The millefoglie is definitely one of the classic sweets of the city of Verona and a must-try if you are on holiday. Today we propose revisiting this particular sweet, which draws its origins from the classic recipe handed down from grandparents to star Chef Giancarlo Probelli.
A classic dessert that often falls among the pleasures of Casa Prebelli (a gourmet restaurant in Verona perfect for a fine dinner). “In fact, the chef explains, these are the surprises of a fine meal. They arrive when guests usually feel fulfilled and represent a sort of “restart”. They are in fact a series of small tastings, several sweets that delight the palates of the most greedy guests».
A Gourmet Recipe
We are fortunate to know the exact process to create this wonder, a secret unveiled… The millefeuille is composed of a puff pastry and cream. The dough must be kneaded from flour with water, salt and 75 grams of butter. Then you have to form a smooth dough and let it rest 15 minutes. With the remaining butter, a tile of about 1 cm tall is to be formed. Then with a rolling pin, the dough is spread to form a rectangle of the thickness of 4/5 mm and in the center you place the butter, covering it with the side flaps of the dough. Then the shape must be beaten with the rolling pin and the dough is stretched.
Then proceed with the rounds to give the dough in order to obtain the final height of the puff pastry: you have to fold the dough in three parts, overlap it, stretch it and repeat the operation three times, letting rest 10 minutes in the refrigerator between each round.
Finally, it is necessary to spread the dough to a height of 2/3 mm, to obtain discs with a diameter of about 8 cm and to bake them at 200 °c for 10 minutes.
Another crucial step concerns the preparation of the cream. To prepare the cream you have to cook in a bain-marie 90 grams of sugar, butter, cornstarch and vanilla, at 82 °c. While the cream is cooled, a meringue is prepared by assembling the egg whites with 30 grams of sugar, which are then mixed with the cream.
But the eye also wants its part. To compose the dish, you have to fill the puff with the cream and cover it with chopped almonds. Finally, sprinkle with icing sugar and decorate the dish with a round of Saronno almonds.
The ingredients needed for 4 people:
• Icing sugar – to taste
• Saronno almonds crushed – to taste
For puff pastry
• 500 g flour
• 15 g salt
• 250 g water
• 525 g butter (of which 75 g for batter)
For the cream
• 60 g yolk
• 120 g of Albumi
• 120 g sugar
• 30 g butter
• 1 g cornstarch
• 1 Vanilla