Beyond Our Sky

Gluten-free Mille Feuille

Mille Feuille is a french dessert commonly known as a vanilla slice. This version is gluten-free, consisting of homemade gluten-free puff pastry and a crème légère filling.


This puff pastry recipe is slightly different from a normal puff pastry as it does not involve a slab of butter being folded into the dough. It still uses the lamination method, but small cubes of butter are distributed throughout the dough instead. To replace normal plain flour, a combination of rice flour, potato starch, corn flour, tapioca starch and almond meal is used. The result is a flaky and layered puff pastry.

The filling is a crème légère, which is a mix of vanilla crème pâtissière and chantilly cream. It is extremely light and perfect for cakes, eclairs and tarts.

So I hope you enjoy this mille feuille recipe, inspired by Frederique Jules from Noglu restaurant.

 

Gluten-free Mille Feuille

Gluten-free Puff Pastry

  • 125g rice flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 50g potato starch
  • 25g corn flour
  • 25g tapioca starch
  • 25g almond meal
  • 1/2 tsp xantham gum
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 150ml cold water
  • 225g unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes
  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the rice flour, potato starch, corn flour, tapioca starch, almond meal, xanthan gum and salt. Add the cold water and knead on low speed until smooth and just combined. Add the butter and continue to mix lightly, keeping the lumps of butter throughout the dough.
  2. Shape the dough into a 15 x 15cm square. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
  3. On lightly floured surface, make a simple turn: Roll the dough out to a 15 x 45cm rectangle. Fold one end of the rectangle towards the middle. Then fold the other end over the first fold. Return to the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Repeat this process 4 times, ensuring to rotate the dough 90 degrees each turn.
  4. After the turn process, roll the dough out until it is 3mm thick. Using a template as a guide, cut 4 x 8.5cm rectangles from the dough. Place rectangles onto a lined baking tray. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
  5. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
  6. Remove rectangles from the refrigerator. Cover the dough with another sheet of parchment paper and place a baking tray on top to weigh down the dough as it bakes.
  7. Bake for 10 minutes at 200°C. Remove the parchment paper and baking tray from the puff pastry and bake for a further 8-10 minutes until golden brown.
  8. Transfer the baked layers to a wire rack to cool completely.

Crème Légère

  • 400ml milk
  • 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 70g caster sugar
  • 45g cornflour (can substitute with potato starch)
  • 40g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
  • 500ml cream
  • 2 tsp vanilla bean paste
  1. In a medium saucepan, heat together the milk, vanilla bean and seeds to a simmer. Cover with a lid and infuse for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, whisk together the egg yolks and 60g sugar until pale in colour and thickened. Sift in the cornflour and whisk until thoroughly combined.
  3. Gradually add the hot milk to the egg mixture, whisking constantly to temper the egg yolks. Continue doing so until all the milk is added and return to medium heat. Whisk continuously until the mixture has thickened and is boiling. Then whisk for a further 2 minutes to ensure all the cornflour has been activated.
  4. Remove from the heat and add the butter. Whisk until well combined.
  5. Pass the crème pâtissière through a sieve into a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap ensuring it touches to surface so a skin does not form. Refrigerate until cooled.
  6. Whip the cream, remaining 10g of sugar and vanilla bean paste until stiff peaks form.
  7. Fold the whipped into the cooled pastry cream in three batches. Transfer into a piping bag fitted with a plain round tip. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Assembly

  • Icing sugar
  • Fresh berries
  • Freeze dried berry powder
  • Pistachios, chopped
  1. Pipe crème légère onto cooled pastry rectangles. Place another pastry rectangle on top, and pipe another layer of crème légère. Finish with a final layer of pastry. Decorate with a dusting icing sugar, fresh berries, berry powder and chopped pistachios.
  2. Best served on the same day of assembly, but can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.