Chocolate Millefeuille

Before starting this Chocolate Millefeuille recipe, organised all the necessary ingredients for the reverse puff pastry.
Reverse puff pastry is puff pastry with the butter on the outside. Unlike puff pastry, you won't find reverse puff pastry in stores. Give it a try, it is really worth the effort!

For the reverse puff pastry: (make the day before) In a food mixer recipient, shape the flour into a fountain. If you don't have a stand mixer and want to make puff pastry from scratch, arrange the flour in the shape of a fountain on your workbench. Add the salt...

... and cold water.

Using the dough hook, start kneading at low speed to incorporate the flour, then increase the speed...

... until a ball forms. If you are not using a mixer, gather the flour with your fingers by drawing it into the water, until all the flour is incorporated and you obtain a ball.

Remove the dough from the bowl...

... and wrap in cling film.

Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. You can prepare the dough the day before and store in the fridge overnight.

For the preparation of the butter: Shape the flour into a fountain. Place the butter in the centre. The butter should be at room temperature, cut into cubes.

With your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour...

... until homogeneous. Shape the butter into a rectangle, with a thickness of 1 cm.

Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. You can prepare the butter the day before and store in the fridge overnight.

For the turns: Place the butter block on a floured surface.

Using a rolling pin, roll out the butter into a long strip.

Roll out the dough into a rectangle, to the same width and half the length of the butter strip. Place the dough rectangle in the centre of the butter strip.

Fold the top part over the dough...

... then the bottom part. The dough should be wrapped with butter.

Roll out lengthwise, to a thickness of 1 cm.

For the first double turn: Fold the top quarter of the dough over.

Remove the flour excess with a flour brush or pastry brush. This is really important, as we don't want to add any extra flour to the dough.

Fold the bottom quarter of the dough over.

The ends should not meet in the centre. There should be a gap of approximately 2 cm.

Fold the dough in half, from the gap in the centre.

This operation is called a double turn (which equals two single turns). This folding method is also called "portefeuille" ("wallet turn").

Wrap the dough block in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Place the dough on a floured surface, with the folds to the side.

For the second double turn: Roll out lengthwise, to a thickness of 1 cm. Of course, you can use a laminator for this recipe.

Fold the top quarter of the dough over.

Fold the bottom quarter of the dough over.

The ends should not meet in the centre. There should be a gap of approximately 2 cm.

Fold the dough in half, from the gap in the centre. The second double turn is now complete. Inside-out puff pastry requires two double turns and one single turn.

Wrap the dough block in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

For the single turn: Place the dough on a floured surface, with the folds to the side.

Roll out lengthwise, to a thickness of 1 cm.

Fold the top third of the dough over...

... then fold the bottom third over. There should be three layers of pastry. Wrap the dough block in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

The reverse puff pastry is now finished. The longer you store it in the fridge, the better the results. I strongly recommend making this pastry the day before. This dough is slightly more delicate than classic puff pastry, but it is totally achievable if you already master the puff pastry technique. Reverse puff pastry is also slightly quicker to prepare since it requires two double turns and 1 single turn. Puff pastry with butter on the outside is crispier and will melt in the mouth.

For the chocolate crémeux (make the day before): Organise all the necessary ingredients.

Pour the whipping cream and milk in the saucepan and heat until the temperature reaches 70 to 80°C (do not bring to a boil).

In the meantime, pour the egg yolks and caster sugar in a mixing bowl.

Blanch the ingredients using a whisk.

When the milk and cream are warm, pour 1/3 over the blanched eggs and sugar.

Combine well with a whisk.

Return the saucepan to the stove, then add the mix into the saucepan...

I recommend using a digital thermometer to monitor the temperature of the cream. Cook 'à la nappe' (i.e. until the consistency is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon). Ideally, the preparation should get to a temperature of 85°C.

Take the pan away from the heat when the preparation reaches 79°C, since the preparation will continue to cook a little inside the pan.

Transfer the preparation into a clean mixing bowl to stop the cooking.

... and combine well with a rubber spatula.

Finish mixing with a Bamix hand blender...

... until smooth and homogeneous.

Cover the surface of the cream with cling film. Store in the fridge overnight.

