Best Basic French Toast

A little Pain Perdu for your morning routine

The French call it pain perdu (pronounced payn pair-doo), which translates to "lost bread," because it was traditionally made with a stale baguette that had gone stale by the next day.

The technique of soaking old bread in an egg-and-milk mixture to revive it dates back to medieval Europe, making this one of the oldest recipes in Western cooking. In France, pain perdu can even be served as a dessert, topped with ice cream and caramel sauce, which tells you everything you need to know about how seriously the French take their stale bread. The American version picked up cinnamon and maple syrup along the way, but the soul of the dish is the same: don't waste the bread.

You can use your favorite bread, but I die for the buttery, eggy goodness of a rich brioche loaf.

And you can add commonly used ingredients like vanilla, cinnamon, or nutmeg — but I love making a simple custard that allows the brioche flavor to shine through. The added salt (optional) really punches it, too!

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Ingredients

• 1 loaf brioche bread, sliced into 6 one-and-a-half-inch slices and left out overnight to become stale

• 1 cup half-and-half or milk

• 3 eggs

• 2 tablespoons honey, warmed in the microwave (about 10 seconds)

• 1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon or nutmeg (optional)

• Butter or neutral oil for cooking

• Maple syrup, powdered sugar and fresh fruit for serving (optional)

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Instructions

1. The night before: Slice the bread and leave out uncovered to become stale.

2. In the morning: In a mixing bowl, whisk together the half-and-half (or milk), eggs, honey, and salt (and spices, optional). Pour the custard mixture into a shallow dish or pie pan and set aside.

3. Preheat a skillet over medium heat, or a griddle to 300°F.

4. Dip each slice of bread into the custard mixture and allow it to soak for 30 seconds to one minute on each side. (The whole idea of using stale bread is that it soaks up the custard without going mushy.)

5. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in the skillet or on the griddle. Place slices onto the cooking surface and cook until golden brown, approximately 2 minutes per side. Remove from the pan and plate as desired.

6. Serve immediately with fresh fruit, powdered sugar, and/or real maple syrup. Enjoy!

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