Sweet-spiced eggy bread with fennel-seed strawberries

Prep time: 15 minutes, plus 15 minutes to macerate

Cook time: 6 minutes

Serves 2-4

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). I also 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 some fruit. 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.

INGREDIENTS

– 300g strawberries,

hulled and halved

– ½ tbsp fennel seeds, toasted then ground to a powder

– 1 tbsp caster sugar –2eggs

– 2 tbsp full-fat milk – 60ml double cream

– ¼ tsp vanilla bean

paste

– ½ tsp ground

cinnamon

– 4 thick (2-3cm) slices of enriched white bread, such as brioche or challah (or 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 seeds and caster sugar in a bowl, and set aside to macerate for 15 minutes or more.

Whisk the eggs, milk, double cream, vanilla and cinnamon together.

Pour the custard mix into a small, flat baking dish. Lay the bread face down in the mixture for 2 minutes, 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 (in batches if necessary).

Heat half the butter in a large pan and cook the eggy bread – flipping 2-3 times and frying each side for around 90 seconds before you flip again – until the eggy edges are set and golden-tinted, and the bread feels bouncy. 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, then add a big dollop of yoghurt and pile the fragrant strawberries on top.