 30 min in between the two trays, then remove the top tray, lightly dust the pastry with powdered sugar and bake / caramelize the pastry for a further 10 minutes at 220C / 428F

Once the puff pastry sheets are golden brown, remove it from the oven and let it come to room temperature

Assemble

Trim the side of the pastry sheet using a serrated knife then cut about 24 10x4cm / 4x1.5 inches rectangles. The pastry will be a bit crumbly, but don´t worry, do your best to group the rectangles into groups of 3 and pair the similar ones next to each other.

Pipe the cream filling onto one piece of puff pastry. Place another piece of pastry on top then pipe more cream on top and then place another piece of puff pastry on it. Repeat the process 8 more times, overall you will get 8 pieces of Mille Feuille

Refrigerate before decorating

Decoration

Whip up the cream and powdered sugar just until the mixture thickens, do not overwhip

Turn the Mille Feuille on the side and pipe the decoration on top. Optionally, decorate with vanilla bean

Serve the same day. Any leftovers can be stored refrigerated for 2-3 days