Pain perdu literally means “lost bread.” The recipe was created as a scrumptious solution for what to do with stale loaves that were about to be “lost” or thrown out.

It's a smart way to use up any leftover bread you may have on hand and you need to plan a breakfast or dessert when on an RV camping adventure!  The English translation of this French saute' delight is: “Lost Bread”.  The stale bread gets lost as it soaks in a batter prior to cooking.

You can make this dish simple but tasty or kick it up a few notches if you want to make a dessert.

Stale bread (1 – 3 days old) is perfect as long as it is still soft and not moldy.  As an alternate use sourdough bread or challah bread.

Tip: You can check your eggs to ensure they are still eatable by: filling a tall drinking glass 2/3 full with water and ensuring the egg sink to the bottom of the glass.  When getting eggs ready for a recipe – do the sink test, if they pass then gently rinse off any debri from the egg shell itself and look for cracks in the eggshell.  Discard eggs that have cracked shells or didn't pass the sink test.

Serves 1 or more (recipe below for 1)

Ingredients (French toast)

1                   egg

1                    slice of stale, sourdough or challah bread

1 tsp             butter   

If making Pain Perdu for dessert just add the following to the egg batter:

2 tsp              brandy or Grand Marnier

2 tsp              sweetener (honey, swerve or sugar)

3 tbsp             heavy cream

Topping for French Toast or Pain Perdu

1/3 cup          fresh sliced peaches, raspberries or blueberries

Homemade peach syrup (optional)

1                   ripe peach, peeled and sliced

1/4 cup        peach or apricot jam

Pain Perdu Directions

1.  Make an egg batter (egg with a dash of water in a medium bowl).  Add other egg batter ingredient to ‘kick it up a notch if you like.
2.  Cut a slice of bread in half.  Let the bread soak on both sides a slice at a time.  Soak time 1 – 2 minutes.  After the bread is well soaked remove the bread from the egg batter to a plate, set aside.
3.  Place a tsp of butter in a medium saute' pan over medium heat.  When butter has melted add 1 – 2 slices of bread to the pan.  Cook approximately 3 minutes per side or until the bread is a nice golden brown.
4.  If making a homemade syrup:  Start a day or 2 in advance. Place jam in a small microwavable dish and cook on HIGH for 30 – 40 seconds, until the jam is starting to melt lightly.  Add the jam with some of the sliced peaches and let the peaches and jam marinate in the fridge for 1 – 2 days.
5. Top your French Toast/ Pain Perdu with syrup and berries of choice.

My cookbook Small Kitchen Big Flavors! is available at a great Introductory Price on Ebay and my blog site at: http:/smallkitchenbigflavorsblog.wordpress.com