As a kid, having Pain Perdu on a Sunday morning was the greatest treat ever! Took me a long time (way into my adulthood) to find out that Pain Perdu was the French name to what in my country “Uruguay” they call Torrejas and in America is known as French Toast.
The original Pain Perdu is supposed to be made with cream and not milk and special bread is used, depending on where you read about it, or where you grew up.
Well in my house, we made it with regular sandwich bread and as far as my memories go, it was the best :-). Of course since then I have tried different variants, types of bread, with and without syrup, etc……. but kind of still holding on to my childhood memories.
Here is how my mum used to make it:
- In a shallow bowl, beat up a couple of eggs
- Add about 1/3 cup of cream or milk
- Beat up until combined
- Grab 4 slices of sandwich bread
- In a frying pan, add a large patty of butter and while it melts……
- Drench each slice of bread nicely in the egg/cream mixture
- When butter is nice and hot (but not burning), add the bread and cook on each side until it’s nice and golden.
- Place on a plate and give it a nice dusting of powdered (confectioners) sugar
And voila, that is what my family called Pain Perdu!
One of my family favourites nowadays is making a hole in the middle of each slice of bread and cooking an egg in the middle for a Egg in the basket Pain Perdu variety!