Chef Elsa
Apfelradeln
Thick apple rings in a light, eggy batter, fried golden in butter and oil, then buried under cinnamon sugar while they're still hot enough to melt it on contact.
Culinary Explorer
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Pofesen (Fried Powidl Bread)
Created by
Day-old bread filled with dark Powidl plum butter, soaked in vanilla custard, and fried in butter until the outside shatters and the filling turns warm and jammy. Austrian thrift at its most delicious.
Desserts
Austrian
Weeknight
Budget Friendly
Comfort Food
15 min
Active Time
15 min cook•30 min total
Yield4 servings (8 pieces)
In my grandmother Eva's kitchen in Kent, nothing was thrown away. Stale bread especially. If a loaf went past its best, that was not a problem. That was Pofesen night. Eva would spread thick, dark Powidl between two slices of yesterday's bread, press them together, soak them through in sweetened egg and milk, and fry them in butter until the kitchen smelled like a Viennese Gasthaus on a cold evening. Gretel always said the best Austrian cooking starts with what you have, not what you wish you had. Pofesen is proof.
Powidl is the ingredient that makes this dish sing. It's a thick, dark plum butter, cooked down until almost black, with a deep, tart sweetness that cheap jam can't replicate. Bohemian in origin, it became a staple of the Viennese kitchen centuries ago and never left. You spread it generously between two slices of bread, thick enough that when the sandwich hits the hot pan, the filling stays put and turns warm and soft without running everywhere. If you can find Powidl at a Central European grocery, use it. If not, a good thick prune butter (Lekvar) will carry you through.
What I love about Pofesen is the honesty of it. This is a dish that exists because someone had leftover bread and decided to make something wonderful out of it instead of letting it go to waste. The bread soaks up the custard, the outside fries to a crisp golden shell, and the Powidl inside goes warm and jammy. You dust the whole thing with cinnamon sugar and eat it with your hands or a fork, standing at the counter or sitting at the table. This is good Austrian home cooking, the kind that doesn't need a fancy plate or a special occasion. It just needs day-old bread and a cook who understands that simple food done well is the highest compliment you can pay your ingredients.
Pofesen takes its name from the Italian 'pavese,' pointing to the long Italian influence on Austrian cooking through the Habsburg empire. The dish belongs to Austria's deep tradition of Restlverwertung, the art of using up leftovers that runs through the entire cuisine, from Knödelbrot to Semmelschmarrn. Powidl itself arrived in Viennese kitchens from Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), another Habsburg territory, and became so central to the pastry tradition that the Viennese saying 'da hast dein Powidl' (there's your Powidl) means roughly 'that's your problem now,' proof that this plum butter was as common as trouble.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
day-old white bread (Weißbrot or Semmel)
Quantity
8 slices
about 1cm thick
Powidl (thick plum butter) or prune Lekvar
Quantity
150g
eggs
Quantity
3 large
whole milk
Quantity
200ml
granulated sugar
Quantity
1 tablespoon
vanilla sugar (Vanillezucker)
Quantity
1 teaspoon
salt
Quantity
pinch
lemon
Quantity
half
zested
unsalted butter
Quantity
60g
for frying
powdered sugar
Quantity
2 tablespoons
for dusting
ground cinnamon
Quantity
1 teaspoon
for dusting
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| day-old white bread (Weißbrot or Semmel)about 1cm thick | 8 slices |
| Powidl (thick plum butter) or prune Lekvar | 150g |
| eggs | 3 large |
| whole milk | 200ml |
| granulated sugar | 1 tablespoon |
| vanilla sugar (Vanillezucker) | 1 teaspoon |
| salt | pinch |
| lemonzested | half |
| unsalted butterfor frying | 60g |
| powdered sugarfor dusting | 2 tablespoons |
| ground cinnamonfor dusting | 1 teaspoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy-bottomed frying pan or skillet (28cm)
- •Wide shallow bowl for the custard soak
- •Fine-mesh sieve for dusting sugar
Instructions
- 1
Fill the bread
Lay out eight slices of bread on your work surface. Spread four of them generously with Powidl, about two tablespoons per slice. Go right to the edges. Stingy filling means dry corners, and nobody wants that. Press the remaining four slices on top to make sandwiches, pressing the edges gently so they hold together. The bread being a day old is actually what you want here. Fresh bread is too soft and falls apart when soaked. Stale bread has structure. It absorbs the custard without collapsing.
