Hang onto your stale bread...!

First of all, apolgies for my absence on here the last week or so! Although I do love baking, when the sun is shining and it's 20 degrees outside (yes, that's right - in March!), that's where I'd rather be. This is why I chose to live in the south of France! Gone are the days of snow and wanting to be wrapped up inside with a café au lait to warm me up. Now I want to be sitting in the sunshine with a demi pêche in my hand watching the world go by.  

I just thought I'd share this little breakfast treat with you though, because as you know, I like to spice things up a bit sometimes when it comes to breakfast. It's also perfect if, like me, you hate wasting food! Because although baguettes really are delicious when you buy them fresh from the boulangerie, they literally last a couple of hours before going stale. And I mean, I do like bread, but eating a whole baguette to myself in a day is a bit much really! But wait, I have a solution which means not throwing it away!! And actually, the staler the better. In English we call it French toast, but here they call it pain perdu. I think I've just discovered my perfect breakfast! I wondered why it was called pain perdu at first, because perdu translates as 'lost'. Lost bread? No, that can't be right! Of course, it has another meaning too that makes far more sense which is 'spoiled', so basically keep hold of your stale bread and get cooking!

It's a bit like a sweet eggy bread really, but the cinnamon gives it that extra special flavour. And it tastes even better the longer you leave the bread to soak in the egg mixture. You could serve it with any fruit you like - I just chose raspberries and banana because it was what I had, but I think strawberries would go wonderfully too. Sprinkling some pecan nuts on top might be nice too to give it some extra bite and even a drizzle of maple syrup if you're feeling extravagant. And of course, the nutella that I stuffed in the middle of the bread finished it off beautifully! Once you've had this for breakfast once, you'll want it every day. Have a play around and add whatever extras you fancy. I'm afraid the quantities of ingredients are guess-work, as I didn't follow a recipe exactly, but this is roughly what I used. It's so easy though, that you won't go wrong. I hope you enjoy this breakfast as much as I did!

Nutella stuffed pain perdu with raspberries and banana

Ingredients:

Half a stale baguette (or equivalent in thick sliced bread)

1 Egg

1/4 cup Milk

1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence

1/2/ tsp Cinnamon

2 tbsp Butter

1 tbsp Plain Flour

Nutella

Handful of Raspberries

1 Banana

Method:

1. Whisk the egg and milk together in a shallow bowl.
2. Melt 1 tbsp of butter and add to egg mixture.
3. Add vanilla essence, cinnamon and flour and whisk until combined.
4. Cut bread into thick slices.
5. Make a hole in the crust of each bread slice, big enough to fit a tsp of Nutella in.
6. Put a tsp of Nutella into each hole.
7. Put each bread slice into the egg mixture for about a minute on each side to soak up as much of the mixture as possible. 
8. Melt 1tbsp butter in a frying pan and once melted, add the slices of bread.
9. Cook for about 1-2 minutes on each side, until golden.
10. Remove from the heat and place on plate.
11. Serve with raspberries and bananas or whatever fruit/toppings you fancy and enjoy!