Pain Perdu / French Toast

I've always known French toast (or in French is called Pain Perdu) but I was never really interested in making it because it just looks so sweet. However, a few weeks ago I was watching French Food at Home hosted by Laura Calder. She was making the French toast and Vincent, who happened to watch the show too - because I got the remote control so he couldn't change it to Tivi5 - said that he wanted it.

Then it is a different matter when your most loyal customer demands it.

A little bit background about Pain Perdu.... Back in the old days when bread was very expensive, people believed that nothing should have gone wasted in the kitchen. Since most bread only last for a few days, the stale bread is "rejuvenated" into this delicious edible French toast only with the help of egg and milk. Although the name is French toast and ideally it is made of stale French bread, it is not originated from France. It was believed to have come from the 4th century Roman recipes.

If I told you before that I thought French toast looked so sweet, well I was wrong. It COULD be sweet; like most American French toast with the syrup or sugar topping, but you can opt for the salty one too. You just need to top it off with a knob of salted butter (like on pancakes). Anyway, here is the recipe.

French Toast/Pain Perdu

Ingredients:

Stale French bread (normal bread is fine, too), cut diagonally
One egg, beat lightly
Some milk
Some salt (and sugar if you like)
Pepper
a knob of butter

Instructions:

Mix the egg, milk, salt and pepper and beat lightly.
Dip both sides of the bread into the mixture.
Melt the butter in a pan.
Fry away the bread until nicely brown.
You can stop here and directly serve the French toast. But I like to put it in the oven for 5 minutes to get a little bit crust on the outside of the toast.
Top with powdered sugar or butter or syrup, or any kind of fruits you like.

Super easy, delicious and money saving. Crunchy on the outside, lovely soft in the inside. Yumm...