Panettone French Toast

I first made this recipe last year after Christmas. Last year, I made two panettone for Christmas and took one with me to my partner's family Christmas. As it turned out, none of them actually liked it so I was left with 1 and 3/4 of panettone all to myself. I didn't really know what to do with it, then I thought "how about French toast?" as panettone is not super sweet it would be fine for breakfast. So I tried it out and it turned out great! I ate that 1 and 3/4 of panettone without any hassle. Nom Nom!

Panettone French toast

Let's take a step back and talk about Panettone. It is an Italian Christmas treat, like a Christmas cake with dried fruit in it (although I have seen them with chocolate chips instead). It is not very sweet and is more like a sweet bread. It is naturally leavened which means that, like sourdough, it is made using natural yeasts that you find on the surface of the flour. You prepare a starter culture from flour and water and let it grow until it is strong enough to raise a loaf of bread, then use it to prepare your panettone. Letting a naturally leavened dough rise usually takes several hours or overnight (and rising usually occurs more than once during the process) so to make one at home is really a labour of love. Most people nowadays will just buy their panettone from the shop.

Last year we were given a panettone from my Zia but as I had over catered Christmas, we didn't get to eat it at Christmas time. I decided that I would make and Italian dessert called zuccotto with it, this dessert is similar to trifle with cake and different layers of sweetened ricotta inside. After I made this, I had a bit of panettone left over and this morning I decided that French toast was in order. I thought I would share the recipe with you; it is super simple and quick to make.

Panettone

Here's the recipe:

Panettone French Toast

Ingredients

2 eggs

250g Panettone

1/8 cup milk

Fresh fruit and mascarpone or ricotta to serve

1. Cut you panettone into thick chunks.

Cut up panettone (approx 5cm x 3cm x 2cm)

2. Lightly beat eggs and milk with a fork.

Eggs and milk

3. Heat butter in frying pan.

4. Soak panettone in the egg and milk mixture (make sure you dip each side).

Dipping panettone in egg and milk mixture.

5. Fry the panettone in the heated pan. Turning to make sure you brown each side.

Frying the panettone.

6. Serve the panettone french toast with mascarpone and fresh berries and maybe even a coffee. Yum! I love this toast on it's own as well, you don't have to put the fruit and cheese on it if you don't want to.

Enjoy!

What is your favourite use for left over panettone?