Scarlett WMILLE ET UNE FEUILLES
February 27th 2007 15:36
MILLE ET UNE FEUILLES
About Mille et une feuilles
Small rectangular pastries made of crisp layers of puff pastry and pastry cream. This may also include savory fillings of similar presentation. The word mille-feuille means a thousand leaves.
About Pastry Cream
Pastry cream, also called by its French name crème pâtissière, is a stirred custard, further thickened with starch. It is used in pastry cookery, for example to fill éclairs or to top fresh fruit tarts. Basic pastry creams are typically flavoured with vanilla, but variations include chocolate, almond, butterscotch, and other flavours.
INGREDIENTS
Makes 8 servings
For the puff pastry (make 2 pounds)
1 pound (4 sticks) sweet butter, softened
1 pound all-purpose flour
1¼ cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon salt
For the pastry cream
1 cup milk
1 vanilla bean
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoon rice flour
1 teaspoon sweet butter
1 cup heavy cream, softy whipped
To serve
powdered sugar for sprinkling
1 pint golden raspberries
1. To prepare the puff pastry, in a mixing bowl, beat the butter until smooth with an electric mixer. Add ½ cup of the flour and mix until smooth.
2. Scrape mixture onto a piece of waxed paper and form into a square 5 by 5 inches. Wrap square in waxed paper and chill for 2 hours.
3. Add heavy cream and salt to remaining flour and mix gently.
4. Form dough into a ball, wrap in waxed paper, and chill for several minutes.
5. Roll dough into a rectangle, about 6 by 18 inches, and place butter square in center.
6. Fold over top and bottom thirds to encase butter, seal the edges, and chill about 30 minutes.
7. Roll dough again on a slightly floured board into another long rectangle with narrow edge facing you.
8. Fold into thirds lengthwise, brushing off any excess flour after each fold. Turn so narrow end faces you and roll again.
9. Fold into thirds, wrap in waxed paper, and chill for 1 hour.
10. Repeat this rolling/folding process five more times, each time rolling dough twice and letting rest in the refrigerator for an hour.
11. By the sixth fold the dough should be silky and smooth. Refrigerate in plastic wrap until ready to use.
12. On a lightly floured surface, roll pastry into a ¾-inch thick rectangle and cut in thirds.
13. Roll out each third (refrigerating remaining two thirds in the meantime so they don’t become too warm) to a 1/16 inch thick rectangle about 5 by 18 inches.
14. For easy handling, cut rectangles in half, forming six 5-by-9-inch pieces.
15. Place these pieces, spacing them evenly, on baking sheets. Chill for at least 30 minutes.
16. Meanwhile, prepare pastry cream. In a small saucepan, combine milk, vanilla bean, and ¼ cup of the sugar and bring to a boil.
17. In a small bowl, beat egg yolks with the remaining tablespoon sugar until thick.
18. Sprinkle rice flour and cornstarch over egg yolks and beat until well blended.
19. Remove vanilla bean from milk and beat a small amount of hot milk into egg yolk mixture.
20. Pour egg mixture into saucepan with remaining hot milk and bring to a boil, stirring vigorously to prevent scorching. Pouring into a mixing bowl; rub top of mixture with butter to prevent a skin from forming.
21. Cover with plastic wrap and let cool completely.
22. Preheat oven to 425ºF.
23. Prick chilled pastry with a fork and bake in the center of the oven for about 20 minutes, or until evenly browned. Transfer to wire racks and let cool.
24. When ready to assemble, fold whipped cream into the cold pastry cream.
25. Spread a ½-inch layer of pastry cream over all but 2 of the pastry strips and stack them one on top of the other in 2 stacks, topping each stack with one of the 2 plain pastry strips.
26. Sprinkle powdered sugar over the top of each stack.
27. Decorate with raspberries.
28. Using a serrated knife, cut each stack into 4 pieces, each about 5 by 2 inches.
**From “Outdoor Entertaining” and “Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia”**
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