Milléme pâtisserie boulangerie café

About once or twice a month I make my way to Jířího s Poděbrad, for work. When I do, I almost always stop by at Aromi la Bottega, but this time I was going to visit a nearby French style bakery called Milléme. Brewsta, whom I’m a huge fan of, wrote up a review on this place and I wanted to visit it for ages. I was quite busy and so I just grabbed a few things to take home.

The selection wasn't as big as I expected but the stuff looked very good. I was surprised to see macarons!

Tahiti (59kc)

My favourite probably. The cream has a very pronounced and refreshing qumquat flavour. The spongecake is fluffy and very good.

Noisette (69kc)

No pastry here, it's a combination of two very delicate creams, almost like a souffle.

Chocoline (59kc)

Soft layers of sponge cake and a very light chocolate cream. Nice.

Apple tart (40kc)

Crispy, and thin pastry on the bottom and lots of thin apple slices. The apples were soft but not mushy and kept their shape well, which is always good. It had just the right amount of cinammon and was not too sweet.

6 different mini macarons (140kc)

They were alright, not the best I've ever eaten. Some of them may have sat around for too long, but the pink and green ones were delicious. They only offered packages of macarons, not individual ones.

I haven't seen any regular cakes (big ones) on offer, the selection is limited to individual sized desserts, fruit tarts and puff pastries. Milléme also offers French style breads and baguettes, sandwiches, quiches and other savoury stuff for takeaway. The eat in menu offers salads, ommelets and other small dishes. The prices range significantly. A chocolate and nut slice of some kind that costed 59kc stood next to one that looked almost the same but costed 99kc. A medium sized baguette costs 28kc and it looked very appetizing. Breads cost around 50-70kc.

Everything I bought was very good and totally worth the prices, I was even surprised it wasn't more expensive. I would recommend their desserts to anyone. However, I haven't tried anything from the regular menu.

Pumpkin pancakes

The Hokkaido is probably my favourite pumpkin variety. It's sweet, has a pronounced flavour and stores very well. Hokkaido pumpkins are a bit difficult to peel though, so I bake them with the skins on and then just scrape out the soft flesh. However, if cooked long enough the skin is perfectly edible too! Given that the pumpkins are organic and have not been chemically treated of course!
These pancakes are very healthy, they contain just a little flour, no eggs and you only need a small amount of oil to fry them. Served with sour cream and lots maple syrup, they are one of my favourite breakfasts!

Ingredients:
400gr of Hokkaido pumpkin
150gr of flour
1 tablespoon sugar
a pinch of salt
½ teaspoon of baking powder
about 150ml of milk
oil for frying - 1 teaspoon per each batch of pancakes

Cut up the deseeded pumpkin into several pieces, line a baking tray with baking paper and put the pumpkin pieces on it. Bake in the oven for about 30-40 minutes, until the flesh is soft.
Scrape out the flesh and mash it up in a bowl. Add the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Pour in enough milk to make a paste like mixture that is thick enough not to fall off the spoon, but smooth at the same time.
Heat up a little oil in a non-stick pan. One tablespoon of the mixture will make one pancake, use another spoon to scrape the mixture off into the pan. I put 5 tablespoons of the mixture into the pan each time, so every batch consisted of 5 pancakes. Cover with a lid and fry on medium flame for 3-5 minutes. When you take the lid off you will see that each pancake has flattened out on the pan. Turn them around and bake for another 3-5 minutes, until brown on both sides. The baking time depends on how thick the pancakes are.

Serve warm with maple syrup, honey, jam, youghurt or anything else you like.
I sometimes keep some of the baked pumpkin aside, cut it into small pieces and add to the mixture to make the pancakes chunkier.

Pannacotta

An easy to make dessert, one of my favourites. Pannacotta means boiled cream and is basically a cream jelly, but a very smooth and delicate one.

200ml of 12% cream

300 ml of whipping cream (smetana na šlehání)

6gr of powdered gelatine (1/3 of a Dr. Oetker package)

1/2 vanilla pod

Sugar to taste

Cut open the vanilla pod and scrape out the insides, add to the cream. Heat cream and sugar in a small pot. When almost boiling add gelatine and take the skillet off the burner. Mix very well until the gelatine dissolves. Come back in a couple of minutes and mix again. If the gelatine is not dissolved try heating the mixture again, but not too much. Pour mixture into a serving bowl/bowls and let it cool it the fridge.

Pannacotta should be served with a fruity sauce like coulis. To make coulis just puree/blend any very ripe berries or fruits. If they are not ripe enough add sugar to taste.