Shock! This Basic French Dessert Is Really Higher When Made at Dwelling

To grasp how I grew to become the dessert fanatic I’m right now, you’d have to fulfill my mom, who’s all the time within the temper for one thing candy. All through my childhood, she made it a mission to introduce my sisters and me to no matter confection she felt like consuming on a given day. She introduced house containers of tender madeleines, ethereal cream puffs, and slices of Opera cake, amongst many different scrumptious sweets. My favourite, nonetheless, was (and stays) mille-feuille, the basic French dessert that usually consists of three layers of crisp, delicate puff pastry stacked with vanilla pastry cream and is topped with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar. I beloved the cake a lot that, for my birthday annually, my mother skipped the usual yellow cake with chocolate frosting and bought me a big mille-feuille as an alternative. I’m undecided when this household custom began, however to today, it’s nonetheless my special day dessert of alternative. 

Sadly, it may be tough to discover a actually nice mille-feuille with shatteringly crisp pastry and velvety pastry cream, even in New York Metropolis. The reality is that the dessert doesn’t retailer properly—even when a talented chef makes and serves it, it doesn’t maintain up for lengthy, and most of the time, the cake is tender by the point it’s made its technique to a buyer. Which is why I’ve taken to creating my very own at house: It appears to be the one method I can assure that the mille-feuille I’m consuming will likely be crisp and contemporary, with no soggy bottoms in sight. Although mille-feuille might look difficult to organize, it’s a lot simpler once you break the pastry down into its two foremost parts: the puff pastry and the pastry cream. Right here’s the best way to make a stellar one at house.

Getting the Pastry Proper for Mille-Feuille

“Mille-feuille” means a thousand leaves, and refers back to the ultra-thin sheets of pastry which are created once you put together puff pastry. The method entails layering butter and dough collectively, then folding and rolling it over a number of occasions to “laminate” the dough. Because the dough bakes, the butter melts, creating pockets of steam that carry the pastry and create its signature layers.

You could possibly actually make your personal puff pastry from scratch, however I like to recommend saving your self the time right here by shopping for store-bought dough as an alternative. Since this dessert comprises little greater than puff pastry and pastry cream, it’s price in search of a good-quality dough that’s made with butter (like Dufour Basic Puff Pastry), which will likely be far more flavorful than pastry that’s made with palm, soybean, and/or vegetable oil.

Past buying the proper of pastry, it’s additionally important to bake it correctly. For mille-feuille, we wish pastry that’s crisp, flaky, and lightweight, but additionally sturdy sufficient to hold the load of the pastry cream. We additionally need flat, constant layers of puff pastry, which could be tough as a result of the dough is supposed to, properly, puff. The answer is to dock the dough throughout with a fork, then sandwich it between two rimmed baking sheets. As a result of my puff pastry nonetheless tended to rise even with the docking and the sandwiching, I like to recommend weighing down the highest baking sheet with two kilos of dried beans, which assist hold the dough as flat as potential.

For the Greatest Filling, Make a Correct Pastry Cream

I wish to be clear: I’m all for shortcuts that ship a terrific end result with considerably much less effort. That is why I simply beneficial you purchase the puff pastry. I can’t be making the identical advice for the pastry cream. There’s a time and place for custard combine or powder, and now shouldn’t be that point. As soon as once more, as a result of this dessert is, at its core, so easy and consists of simply puff pastry and pastry cream, you need each parts to be the perfect, and also you merely cannot obtain that with boxed custard.

The important thing to creating a terrific pastry cream is to prepare dinner it adequately by permitting it to bubble for a full minute—not doing so out of worry of scrambling the eggs might be one of many greatest pastry cream errors individuals make. This minute of cooking not solely thickens the custard by gelatinizing the cornstarch, but it surely additionally deactivates amylase, a robust enzyme within the egg yolks that may break down starch molecules and switch your pastry cream into an unappetizing puddle after it sits.

As for scrambling the eggs, haven’t any worry: The milk dilutes the egg proteins, making it harder for them to bond to one another as you whisk your pastry cream on the range. That does not imply the eggs cannot scramble, however with light warmth and fixed whisking across the whole pot, it should not occur. Lastly, I like to recommend utilizing an actual vanilla bean or vanilla paste right here if potential, as its taste is far more strong than extract, but when vanilla extract is all you’ve gotten, that will likely be high quality.

Slice Mille-Feuille

Alternating layers of crackly-crisp pastry and tender and spreadable pastry cream can current an issue when it comes time to slice it, and whereas a smushed and crushed plate of what was mille-feuille will nonetheless be scrumptious, quite a lot of its visible impression will likely be misplaced. Let’s keep away from that!

Calm confidence is the key to neatly portioning a whole slab of mille-feuille. Your finest guess is to make use of a serrated knife, as its many tooth will make straightforward work of sawing by means of the various layers of puff pastry with out compressing them down into the pastry cream under and triggering a full-blown structural collapse. Ensure that to slip the serrated knife forwards and backwards the place you wish to minimize whereas utilizing your free hand to stabilize the pastry; it is essential to not press down exhausting onto the pastry as you slice, otherwise you threat squishing it. As soon as you’ve got made your method by means of to the underside, gently however firmly press the knife right down to separate the underside layer of puff pastry from the remainder of the cake. For the cleanest cuts, dip your knife in sizzling water and wipe it dry between every portioning every slice.

There will likely be a scrumptious reward for you on the finish of all that slicing: a bit of celebration-worthy mille-feuille. (Price noting: It’ll even be glorious when you’ve got nothing to have a good time.)