Mille Feuille: Simple recipe and inspiring story

Key Points

• Mille Feuille is made from pastry layers and thin puff pastry, resulting in a combination that is super deliciously flavourful.
• Thin crispy layers are the hallmark of a great Mille Feuille, simple enough to cut with a fork.
• Céline Joly tells her story of how a lucky meeting with a wonderful pastry chef influenced her lifelong pastry mastery journey

Story by Céline Joly 

My name is Celine Joly I was born in Tournefeuille, France, a small town in the southwest of France, and this is the tale of how I fell in love with baking and desserts thanks to a magical meeting with someone who really inspired me and a dessert called the mille feuille or napoleon cake.

When I was 10 years old my family traveled to the iconic historic town near the Italian border called Menton for a week long holiday, with all the excitement going on my father made the mistake of making a wrong turn on the road and we had to take a different route to our hotel.

I'm not sure exactly where we were in Menton, we started getting hungry on the road, so my dad thought we should have something to eat and I was assigned to look out for a restaurant. (I was starving.)

“An incredible sight  We were just dazed from it all.”

A lot of time passed and we saw a place that looked like restaurants and stores, we stopped there, got out of the car and instantly my attention was captured by an extremely sweet scent, I said: where does it come from? – what's that? a bakery? A chocolate shop? candy-shop, right?

I followed my senses and it was there: the Menton Patisserie, I begged my parents to come in, they said that now wasn't the time for sweets but the moment they saw the shop they were hooked and we all went in.

The shop was a beautiful sight. We were all dazzled by all of it, pastries and sweets I didn't realize existed.

There was the head chef running the shop and conversing with customers.. She looked like an angel, a small chef’s hat rested on her long, elegantly wavy hair. Her eyes were as blue as the sky.

She was wearing an impeccable chef’s dress shirt and impeccable tie (a very cute feminine tie). She was so calm and confident and EXACTLY like I wanted to be when I was older (this is the first time in my life that I felt like that!) I got nervous but I summon the strength to speak to her, I told her that I was unsure and maybe she could help me choose what to get. She seemed a little surprised by my request, but very lovingly and in a friendly way she said: yes I am very happy to help you.

She told me that baking is her way of expressing her passion and happiness and sharing those feelings with other people, and that the shop is a source of strength and affection for her (what an inspiring woman!).

She explained what I could expect from each dessert, and asked me what desserts I normally enjoy. 

I did the same and I asked her what she really liked. Tried to pay attention to her, but somehow I was distracted by a dessert tray that came out of the kitchen, which was packed with a pastry that I had never seen before.

These little items were called mille feuilles, or napoleon cake, and they were just wonderful. It was the beginning of my lifelong pastry journey. The whole experience was just beautiful and inspiring. It was one of the most important parts of my childhood.

Again, my entire family was impressed, all of whom I'm sure could go back to that pastry shop with me at a moment's notice, and still be fascinated by that pastry chef's talent.

Mille Feuille Recipe

First Main Component: Puff Pastry

What is puff pastry?

Puff pastry consists of butter, sugar, salt, and flour. It is known as a staple of pastry and baking, and can be used in sweet or savory dishes.

Storage

Once cooked, it has a short shelf-life and is better eaten the same day it was baked. You can keep it uncooked for up to 2 or 3 days in the refrigerator, or for a month in the freezer.

Ingredients 

White vinegar ¾ teaspoon

Cold water ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon

Sea salt 1¾ teaspoons

All-purpose flour 3½ cups plus 2 tablespoons

Butter, at room temperature 12 ounces

Directions

Step one: Making the Detrempe 

In a small bow mix the flour with the salt, make a well and add the water, vinegar and soften butter. Mix the ingredients with you hand or a spatula until the dough has just come together into a mass. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Step 2: Making a butter block

The butter block is made as the dough chills in the refrigerator. Using a rolling pin and between parchment paper, flatten the butter out into a wide square measuring about 6 inches. Spread the butter gently, and smooth out the edges with a broad spatula.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Step 3: Combine Butter and Dough

The flaky consistency of puff pastry comes from layering butter and dough quite thinly, the puff pastry being done correctly would have several thin layers.

Start by pressing the dough with a rolling pin into a square about 1/2 an inch thick and 14 inches long let it rest about half an hour in plastic wrap in the fridge.

Place the butter diagonally in the dough, over the butter, fold the edges of the dough and press gently.

Place the dough in a lightly floured work surface and start rolling it gently and evenly until you make a 17 by 7 inch rectangle.

Mark lightly the dough into thirds and fold it into a square by alternating one third of the rectangle with the other. Do not press hard down. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes in plastic wrap.

Repeat the directions for the next turn.

Continue until you have made all 6 turns.

Let it rest in the refrigerator for 24 hours up to 48 hours.

Step 4: Baking

Preheat the oven to 400 ° F and line a baking pan with parchment paper, cut the puff pastry to the desired shape, bake for 30 minutes, turn the oven to 250 degrees. Continue to bake the pastry, until golden brown, for another 30 minutes.

Second Main Component: Pastry Cream Filling or Mousseline

It's time for the mille feuille filling

Step one: Pastry Cream Recipe

Ingredients:

Whole milk 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon

Butter 1 ounce or 2 tablespoons

Granulated sugar 2½ tablespoons

Vanilla bean ½ bean

Cornstarch 1 tablespoon

Cake flour 1 tablespoon

Granulated sugar 2½ tablespoons

Egg yolks 4 

Directions:

Combine the milk, butter, vanilla and sugar in a sauce pan and boil over medium heat until the sugar melts into the milk. Remove from heat.

Mix the cornstarch and milk in a small bowl. Stir in the yolks and mix until smooth, add a little hot milk mixture. Transfer to the saucepan and cook until thickened. Wait until it's warm and put in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it cool in the refrigerator.

Storage

Refrigerate for up to 2 days

Step two: Whip Pastry Cream to Make Mousseline

Place the pastry cream in a mixing bowl and add soft butter slowly whipping with a whisk attachment or a hand mixer until the mixture is smooth and fluffy.

Baking the pastry

Roll the dough into your baking pan size, or around 12 by 16 inches (with 1 inch from the sides to allow the pastry to expand).

Bake for 18-22 minutes approx. Coat with icing sugar and put to caramelize under the broiler. Let the pan cool for a few minutes, and then place carefully on a cooling rack.

Assembly

Cut rectangles out of the baked pastry of your desired size and pipe in the filling, cover with another sheet of pastry and repeat the process with two or three more layers, pipe whipped cream decorations on top and add strawberries and a mint leaf as a finishing touch or simply decorate with icing sugar dusting.

Tell Your Story

If you were to make the Mille Feuille of your dreams, what would you change, and with whom would you like to share it?