Chef Jesse Schenker, owner of Manhattan’s Flatiron restaurant The Gander, was a former culinary child prodigy. In his early teens, he whipped up this peanut butter and jelly pain perdu to cure an intense case of the munchies, and he’s has been making it for two decades since. Schenker’s brilliant stoner breakfast was offered at his West Village restaurant Recette up until it closed earlier this year. Bummer, we know. Luckily, you can recreate the beloved dish from Recette at home with this pain perdu. A direct translation of “lost bread” in French, pain perdu is essentially the same thing as French toast. Here, day-old brioche is stuffed, fried, and baked, but this isn’t your average stuffed French toast recipe. Schenker cuts slits into each side of the bread and then squeezes peanut butter and jam into the middle. He lightly fries the bread until golden brown, then bakes it. Wake-and-bake indulgence perfected. We dare you not to smile when the filling oozes out of this hot mess.Note: Allow 1 hour for the bread to soak in the egg and milk mixture. PB&J Pain Perdu
