Pain Perdu (French "Lost Bread")
Thick slices of day-old brioche soaked in vanilla milk, eggs and sugar, browned in butter, then sugared and finished in a hot oven until the tops caramelize, served as a dessert the French way.
The usual French name is pain perdu, "lost bread", because it rescues stale bread (Wikipedia:). The idea is old. The Roman collection attributed to Apicius has a dish called aliter dulcia ("another sweet") of bread soaked in milk with honey poured over, which some writers call close to modern French toast and others say is not, because the Latin has no egg. Around 1300, Guillaume Tirel, called Taillevent, gave a recipe for tostées dorées ("golden toasts") with eggs and sugar in "Le Viandier", and 15th-century English recipes call the dish pain perdu. New Orleans still does, serving French bread in an egg custard with cane syrup or powdered sugar.
Clotilde Dusoulier, the French food writer behind Chocolate & Zucchini, describes pain perdu as stale bread soaked in a sweet egg batter and browned in a skillet, and serves her brioche version as the dessert at a dinner party. That is the Americanized difference in one line: in France it ends a meal; in America it starts the day, with maple syrup (our American Diner French Toast recipe).
🇫🇷 The original
Thick slices of day-old brioche soaked in vanilla milk, eggs and sugar, browned in butter, then sugared and finished in a hot oven until the tops caramelize, served as a dessert the French way.
🇺🇸 The American version
American diners made it breakfast: day-old challah in a lighter vanilla batter, browned in butter and served with butter, powdered sugar and maple syrup. See the American Diner French Toast recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Stale, rich bread
Day-old brioche is dry enough to soak up the custard without collapsing, and its butter and eggs make the inside taste like bread pudding.
Skillet, then oven
Browning in butter gives the crust, and the hot oven finishes the custard center to 160°F and turns the sugar on top into a thin caramel crackle.
Step by step
- Step 1
Bring the milk and split vanilla bean to a bare simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat, turn off the heat and let it cool 15 minutes. (With extract, just warm the milk and stir it in.) Remove the bean.
- Step 2
Heat the oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and brush it lightly with butter.
- Step 3
Whisk the eggs and 1/2 cup sugar in a shallow dish, then whisk in the cooled milk.
- Step 4
Dip a slice in the batter about 10 seconds per side, turning it gently so it soaks without falling apart. Let the extra drip off.
- Step 5
Melt a little butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Brown the slices two at a time, 2 to 3 minutes per side, until golden, adding butter as needed. Move them to the baking sheet. (You can cover and refrigerate them up to 3 or 4 hours at this point.)
- Step 6
Sprinkle the tops with the 2 tbsp sugar and bake 15 minutes. The center of a slice should read 160°F.
- Step 7
Turn on the broiler and broil about 5 minutes, watching closely, until the sugar is lightly caramelized. Serve right away, one slice per guest (two for the hungry), with fruit coulis or sorbet and whipped cream if you like.
Pain Perdu (French "Lost Bread")
Serves 6 · 10 thick slices · 1 hr 5 min total
Vanilla milk
- 1 1/3 cups whole milk
- 1 vanilla bean, split, or 1 tsp vanilla extract
Batter
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
Bread and finishing
- 10 thick (1 1/4-inch) slices day-old brioche or challah (about 1 lb)
- 3 tbsp butter, for the pan and the baking sheet
- 2 tbsp sugar, for sprinkling
To serve (optional)
- Fruit coulis or sorbet and a little whipped cream
Method
- Bring the milk and split vanilla bean to a bare simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat, turn off the heat and let it cool 15 minutes. (With extract, just warm the milk and stir it in.) Remove the bean.
- Heat the oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and brush it lightly with butter.
- Whisk the eggs and 1/2 cup sugar in a shallow dish, then whisk in the cooled milk.
- Dip a slice in the batter about 10 seconds per side, turning it gently so it soaks without falling apart. Let the extra drip off.
- Melt a little butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Brown the slices two at a time, 2 to 3 minutes per side, until golden, adding butter as needed. Move them to the baking sheet. (You can cover and refrigerate them up to 3 or 4 hours at this point.)
- Sprinkle the tops with the 2 tbsp sugar and bake 15 minutes. The center of a slice should read 160°F.
- Turn on the broiler and broil about 5 minutes, watching closely, until the sugar is lightly caramelized. Serve right away, one slice per guest (two for the hungry), with fruit coulis or sorbet and whipped cream if you like.
Adapted from Clotilde Dusoulier, "French-Toasted Brioche (Brioche Façon Pain Perdu)", Chocolate & Zucchini (March 7, 2007), as written. Her batter is about 1 1/3 cups vanilla-infused milk, 4 eggs and 1/2 cup sugar for 10 thick (3 cm) slices of day-old brioche or challah, about 450 g, browned in butter, then sugared and baked at 400°F for 15 minutes and broiled about 5 minutes. She says 6 to 8 servings; we call it 6. Her dip has no set time; the 10 seconds per side and the 160°F check are ours. cnz.to. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Dusoulier says ordinary sandwich-style brioche (pain de mie brioché) or challah both work; a very soft brioche can fall apart in the batter, so handle it gently.
- Brown the slices ahead for a dinner party, refrigerate, and bake and broil just before dessert.
- For a breakfast version, skip the broiler and serve with maple syrup, the American way.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- The Romans invented French toast. Disputed: Wikipedia says some authors call Apicius's aliter dulcia not very different from French toast, while others say it isn't French toast because the Latin has no egg; some translations add eggs.
- Pain perdu means "lost bread". Documented (Wikipedia; Dusoulier).
- It must be made with stale bread. Folklore with support: the name says so and Dusoulier uses day-old brioche, but fresh bread works if you dip it quickly.
- The French eat it for breakfast. Folklore: Dusoulier serves it as a dessert; we found no reputable source on how most French families eat it.
- French recipes are 700 years old. Documented per Wikipedia: Taillevent's tostées dorées, around 1300.
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