Pain Perdu

Ingredients

• 8 thick slices of day-old brioche, or 1 stale baguette cut on the diagonal
• 3 eggs
• 300ml whole milk
• 100ml double cream
• 50g caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract, or the seeds of half a vanilla pod
• A pinch of fine salt
• A grating of nutmeg
• 50g unsalted butter
• Icing sugar, for dusting
• Apricot jam or honey, to serve

Before you cook

• Cut the bread into slices about two and a half centimetres thick.
• Whisk the eggs, milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, salt and nutmeg together in a wide shallow dish.
• Lay the bread slices in the custard in a single layer.
• Leave the bread to soak for five minutes, turning it once halfway, until it is saturated but not collapsing.

Steps

1. Melt half the butter in a large frying pan over medium-low heat until it foams.
2. Lift two or three slices out of the custard, letting the excess drip back into the dish.
3. Lay the slices in the pan and cook for three minutes without moving them.
4. Lift a corner with a fish slice to check for an even golden-brown crust.
5. Turn the slices and cook for three minutes on the second side.
6. Move the cooked slices to a warm plate.
7. Wipe the pan with kitchen paper if the butter has darkened, then add the rest of the butter.
8. Cook the remaining slices the same way.
9. Dust the pain perdu heavily with icing sugar and serve with apricot jam or a trickle of honey.