Baking the inside-out puff pastry: Roll out the dough to a thickness of 3 mm, then cut a rectangle to the dimensions of the puff pastry baking tray. Gently arrange the dough rectangle in the bottom tray, without greasing it beforehand.
Important: The puff pastry should be baked on the day you're going to serve the millefeuille. This will ensure optimal crispiness of the pastry.

Slide both parts together to enclose the dough.

Bake at 170°C (gas 3) for 30 minutes.

This baking tray allows the flaky dough to rise during baking to a regular thickness that won't exceed 1 cm. The perforated pattern from the tray should now be printed on the pastry for an original effect.

If you want a plain pastry with no effect, simply place a sheet of greaseproof on both sides of the pastry before baking.

While the puff pastry is still hot, sprinkle the surface with a thin layer of icing sugar.

Use a small sifter or a sieve...

... to create an even, regular layer. Return the tray to the oven and bake at 210-220°C (gas 7) for a few minutes to obtain a caramelized effect.

This is what the pastry should look like. Make sure you caramelize the pastry at a high temperature to prevent overcooking the pastry. It will take only a few minutes to caramelize the sugar in a really hot oven.

Divide the pastry crosswise into 5 strips. I recommend using a dough cutter with wheels to create identical strips.

The point is not to cut the pastry with the wheels, but simply to mark the pastry. Since the caramel is still hot on the surface, the lines will print easily.

Adjust the wheel cutter accordingly and slide it a couple of times on the surface of the pastry.

Following the marks, cut the pastry with a serrated knife. Since the pastry is warm and the caramel still soft, the pastry should cut easily without breaking into pieces.

Arrange the 5 pastry strips on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper...

... and set aside to cool.

Assembling the millefeuille: Remove the chocolate crémeux from the fridge and remove the cling film. Transfer some chocolate crémeux...

... into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle (diameter 1 cm).

Pipe thin laces of chocolate crémeux on the surface of the pastry...

... making sure to create tight rows. Once the whole pastry is covered with chocolate, we estimate there is about 100 grams of chocolate per layer.

Cover with a second strip of pastry. The caramelised side should be facing down.

Press gently on the biscuit so it sticks to the cream. Make sure you don't crush the elements.

Repeat the previous steps and pipe tight rows of chocolate crémeux...

... over the whole surface of the puff pastry.

Cover with a second strip of pastry, caramelized side facing down.

Press gently on the biscuit so it sticks to the cream.

Repeat the steps above until you have 4 layers of chocolate cream and 5 puff pastry rectangles. For the last strip of puff pastry, make sure the caramelised side if facing up.

The millefeuille layers are now assembled. Give a quarter turn to the cake to display it in a vertical position for an original effect. The different layers should be visible on the surface. This presentation will also facilitate the cutting operation.

Gently press on both sides of the millefeuille to get even and homogeneous layers. Trim both edges of the millefeuille for a neat result.

Carefully transfer the millefeuille on a serving plate.

For the chocolate decorations: To make the chocolate discs, temper some dark chocolate and spread on an acetate sheet. Cut small chocolate discs with a stainless steel plain piping nozzle (diameter 1 cm). You can also make chocolate rectangles by sliding the 5-wheel cutter on the chocolate. Set aside.

For the finish: With the remaining chocolate crémeux, pipe small pointed dots into tight rows over the whole surface.

You can use the same nozzle for this operation (plain Ø 1cm). Squeeze the piping bag to create a small dot, then make a sharp vertical movement to create the pointed end.

The final result should look like this.

Place a chocolate rectangle on both ends of the millefeuille. Cut them to the right dimensions beforehand. If you need to trim them a little, use a knife with a warm blade.

Repeat the operation and stick a chocolate rectangle on the other end...

... and press gently so the chocolate sticks. It should stick easily to the chocolate crémeux.

Using decorating tweezers, gently arrange a few chocolate discs...

... over chocolate cream pointed dots, in a random pattern.

Finish by placing small pieces of gold leaf with decorating tongs...

... on top of a few chocolate cream pointed dots. Like the chocolate discs, arrange the gold leaf in a random manner.

This chocolate millefeuille is the perfect dessert for chocolate lovers!
We used the Ocoa dark chocolate with 70% cocoa, but obviously you can use any dark chocolate of your choice (Inaya, Saint-Domingue, Ghana...), with a slightly lower cocoa content if you wish. Although make sure you use dark chocolate for this recipe! Using milk or white chocolate would affect the consistency of the cream.