Whether you’ve baked your way through nine technical challenges, or have just plucked up the courage to take on the technical, it’s time to put your mille-feuille where your mouth is and join in with the final Bake Off bake along this series! Just make sure you take a snap first.
This week our bakers once again shook hands with Mr. Pastry as they attempted the delicately tricky mille-feuille. Now we know just how tricky pastry can be, so unlike Paul, we’ve provided a detailed recipe below. Simply bake up a treat, take a photo and upload it right here to take part!
For the final time this series…
Makes 6
For the rough puff pastry
450g plain four
pinch of salt
75g butter, chilled and cut into cubes
180g butter, frozen
icing sugar for dusting
For the raspberry jam
200g raspberries
250g jam sugar
knob of butter
For the Chantilly cream
600ml double cream
50g icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla paste
48 raspberries (8 per individual millefeuille/4 per layer)
For the sugar syrup
25g caster sugar
50ml water
For the icing
250g white ready to roll fondant icing
125g pink ready to roll fondant icing
1. For the rough puff pastry, mix the flour and salt together in a bowl. Rub in the chilled butter using your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Gradually add enough water to form a dough (about 4-6 tablespoons of water).
2. Roll the dough out into a rectangle on a lightly floured work surface.
Grate half of the frozen butter over the bottom two thirds of the dough. Fold down the top third and fold up the bottom third as if folding a letter.
3. Turn the folded dough through 90 degrees and roll it out into a rectangle again. Repeat the process of adding the remaining frozen butter and fold as before. Wrap the dough in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes before using.
4. For the jam, place the raspberries in a small pan with the sugar and cook over a low heat until the sugar has melted. Add the knob of butter. Bring to the boil and boil vigorously for 4 minutes, or until the temperature on a sugar thermometer reaches 104C (setting point). Remove from the heat and stir in the knob of butter. Transfer to a large bowl and leave to set.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Line three large baking trays with baking parchment. Divide the pastry into three equal pieces and roll each piece to a 30cm x 23cm rectangle, 5mm thick. Then place each pastry sheet onto the lined baking trays, and chill for 10-15 minutes. Dust heavily with icing sugar.
6. Place a sheet of baking parchment on top of each sheet of rolled pastry and place a large baking sheet on top. Bake the pastry sheets for 10-15 minutes or until golden-brown and crisp. Set aside to cool.
7. For the sugar syrup, bring the sugar and water to the boil in a small pan and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
8. For the icing roll the white fondant into a 20cm x 15cm rectangle. Roll the pink icing into a 10cm x 15cm rectangle. Cut the pink icing into 10 x 1cm strips, 15cm long.
9. Lay the pink strips evenly spaced on top of the white sugarpaste and roll over them with a rolling pin to fix the stripes in place.
10. Cut 6 rectangles each measuring 12cm x 5cm from the striped icing with the stripes facing the same way, so that the tops of the millefeuille are matching. Set aside.
11. When the pastry has cooled cut six, 12cm x 5cm rectangles of pastry from each sheet of baked rough puff, so you have 18 pastry rectangles.
12. For the Chantilly, whisk the cream, icing sugar and vanilla to soft peaks. Spoon into a disposable piping bag.
13. To assemble, spread a thin layer of jam over 12 of the pastry rectangles. Snip the end off the piping bag and pipe a blob of cream on one of the pastry rectangles. Sit a raspberry next to it and continue piping cream with alternating raspberries over the pastry. Repeat this process on 12 of the pastry rectangles.
14. Sit the rectangles on top of each other so you have 6, two layer pastries, topped with raspberries and cream.
15. To decorate, brush sugar syrup over the remaining 6 pastry rectangles and stick the striped fondant rectangles to the pastry. Place on top of the raspberries and cream and brush with more sugar syrup to glaze.
16. Take a photo and share your bake with the nation.
17. Serve immediately.