Pain Perdu: France's Lost Bread

Here in America we drably call it French Toast, because of where it originated. But to call it that in France would seem a bit odd, wouldn't it? Not only that, the French have lovely names for things that sound even nicer when spoken in French. Hence Pain Perdu, or Lost Bread, the real and somehow romantic sounding name for French Toast. Doesn't it make you think a bit of the fairytale, Babes in the Wood? Of course, that's a story that traumatized my poor Pop as a child. You see, they didn't just get lost, the poor dears. They died in the wood and birds covered their bones with leaves.

Well, grim nature of old fairytales aside, this Lost Bread has a sweet and happy ending. Dredged in milk and then egg and sizzled in butter, it then gets a crisp caramelization of sugar. And afterward you get to help it "find" it's way to your plate, and in time, your tummy. Oh, bless you, dear French folks for saving our lost and lonely bread!

Mine looks just like the picture of theirs in the pan! Success, and how sweet it was ;)

This recipe came from my gigantic book, French Patisserie. It weighs 9 and 1/2 pounds and I'm pretty sure that's some indication of how much you will gain if you cook from it. This is my second recipe to try from it, the first was Cherry Clafoutis.

(Yeah, I was pretty excited when the book came;)

The recipe says to use a stale bread and it shows the cook putting some very firm and holey-looking bread into the pan. It might even be sourdough. Then in an aside, it says you can also use brioche or spice bread. I had a bit of a loaf of my very crusty and airy textured Artisan Bread leftover. This is a super impressive bread that an orangutan could make blind-folded- thus my ability to whip it out at any occasion. For the recipe see here- Overnight Artisan Bread . I also had a lovely loaf of brioche, and it is even from France, glory of glories. My Artisan looked a lot like the bread in the photos, but I adore brioche and its delicate sweetness. So I did half and half. Leave no stone, or lost bread, unturned I always say.

It began a lot like my regular French Toast recipe, only in mine the milk, eggs, and sugar are beaten all together with a bit of cinnamon. The recipe did not say whether the sprinkle of sugar went on one side, or both sides, or even if it was one at a time. So I let one side of bread begin to brown in the butter while I sprinkled sugar on the top. When I flipped, I sprinkled the other side. It went back down to caramelize a bit more before being popped into the oven for 6 minutes. 

Verdict? The slices I made with brioche turned out a lot like my own bread. It was a bit moist and slightly pudding-y in the middle, and had collapsed under the weight of the liquid. But my Artisan bread was incredible! It was not gooey at all and had the most amazing texture. The sugar had caramelized perfectly because it didn't retain as much moisture. I offered a slice to my youngest son, who doesn't care for French Toast. I told him it was French Pain Perdu and he opened his mouth like a little bird! Hey, I was telling the truth... and he loved it! He ate two more pieces, but said that he really only liked the ones made of Artisan bread. I agree.

My homemade bread on the left, the brioche on the right. See how the brioche fell and went limp, while my bread still has body and texture? Oh so yummy!!

 I might add that I gave these a little drizzle with syrup. That's the way we usually eat it, and it needed a touch of juiciness to top it off. This was a wonderful success and is my new recipe for "Lost Bread".  Vive la France!

ADDITION: I have had some questions about the recipe and so I wanted to give the instructions so that you can make it for yourself. I didn't put them in when I wrote it, because I didn't know if anyone would be interested! I'm just going to paraphrase the French recipe. They don't use a lot of specific instructions, probably because they think most folks have been watching their maman make this from the time they could toddle. I' m going to tell you have I did it, because it turned out amazing! Look back up to the photo of the cookbook to see pictures...

Preheat oven to 325 degrees (170 C). 

Heat 1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp of butter (20g) till foaming in a skillet over medium heat.

Take 6 slices of bread cut 3/4 inch thick (I cut my slices in half so they would look like the ones in the cookbook pic above). Dredge the slices first in one scant cup milk (200 ml), then 1/4 cup beaten egg (60g). Add the bread slices to skillet ;I could fit them all in my 12 in pan at one time. 

Measure out 2 and 1/2 Tbsp of sugar (30g). Sprinkle half over the slices of bread with a spoon. When the bottoms of the bread are just golden, flip over. You don't want them too done, becuase now they are going to get sprinkled with the remaining sugar. When the bottoms are browned and crusty, flip over again to caramelize the uncooked sugar. 

Transfer to a baking sheet and cook for 6 minutes. Serve with your favorite topping. Strawberries and whipped cream would be amazing! (I'm actually making an Artisan loaf tonight so my son and I can have this for breakfast :)

Hope this helps you make your own Pain Perdu! Holler if you have any questions..