Mille-feuille aux fraises

It’s great fun to revisit a classic every now and then. It takes me back to 2006-7 to those pastry school/stage days in Paris. Chef Pascal of Pâtisserie Pascal Pinaud in the 5th arr. would offer a lemon-raspberry version only on Sundays as a special weekend treat. It’s best eaten soon after being assembled so it’s not one of those goodies that can linger in the pastry case for a few days. You want that puff flaky and fresh!!

Mille-feuille (often referred to as vanilla slice in Britain and Napoleon in the US) is truly one of those classics. Crispy, buttery, flaky pâte feuilletée layered with vanilla crème pâtissière is the usual combo but one has the option to change up the cream flavor or switch to something like a light whipped ganache or whipped mascarpone cream and add fresh fruit into the mix. Think chocolate raspberry or coconut mango and you’re off to the races to create your own version.

My project came about as the result of a request for a strawberry vanilla option for a small birthday gathering. Being pleased to accept, I opted for a crème légère au vanille (essentially pastry cream with a bit of gelatin to set and whipped cream to lighten). I had puff pastry in my freezer and kept a keen eye out at various markets around town for decent looking strawberries as the day approached.

If you aren’t up for making your own puff (rough or quick puff can also be used here), you can find decent all butter versions in most frozen food sections of well stocked grocery stores. Dufour is a popular brand.

The beauty of creating this dessert is the make-ahead-ability of the components. I baked my puff and cut my ~2”x4” rectangles 1-2 days ahead, then held them layered between parchment paper in the freezer until the day of assembly. I made the cream a day ahead as well. On assembly day it’s a matter of prepping fruit and having your puff layers and cream at the ready. It’s all about being organized. Not bad at all!

A few tips when working with puff: always work cool; roll the dough out close to your desired size then give the dough a “lift and fluff” to help it relax. Cover with plastic wrap and give it a 10 minute rest (at room temp if your kitchen is cool otherwise in the fridge) before a final roll out to desired size. Then place on a parchment lined sheet pan and pop into the freezer while you heat your oven. That helps relax the dough and reduce the amount of shrinkage that might occur during the bake.

For mille-feuille I recommend baking puff in larger sheets and then cut to your desired sizes - that compensates for some shrinkage of the dough during baking and gives you the ability to cut neat edges. That also gives you the option to cut longer strips to stack that will then be cut into individual portions vs. cutting individual rectangles like I did.

I used about a pound / 454 g of puff rolled a scant 1/4” thick for a half sheet pan, baked two of those and had plenty for some test cases and tasting. Yup.

I typically bake my puff at 425ºF to start. Most recipes you might see for millefeuille instruct you to place a layer of parchment paper or foil on the chilled rolled out puff and top it with another sheet pan or two to weight it and prevent it from rising too much in the oven. I’ve even added a couple of loaf pans on top to add to the weight, but . . . . . . . . .

I’m here to tell you that even with those measures, the puff will puff anyway! Since I want it nicely browned, I weigh it down for the first 10-15 minutes, pull off the extra sheet pan and parchment (or foil) and continue to bake with a wire cooling grid overturned across the sheet pan to allow the puff to bake/puff more evenly. It needs at least another 10-15 minutes to reach a beautiful golden brown-ess (which is difficult to achieve when it’s covered with foil). Don’t forget to keep an eye on it and turn the oven down as needed.

Once cool I gently press it down to flatten as I cut my rectangles. It works!

Then it’s a simple matter of matching up three pieces that seem to stack nicely together and identifying the one you prefer to be the top. In my case, since I decided to dust the tops, their surface appearance didn’t really matter. Some will coat their chosen top pieces with confectioner’s sugar and pop ‘em under the broiler to caramelize for a nice sheen.

I went for simple piped rounds of pastry cream and dusted them with freeze dried strawberry powder to add an additional hint of strawberry flavor.

I was fortunate to find fairly decent strawberries at one our our local grocers, sliced ‘em up and coated them with a bit of strawberry jam for another flavor booster.

Let the layering begin. Puff/cream/strawberries/puff/cream/strawberries/puff. That’s it.

For the top layer pieces I made a simple template so I could dust them with confectioner’s sugar then lines of strawberry powder. I buy freeze dried strawberries at Trader Joe’s and crush/sift them over whatever I want to dust.

Of course I made some test portions so Steve and I could give them a try. Yum! I even let one sit in the fridge for a day just to see how it would handle that down time. Not bad at all!!! The puff still had some crispy flakiness and the flavor remained delicious.

Now that spring is pretty much here, start thinking about your own version of millefeuille. So many options. You can do it!

