Arme Ritter

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide shallow dish for soaking
• •Heavy 28cm frying pan
• •Thin flexible spatula
• •Small saucepan for compote

Instructions

1. 1

   Start the apples

   Put the apples, water or apple juice, lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, and the cinnamon stick in a small saucepan. Cover and cook over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, then uncover and cook 2 to 3 minutes more, until the apple pieces are soft at the edges and the juices cling to a spoon. The apples go first because Apfelkompott, apple compote, can wait; fried bread loses its edge while it sits.

2. 2

   Whisk the soak

   Whisk the milk, eggs, vanilla sugar, salt, and 1 tablespoon of the sugar in a wide dish until the egg is fully broken up. Strands of white fry into rubbery streaks, so whisk until the mixture looks even and pale. This is Eiermilch, the egg-and-milk soak, and it has to reach the middle of the bread.

3. 3

   Soak the bread

   Lay the bread slices in the Eiermilch in one layer, or work in batches, and leave them 3 to 4 minutes per side. They should feel heavy when lifted but still hold a square edge; that tells you the stale crumb has drunk enough without dissolving. Very dry rolls need a minute longer, fresh slices need to be dried first or they turn to paste.

   If your bread is still soft, set the slices on a rack in a 120C oven for 10 minutes and cool them before soaking. Drying the surface gives the custard somewhere to go; it doesn't make old bread, but it saves the structure.
4. 4

   Heat the pan

   Set a heavy frying pan over medium heat and add a knob of butter or Butterschmalz, clarified butter. When the butter bubbles, smells nutty, and the loud crackle has quieted, the pan is ready. Runter mit der Temperatur if it darkens before the bread goes in; the egg needs time to set through before the milk sugars brown too far.

5. 5

   Fry in batches

   Lift each slice with a spatula and let the excess Eiermilch drip back into the dish, because puddles in the pan burn and leave ragged edges. Fry 2 to 3 slices at a time for 3 to 4 minutes per side, adding fresh butter between batches, until both sides are deep gold and the centre feels softly set when pressed. Wipe out dark milk solids before the next batch; burnt butter teaches nothing useful.

6. 6

   Sugar and serve

   Mix the remaining sugar with the ground cinnamon. Dust the hot Arme Ritter as soon as they leave the pan so the sugar clings, then spoon the apple compote alongside. The cinnamon sugar goes on after frying because sugar in the pan burns faster than the bread cooks. Schön ist, was schmeckt.

Chef Tips

• •Use day-old Brötchen, a white loaf, or a plain Hefezopf. Soft sandwich bread has too little backbone and fresh brioche has too much butter already; both collapse before the centre sets.
• •Salt the Eiermilch with one real pinch. Sweet dishes need salt too; without it the milk and egg taste flat under the cinnamon.
• •Keep the pan at medium. The outside should take about three minutes to turn golden; faster than that means the inside is still wet, slower means the bread is drinking fat.
• •In autumn and winter, use stored apples for the compote. In summer, sour cherries or Zwetschgen, prune plums, fit the table better than strawberries flown in from somewhere pretending it's June.
• •For the southern Pofesen style, spread a thin layer of Powidl or firm plum jam between two smaller slices before soaking. Seal the edges with a light press so the filling stays where it belongs.

Advance Preparation

• •Slice the bread and leave it uncovered overnight so the crumb dries evenly. Stale bread is not a problem here; it's the ingredient.
• •Cook the apple compote up to 3 days ahead and keep it covered in the refrigerator. Warm it gently or serve it at room temperature.
• •Whisk the Eiermilch up to 2 hours ahead and keep it cold, but don't soak the bread until shortly before frying. Bread held too long in the soak breaks when you lift it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 360g)