That's a Lot of Bread!

     If you've been trying all the recipes I've posted this week you have a lot of bread in your kitchen right now.  The week began with New England Anadama Bread, then French Brioche, then Jewish Challah and yesterday the poor man's Barley Loaf.  So now what do you do with all that bread that is slowly getting stale?

     Perhaps the best thing to do with it all is to make Pain Perdu like the residents of the Crescent City do.  In New Orleans people will leave bread out on the counter on purpose so it can get good and stale so they can make what it literally called "lost bread."  It is a resourceful way to use up bread after it has been sitting around for a day or two.  It is similar to what we all know as French toast but significantly different in preparation in that the bread is not merely dipped in an egg batter but thoroughly soaked in an egg custard mixture for a period of time to permit it to reach maximum absorption.  This gives the bread a silky and custardy texture.  And the bread is then fried in hot oil instead of being heated on a griddle.  It is then topped with any number of things including but not limited to powdered sugar, butter, fig preserves or syrup.

     For an interesting Pain Perdu recipe from Ina Garten click on her barefoot contessa website.