I made the crème pat the night before (using some spare yolks I had after having made macarons)...unlike the previous time, I made sure it would be thick, with a decent mount of cornflour, flour, and a couple of full eggs (rather than just yolks). This turned out to be not quite thick enough, and structural integrity was compromised. I should probably have gone full cornflour, and maybe 3 eggs, 1 egg yolk.
The blueberry jelly worked well, though again it wouldn't have hurt to have another sheet in the mixture to produce a firmer jelly...the colour was really good! I did make the mistake of using baking parchment to set it on, when I should have used foil. Finally, the pastry went pretty well...I used a fast method for making rough puff that I've had good results with before. So, generally I was happy with the individual components, but assembly was a bit tricky (mainly due to soft crème pat). Another option would have been to cut out all the slices of pastry individually, rather than attempt to slice the finished thing. This would have been fiddly with the jelly, and I could see having lots of cake squares being a big advantage if you went that way.
All the volumes here made more than was really needed, though if you had bigger baking sheets, you could make more slices (I was limited by the size of a baking tray for the puff pastry sections).
Blueberry Mille Feuille - Recipe
Crème patisserie Ingredients
- 500ml full fat milk
- 75g caster sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 3 egg yolks
- 40g cornflour
- 40g plain flour
- 100g butter
- 1tsp vanilla seeds
2) place the eggs, egg yolks, sugar and flours into a heatproof bowl
3) Whisk the eggs, sugars and flours vigorously until it is light, thick and creamy
4) As soon as the milk start to bubble at the edges, remove from the heat and slowly pour into the egg mixture, whisking all the while.
5) pour the custard into a clean saucepan, and return to a low heat. Continue to whisk.
6) The custard will begin to thicken as it heats. Don't stop whisking it. Once it's reached the desired thickness remove from the heat.7) Add in the butter, and whisk until fully incorporated
8) Turn the custard into a clean bowl, and place a layer of cling-film over it, touching the surface to stop a skin forming.
9) Place in the fridge to cool. This can be done ahead of time.
Rough Puff Pastry Ingredients
- Pre-heat the oven to 200'C
- Get 2 large baking trays, and 2 sheets of baking parchment the same size as the trays
- 400g plain flour
- 200g butter (chilled, in 1cm cubes)
- 200g lard (chilled, in 1cm cubes)
- Chilled water (~100-150ml, dependent on the thirstiness of your flour)
- Pinch of salt
- Plenty of flour for rolling
1) Place the flour and salt in a large bowl2) Put the cubes of butter and lard in, and toss with your fingertips until they are all coated in flour
3) Slowly add water while mixing with your fingertips, until a crumbly dough starts to form. As soon as you can form a lump of some description (bits will be falling off etc) you are done
4) On a heavily floured surface begin to roll out the dough into a rectangle about 40cm x 30cm
5) Fold into thirds, rotate, and repeat the rolling/folding 3-4 times more (at least...5-6 is better). Make sure to have keep the work surface and rolling pin heavily floured throughout. Pinch the edges closed each time.
6) Once you have done 4+ repeats, you should have a fairly neat looking rectangle of pastry. Roll this out to a medium thickness rectangle, wrap it in cling-film, and place it in the fridge for 20 minutes7) Once chilled, roll out to 3mm thickness. Cut a section equal in size to your baking trays
8) Form a sandwich going (bottom to top) Baking Tray - Baking Parchment - Pastry - Baking Parchment - Baking Tray. This will keep the pastry neat and tidy while you bake it, and stop it going too puffy
9) Place the pastry in the oven, and bake for 30 minutes
10) Remove from the oven and take off the top baking tray and baking parchment
11) Using a sharp serrated knife cut 3 equal, long rectangles out of the pastry. Leave these col cool on a wire rack
Blueberry Jelly Ingredients
- Line a swiss roll tin with foil. try and get the base as flat as possible, and into all the corners.
- 280g blueberries
- 60g caster sugar
- 60ml water
- 4 sheets of gelatine
1) Place the blueberries, sugar and water in a food processor2) Blend thoroughly, until you have a smooth liquid
3) Pour into a saucepan, over a low heat
4) Place the gelatine sheets in a bowl of water (ensure they are separated). This need to be left for 4-5 minutes to bloom
5) Boil the blueberry mixture gently for 3-4 minutes, until the colour is a rick purple.
6) Remove from the heat
7) Squeeze out the gelatine sheets, and stir into the hot blueberry mixture until it's all dissolved8) Pour the mixture into the prepared swiss roll tin, ensuring that it even covers the base
9) Leave to cool, then place in a fridge to chill and set
Assembly
- ~150g blueberries
- 350g fondant sugar
- 1tbsp cocoa powder
1) Place one of the sheets of puff pastry on a cutting board2) Carefully cut the jelly sheet in half, and place this half over the pastry sheet (I did this by leaving it on the paper/foil, flipping it upside down, then peeling back the paper to leave the jelly on the pastry)
3) Trim the jelly to the same size as the pastry sheet using a small, sharp knife
4) Put the crème patisserie in a piping bag with a large round nozzle attachment5) Pipe stripes of crème pat down the length of the pastry
6) Gently place a second slice of pastry on top
7) Gently place the other half of the jelly on top of this, and trim again
8) Form a chequerboard pattern of the blueberries on top of the jam.
9) In between the blueberries, pipe blobs of crème patisserie
10) Place the final slice of pastry on top of this. Place in the fridge to chill while you prepare the fondant icing
11) Put 325g of the fondant sugar in a bowl
12) Slowly add water while mixing, until a very thick paste is formed. Be really careful not to add too much water.
13) In a smaller bowl, place 25g of fondant sugar, and 1tbsp of cocoa
14) Again, add water while mixing to form a thick icing
15) Carefully spread the plain fondant icing over the top of the pastry, getting it all the way to the edge16) Put the chocolate fondant in a small piping bag, and cut the end off so that just a very thin amount can come out.
17) Pipe thin chocolate lines on top of the slices
18) Using a knife, run through these lines at 90' to form a marbling pattern
19) Place in the fridge (or, if your crème pat is a little soft, try the freezer)
20) Cut slices using a sharp serrated knife