Sweet-spiced eggy bread with fennel-seed strawberries recipe
Also known as French toast or pain perdu, a sweet eggy bread sits neatly in the ‘dessert for breakfast’ category. I like to use double cream in the egg mix to encourage a slightly custardy finish (you could replace that with full-fat milk) and prefer to include sweet spices, such as cinnamon, cardamom or nutmeg, in the egg mix, leaving sugar to the topping: a light dusting of icing sugar, maple syrup, and then some fruit.
On which note, go with macerated strawberries when they’re tasting good, but at other times try poached or roast rhubarb, gooseberries, pears, quince, roast plums, peaches, figs… anything that’s in season.
Timings
Prep time: 15 minutes, plus 15 minutes to macerate
Cook time: 6 minutes
Serves
2-4
Ingredients
300g strawberries, hulled and halved
? tbsp fennel seeds, toasted then ground to a powder
1 tbsp caster sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp full-fat milk
60ml double cream
? tsp vanilla bean paste
? tsp ground cinnamon
4 thick (2-3cm) slices of enriched white bread, such as brioche or challah (although any soft white bread will do)
40g butter, or as needed
1 tsp icing sugar
1 tbsp maple syrup
3 tbsp Greek-style yoghurt
Method
Combine the strawberries, ground fennel and caster sugar in a bowl, and set aside to macerate for 15 minutes or more.
Whisk together the eggs, milk, double cream, vanilla and cinnamon.
Pour the custard mixture into a small, flat baking dish. Lay the bread face down in the mixture for 2 minutes, then flip it and wait for 2 minutes more to soak up the mixture. Flip again, if you wish, and soak until the bread feels sodden and heavy (do this in batches if necessary).
Heat half the butter in a large pan and cook the eggy bread, frying for around 1? minutes per side, flipping 2-3 times, until the eggy edges are set and golden-tinted, and the bread is bouncy to touch. Add the remaining butter halfway through (if 4 pieces of bread don’t fit in your pan, cook in batches – adjust butter quantities accordingly).
Dust each piece of eggy bread with icing sugar, drizzle with maple syrup, add a big dollop of yoghurt and pile the fragrant strawberries over the top.
Recipe from Good Eggs by Ed Smith (Quadrille, ￡22)