Photo: Andrew Bui • Food Styling: Jessie YuChen
Though traditionally deep-fried in olive oil, torrijas—Spain’s quintessential Holy Week dessert that falls somewhere between French toast and bread pudding—are subtler and less greasy when baked, as this knockout recipe from Madrid’s Panem bakery goes to show. Challah or good white sandwich bread may be substituted for the brioche. If you own a kitchen torch, you can use it in lieu of the broiler in step 5 to brûlée the bread on the top and sides. Panem doesn’t top its torrijas with cinnamon sugar, but the flavor combination is so classic that it felt like heresy to exclude it completely. Torrijas will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for three days, though they lose their sugary crunch after a day or so. The bread slices may be halved into rectangles in step 2 for smaller servings.
Featured in “Torrijas Are Spanish ‘French’ Toast—With a Few Tantalizing Twists,” by Benjamin Kemper.
Yield: 6 Time: 30 hours 1 cup heavy cream 1 cup whole milk 1 cup sugar, divided 2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest 6 large egg yolks ½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped (pod reserved for another use) Six 1½-in.-thick day-old brioche slices, crusts removed (about 11 oz.) Cinnamon sugar, for dusting (optional)-sugar for dusting, optional Instructions In
