Hi Karen, I'm so happy to hear you've been enjoying this! Thanks for taking the time to stop by and let me know. Also, great call on using Cointreau!

I prefer this over American-style French toast too!

Your Pain Perdu looks just like mine but your method is entirely different. I love how custardy the center gets. I prefer it over American French toast. Do you think this merits a video?

Hi Teresa, the flour is there to help the exterior crisp sugar does not contain starch and will not crisp. Putting sugar on the outside before cooking it will also make it burn.

Hi Paul, I'm glad to hear you're enjoying this. As for the custard soaking the bread, are you flipping the bread over a few times while soaking? This usually does it for me. Another method you might try is to put he bread and custard in a zipper bag and press out as much air as you can. This helps the custard surround more of the bread and flipping them over is as simple as flipping the whole bag over. The only other thing I can think of is that the brand of batard you're using doesn't soak up liquids very well. I haven't had the issue so much with this dish, but I have run into sandwich breads before that didn't work with my summer berry pudding recipe (the berry juice just wouldn't soak into some parts of the bread).

This is the Best recipe I have ever used! However, Im having an issue with the Batard bread not soaking the custard all of the way through. When I use french bread the center is slightly too soggy. The batard bread is a superior taste (especially on the crust) but I can never get the custard to soak all of the way into the center of the bread. Ive even tried doubling the custard so the bread is floating and left the bread in the custard for 48 hours and the custard still doesn't soak all of the way through? Any suggestions?

Hi Adam, Brioche is a much softer bread so the custard should soak in faster. Also, the edges won't get as crispy as this, but it should still work.

can you use brioche instead of batard? 🙂