Meanwhile, Steve and I look forward to our second vaccine dose in a handful of days and . . . . . . my tulips are coming up!!! Yay!!

Mille-feuille chocolat - chocolate puff and other stuff

Before I start on the topic at hand, here are some pics of the delectable chocolate bread pudding I made using the left over chocolate croissant spirals from my last post.  I diced up the spirals, poured a basic chocolate custard over the pieces in my favorite square C&B ramekins, sprinkled on some vanilla sugar and baked 'em in a water bath.

just out of the oven

Just imagine one served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Yes, indeed.

Now on to the task at hand.  What most of us know as napoleon, mille-feuille (literally "a thousand leaves") is that classic combination of puff pastry layered with vanilla pastry cream.  Of course, as is true of pretty much any classic you can think of, there are a multitude of ways to create variations on the theme.

Years ago, before pastry school was even a gleam in my eye, I made versions of this dessert using good old Pepperidge Farm puff pastry sheets, cut into squares and baked, then simply layered with a cream or custard and fresh fruit and/or a fruit coulis.  Always good.

Once pastry school was under my belt and I experienced what Paris had to offer, mille-feuille was often on my tasting hit list.  During my stage at Pascal Pinaud's shop on rue Monge in the 5th, raspberry-lemon mille-feuille was offered as a special treat only on Sundays.

When done well, the combination of crisp, flaky, buttery puff and smooth and creamy custard can't be beat.

Flash forward to the spring of 2013 when I took a class at Christophe Felder's school in Paris on mille-feuille chocolat.  I purchased his pastry tome Patisserie! and have been drawn into it lately to refresh myself on the classics as well as get inspiration for some new ideas (new tart coming up soon!).  My eyes lit up at the recipe for mille-feuille chocolat and off I went on a trip down feuilletage chocolat lane.

This recipe calls for cocoa powder added to the détrempe, just as in my recent chocolate croissant experiment.

les ingredients

I made half a recipe:  250 gm flour, 30 gm cocoa powder, 130 ml cold water, 43 gm melted butter and 5 gm salt mixed together just until everything is incorporated.

the creature from the Black Lagoon!

The détrempe felt dry, and it looked a lot more blotchy than when I make regular puff pastry.  I gave it a couple hour rest in the fridge and prepared the 168 gm butter block.

ready for the beurrage

Once I completed the beurrage and started the folds/turns the dough in general started to look a little better, but still blotchy.

after the first two turns - yikes!

But once all the turns were complete the dough looked and felt better - there was hope after all.

after six turns

I held the dough in the fridge overnight for use the following day.  Otherwise I would typically pop it into the freezer for another time.

When rolling out the puff for mille-feuille, it's important to roll it about 2-3 mm thick.  I divided the dough in two and rolled each piece to fit a quarter sheet pan.

It's important to let the dough rest - otherwise it shrinks when baking (as you'll see in the upcoming pictures).  It's also a good rule to freeze the rolled out puff for 10 minutes or so before baking to help stabilize the dough.

ready to bake

For comparison I baked one quarter sheet with a cooling grid over the pan (seen above) to help limit the puff's rise and the second one topped with a piece of parchment and a second sheet pan to weigh it down (the generally recommended method to keep puff under control).

I did NOT prick either one with a fork, having found instructions on line with and without (Felder's approach) fork pricking.

What really happened in the oven?  The weighted down version puffed anyway, and I actually pushed it down a couple of times during baking to try and keep it flat.

The one with the grid over it puffed up to the limits of the grid, but it ended up more irregular with undulating waves across the surface.

And both of them shrank.

Having chosen the weighted down piece for my assembly, I trimmed the edges and cut it into thirds,

and then a dust of powdered sugar and under the broiler for a couple of minutes to caramelize.

On to the assembly!

I made a simple whipped ganache filling using 250 gm heavy cream and 70 gm chocolate.  While I was piping the first layer I was reminded of the radiatore pasta Steve and I had just eaten a couple of nights before - ruffles!

first whipped ganache layer

second puff layer

second whipped ganache layer

completed layers

Once all the layers were assembled I popped the whole thing into the fridge for 30 minutes before topping with a basic 1:1 ganache.

getting ready to spread the ganache

used a decorative comb for design

The result looked pretty cool, but the flavor of the puff was disappointing - rather boring and not terribly chocolatey.  I also felt the puff layers were too thick and should have been more crisp and flakey.

What would I do differently next time?  Use standard puff pastry (not chocolate), roll it more thinly, let it rest longer so as to reduce shrinkage, and prick the dough with a fork before weighing it down and baking it.

Steve's reaction?  "What's so special about mille-feuille?"

OK, OK - back to the drawing board!