I can't believe that the Great British Bake Off is actually over, and by extension that I've survived 10 Technical Challenges (I'm counting the pitta breads in that as even though I didn't blog about them I did make them, promise!). I'm beyond thrilled that Nadiya stormed to victory in the tent - even though I'm a little bit in love with Tamal - and I loved that the final challenge tested the bakers on a skill they'd all struggled with previously: pastry.
Under normal circumstances I'm not too bad at making pastry, but this challenge had me wrapped in knots... For some reason it all fell apart slightly and I had to make my rough puff twice, plus it all went a little wrong in the oven (melted butter everywhere: such a disaster!). Somehow I managed to pull it back with the presentation, and when the time came for people to try them all previous panic was forgotten as they tasted incredible. I'm not entirely sure how I managed to pull this off, but these Raspberry Millefeuille were pretty spectacular indeed!
The original recipe can be found on the BBC Food website here, but it's also below with my notes and photographs.
Ingredients:
For the rough puff pastry:
450g/1lb plain four, plus extra for rolling
pinch of salt
75g/2½oz butter, chilled and cut into cubes
180g/6¼oz butter, frozen
icing sugar, for dusting
For the raspberry jam:
200g/7oz raspberries
250g/9oz jam sugar
knob of butter
For the sugar syrup:
25g/1oz caster sugar
For the icing:
250g/9oz white ready-to-roll fondant icing
125g/4½oz pink ready-to-roll fondant icing
For the Chantilly cream:
600ml/20fl oz double cream
50g/1¾oz icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla paste
60 raspberries (roughly equal in size - this can be a nightmare, so buy a large punnet of raspberries and pick out the best ones)
Method:
N.B. you'll need frozen butter for the rough puff pastry, so make sure you measure out 180g and place it in the freezer the night before you need to use it. You don't want to have a mad panic on the day you decide to make these!
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. The recipe calls for about 4-6 tablespoons water, but once again I feel like no-one proof read it before posting on the BBC website. I ended up making the pastry twice and both times my mixture took 18 tablespoons to bind properly - the initial 6 tbsp required barely touched the breadcrumb like mixture! - and even then it felt a little lumpy and not at all like I would have liked. I ended up having to use it anyway but I wasn't best pleased with the results!
On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough out into a rectangle. Grate half of the frozen butter over the bottom two-thirds of the dough (I promise that's butter, not cheese!).
Fold down the top third and fold up the bottom third as if folding a letter. Turn the folded dough by 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.
For the jam, put the raspberries in a small, deep pan with the sugar and cook over a low heat until the sugar has melted.
Bring to the boil and boil vigorously for 4 minutes, or until the temperature on a jam/sugar thermometer reaches 104C/220F (this is the setting point).
Remove from the heat and stir in the knob of butter. Transfer to a large bowl and leave to set.
Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7. Line 3 large baking trays with baking parchment. Divide the pastry into 3 equal pieces and roll each piece to a 30x23cm/12x9in rectangle, about 5mm thick. Then place each pastry rectangle onto the lined baking trays and chill for 10-15 minutes.
Dust heavily with icing sugar. 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. Mine bizarrely took around 30 minutes, and even then one was vaguely overdone, one was underdone and the other seemed just right. The last thing I needed was a Goldilocks scenario at this stage but never mind!
For the sugar syrup, bring the sugar and 50ml/2fl oz water to the boil in a small pan and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
For the icing, roll the white fondant into a 20x15cm/8x6in rectangle. Roll the pink icing into a 10x15cm/4x6in rectangle.
Cut the pink icing into 10 strips, each 1cm/½in wide and 15cm/6in long. Lay the pink strips on top of the white icing (the pink strips should be the same length as the short edge of the white rectangle), ensuring they are evenly spaced with approximately 1cm/½in between each strip. Roll over them with a rolling pin to fix the stripes in place.
Cut out 6 neat rectangles from the striped icing, each measuring 12x5cm/4½x2in and with the stripes facing the same way, so the tops of the millefeuille match. Set aside.
When the pastry has cooled, cut six 12x5cm/4½x2in rectangles of pastry from each sheet of baked rough puff, so you have 18 pastry rectangles. I found it helped to have 18 paper templates (12x5cm) to work out how best to cut the right amount of rectangles from the pastry sheets (plus it meant I could manoeuvre them around to cut out a spare one too).
For the Chantilly, whisk the cream, icing sugar and vanilla to soft peaks. Spoon into a disposable piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle.
To assemble, set aside 6 pastry rectangles. Spread a thin layer of jam (approximately one teaspoon) over the remaining pastry rectangles.
Pipe a blob of cream in a corner of one of the pastry rectangles. Sit a raspberry next to it and continue piping cream with alternating raspberries until the pastry is covered. I ended up using 5 raspberries per rectangle if that helps! Repeat this process on the remaining the pastry rectangles. Sit the rectangles on top of each other so you have 6, double-layered pastries, topped with raspberries and cream.
To decorate, brush sugar syrup over the reserved 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 (I forgot to do this last part but I don't think they suffer at all because of it).
Store in the fridge until ready to serve.
Omg they're so cute.
How adorable are these?! Apologies for the millions of pictures, but the combination of stripey candy-coloured fondant icing, raspberries and flaky pastry is just too photogenic to pass up! Despite the stress involved in making the pastry, the rest of the recipe was actually okay and as a result the final product wasn't half as terrifying as I anticipated. If/when I make these again I will definitely be buying pre-made puff pastry as it really isn't worth the faffing, but everything else is manageable and totally worth the effort. Just look at them!
My stripes and Chantilly piping aren't as neat as I would have liked, but to be honest I quite like the slightly rustic look. I'm not a professional pastry chef by any stretch of the imagination and there's no way they'd be absolutely perfect, so I feel this is as good as it could get for me. With this in mind, I have no grounds to complain about their appearance at all!
I don't want to sound obnoxious, but these tasted divine. Once assembled my pastry issues disappeared and they were crunchy, flaky and packed with layers - even the sheet I thought was under-baked turned out okay. The tartness of the raspberries was complemented by the light, fluffy Chantilly cream, and the thin layer of fondant gave each millefeuille a sugary sweet hit. Everything about them just worked, and I couldn't be more pleased with the outcome!
I cannot stop looking at these pictures! I've never made anything like this before as I didn't think I was good enough to make something so precise and delicate, so this has provided a huge confidence boost for me. If I can make millefeuille, then what else can I do?!
Just a quick note: if you're thinking of making these too then take the quantities at the top with a pinch of salt. I had half of the jam and about a third of the Chantilly cream leftover (plus a tub of raspberries from selecting specific ones for assembly). Luckily you can use them up, but if you don't want anything left over then adjust the ingredients accordingly.
I have to say, these Technical Challenges have been fun! Once again I've made things I've never heard of before (Flaounes / Arlettes); mastered skills I've previously struggled with (meringue in the Spanische Windtorte); attempted bakes I've read about but avoided like the plague because they're too fiddly (Mokatines / Soufflé); built up my confidence with the basics (Frosted Walnut Cake); indulged my inner history nerd by pretending to be a Victorian (Tennis Cake); and proved that bread is still my nemesis (Baguettes / Pitta Bread, pun well and truly intended). Although some weeks haven't pushed me as I would have liked, I'm still enormously glad I've persevered and given them my all: I feel like I'm a better baker because of it, and that was the aim all along!
So, for the final time, will you be giving these Raspberry Millefeuille a go, or will you stick to buying them ready made from a professional? Do let me know if you try them out - or any of the challenges - in the comments below!
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