Pain Perdu

Also known as “lost bread,” French toast recipes are best when using bread that is past its prime— anything over a day old, but I prefer sourdough in this case, and the loaf needs to be whole and unsliced. The stuffing is savory, while the batter is sweet, providing a nice, playful back and forth tease of the taste buds.

Ingredients for 8 Servings

½ pound bulk breakfast sausage

¼ pound bacon, cut into ¼-inch slice

½ of a medium onion, finely diced

8 ounces softened cream cheese

1 loaf unsliced bread of choice, 12 to 14 inches in length

Vegetable oil, as needed

Maple syrup, as needed

Ingredients for Batter

¾ cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 large eggs

12-ounce can evaporated milk

½ cup sweet orange marmalade

1½ tablespoons vanilla extract

Preparation

Cook bacon in a medium sauté pan until crisp.

Transfer onto paper towels and drain.

Remove all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat from the pan.

Add the onion and sauté until translucent.

Add the sausage to the onions and fully cook into crumbles. Cool.

Place the cream cheese into a mixing bowl

and add the onion-sausage mixture and the chopped bacon.

Combine on low speed with a hand mixer until all ingredients

are equally distributed.

Cut the bread into 1½-inch slices, and then cut a pocket

into each of these pieces down the center,

being careful to leave at least a ½ inch at the bottom.

Stuff each pocket with an equal portion of the cream cheese mixture.

Refrigerate while making the batter.

Preparing the Batter

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Mix all ingredients except marmalade in a large casserole dish

and whisk until well blended. Stir in marmalade.

Dip the bread pockets into the batter, soaking on each side

for 30 seconds. Remove, letting excess drip back into the batter.

Remix batter to distribute marmalade each time you add new pockets.

Cook on a griddle or larger sauté pan over medium heat in 1 tablespoon

of vegetable oil for each batch, browning well, several minutes on each

side. Keep warm in the oven until all the pockets are cooked.

Serve with warmed maple syrup.

NOTE

The stuffed pockets can be assembled several days ahead,

battered and browned, and then stored tightly covered in the refrigerator.

Bring to room temperature and heat on a parchment-lined sheet tray

in a 325-degree oven until piping hot.