Lemon Mille-feuille
Mille-feuille (literally "a thousand leaves/sheets") is a French pastry made of many puff pastry layers.
- Prep
- 23 min
- Cook
- 55 min
- Total
- 1 hr 18 min
- Servings
- As written in source
- Difficulty
- Advanced
Timings are approximate — worked out from the method, not measured in a test kitchen.
Ingredients
Quantities are retained as written by the source and do not scale automatically. Tap an ingredient to check it off as you go.
Cooking instructions
Procedure
Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C).
Procedure
Unroll the pastry on a lightly floured surface.
Procedure
Trim the pastry so that you are left with a rectangle approximately 23 x 25.5 cm.
Procedure
Roll out the larger piece of pastry to a 30 cm square, making sure you use a very even, gentle pressure on the rolling pin so that you end up with nice even edges.
Procedure
Grease a baking sheet and use the rolling pin to transfer the pastry to the baking sheet.
Procedure
Prick the surface of the pastry with a fork. Brush the pastry all over with the beaten egg.
Procedure
Place the baking sheet on a high shelf in the oven and bake for 12–15 minutes until crisp and golden.
Procedure
To get it extra crisp, heat the oven to its highest setting, sift 1 teaspoon of the icing sugar all over the pastry, and flash it under the grill.
Procedure
Remove from the grill and, using a sharp knife, cut the square into three equal strips.
Procedure
Turn the strips over, sift the rest of the icing sugar over them, and then flash them under the grill again.
Procedure
Cool on a wire rack, then store in a polythene box, each layer separated with greaseproof paper.
Procedure
Place the egg yolks and whole egg into a roomy bowl.
Procedure
Use an electric mixer to whip the eggs together with the castor sugar until the mixture is pale, thick and creamy (4–5 minutes). Add the milk as you mix.
Procedure
Sift the flour onto the mixture and whisk again until smooth.
Procedure
Add the lemon zest and juice.
Procedure
Place a pastry strip on the plate, and cover with half the lemon filling.
Procedure
Put the second pastry strip on the creme, and cover with the remaining lemon filling.
Procedure
Finally, top with the final pastry strip.
Photo: Miya · CC BY-SA 3.0 · http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ · Photo source and licence
Wikibooks contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ · Adapted; quantities retained as written. · Original source
Read it through first
Skim all 18 steps before you start — it is the difference between cooking and firefighting.
Scale it
Use the quantities listed in the original recipe. Adjust them manually if making a different batch size.
Storage
Cool completely, then keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days.
Reheating
Reheat gently with a splash of water in a covered pan, rather than blasting it, so nothing dries out.
Approximate values per serving. Worked out from the ingredient list — treat them as a guide, not a measurement.
Reviews
No reviews yet. If you cook this, come back and tell everyone how it went.
