Cooked - Perfect Flan - New Recipe

If you’re making your own pastry, start with that.Whisk the dry ingredients in a large bowl, then rub in the butter, or whizz it in a food processor – stop as soon as you can see no large pieces of butter.Stir in just enough water (you’ll need about two tablespoons) to bring the mix together into a smooth dough, then divide in half, and shape one half into a flat disc and the other into a flat rectangle.Wrap each piece of pastry individually, then chill for at least 30 minutes.Meanwhile, put the milk and cream in a medium saucepan.Slit open the vanilla pod(s) lengthways, then scrape out the seeds.Put the seeds and pod(s) in the milk pan and bring slowly to just below a simmer, stirring occasionally.Take off the heat, cover and leave to infuse for about an hour.Grease a 20cm solid deep pie dish (mine is 5cm tall).Roll out the pastry rectangle on a lightly floured surface to make a rectangle 1cm or so wider than your dish is deep and a little longer than the dish’s diameter.Trim the edges, then cut into two equal rectangular strips and use these to line the sides of the dish, pressing the join in the middle firmly until you can’t see it.Roll out the round piece of pastry, then use the base of the pie dish to help you cut out a neat round.Separate one of the whole eggs and, keeping the yolk aside, whisk the white until frothy.Paint this all over the pastry in the tin.Now lift in the base piece and press firmly to stick it down, so you can’t see the join.Cover and chill for at least an hour.Bring the vanilla-infused milk back to a simmer.Meanwhile, put the reserved egg yolk in a large heatproof bowl with the other two egg yolks, then add the three remaining whole eggs and anchor the bowl to the surface with a damp cloth.Put the cornflour in a small bowl, whisk in a little of the egg mix until smooth, then whisk this back into the egg mix, followed by the sugarFish out the vanilla pod(s) – I wash them, dry them and use them to infuse sugar – then pour a little of the hot milk on to the eggs, whisking as you do so.Once thoroughly combined, whisk in the rest of the hot milk.Pour the lot back into the pan and bring back to a simmer, stirring continuously.As soon as the mix begins to bubble (you can stop stirring briefly to check this), stir for 30 seconds more, then take off the heat and leave to cool (I put the bowl in a sink of cold water to speed this up), stirring occasionally to stop a skin forming.Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6 and, once it comes to temperature, line the pastry case with baking paper (scrunch it up first so it sits more easily) and baking or dry beans, or rice.Bake for 25 minutes, then remove, take out the beans and paper, brush the pastry with a thin layer of more egg white, then return the pastry case to the oven for another 10 minutes, until the base is golden.Remove and turn down the oven to 180C (160C fan)/gas 4, and give the case 10 minutes or so to cool down.Whisk the custard to bring it back together, or, for a really smooth custard, whizz it with a hand blender, then pour it into the shell, making sure you leave at least 1cm of pastry showing at the top.Carefully lift it into the oven and bake on a lower shelf for about an hour, until set but still with a wobble on top.Remove and leave to cool completely before slicing and serving.