Mille-feuille

Instructions

1. On a lightly floured surface roll 100 g of all-butter puff pastry out to an even 3 mm thickness and trim it to a neat 12 x 15 cm rectangle. Prick it all over with a fork, lay it on a baking-paper-lined tray and chill 20 minutes so it will not shrink or dome.
2. Heat the oven to 200C. Cover the pastry with a second sheet of baking paper and weight it with another baking tray, then bake 20 minutes until deep gold. Lift off the tray and top paper, dust the pastry evenly with 5 g of icing sugar and return it for 5 minutes, until the sugar melts to a glassy caramel. Cool completely on a rack, then cut with a serrated knife into three 4 x 12 cm strips.
3. For the crème pâtissière, bring 120 ml of whole milk with 0.5 tsp of vanilla extract just to the boil in a small heavy pan. In a bowl whisk 1 egg yolk with 25 g of caster sugar until pale, then whisk in 8 g of cornflour.