If your bread is fresh, spread the slices out on a rack for an hour or lay them uncovered in the fridge overnight. You need that slight dryness. It's the whole reason this dish was invented. - 2
Make the custard soak
In a wide, shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, sugar, Vanillezucker, a pinch of salt, and the lemon zest. Beat it until everything is smoothly combined and the sugar has dissolved. The lemon zest is quiet but important. It lifts the sweetness and keeps the custard from tasting flat. This is the same principle behind adding lemon to any sweet batter: a little acid wakes everything up.
- 3
Soak the sandwiches
Lay each Powidl sandwich into the custard and let it sit for about thirty seconds per side. You want the bread to drink up the egg mixture without turning to mush. It should feel heavy and saturated when you lift it, but still hold its shape. If the bread is properly stale, it will absorb the custard like a sponge and keep itself together. If it's too fresh, you'll know immediately because it will start to sag and tear.
Don't soak them all at once and let them sit in a puddle. Do one or two at a time, right before they go into the pan. The timing matters. - 4
Fry until golden
Melt half the butter in a wide, heavy pan over medium heat. When it foams and the foam begins to subside, lay in two sandwiches. Don't crowd the pan. Fry for about two to three minutes per side, until deeply golden and crisp. The custard coating should set into a firm, caramelized shell. You'll hear a gentle sizzle, not a violent one. If the butter starts to brown too fast, drop the heat. Add more butter between batches. Each sandwich deserves its own fresh puddle of melted butter.
Medium heat, not high. High heat browns the outside before the custard sets through, and you end up with raw egg in the middle and burnt bread on the outside. Patience pays. - 5
Dust and serve immediately
Transfer the fried Pofesen to a warm plate. Mix the powdered sugar and cinnamon together and dust each one generously while they're still hot. The sugar melts slightly into the warm surface and forms a sweet, fragrant crust. Cut them in half on the diagonal if you like, so the dark Powidl filling shows at the center. Serve right away. These don't wait. The outside should still be crackling when the fork goes in. Mahlzeit!
Chef Tips
- •Powidl is not plum jam. Jam is loose, sweet, and full of sugar. Powidl is cooked down until thick, dark, and concentrated, with a tartness that cuts through the richness of the fried custard. Look for it at Central European delis or online. If you can't find it, prune Lekvar is your closest substitute. Regular plum jam is too runny and will leak out of the sandwich the moment it hits the pan.
- •Use real Vanillezucker. Austrian baking depends on it. A packet of Vanillezucker costs almost nothing if you can find it at a European grocery. Otherwise, bury a split vanilla pod in a jar of caster sugar for a week and you'll have your own supply. Vanilla extract is a different flavor entirely.
- •The bread matters more than you think. A plain white Weißbrot or sliced Semmeln work best. Avoid anything with seeds, strong crusts, or sourdough tang. The bread is the vehicle, not the star. You want it neutral, absorbent, and slightly stale.
- •Gretel always said that the best Mehlspeisen come from the simplest ingredients treated with respect. Pofesen is four or five things in a pan. If any one of them is bad, there's nowhere to hide.
Advance Preparation
- •The Powidl sandwiches can be assembled up to two hours ahead and stored covered in the fridge. The bread will dry out slightly, which actually helps it absorb the custard better.
- •The custard soak can be whisked together and refrigerated for up to a day. Give it a quick whisk before using.
- •Pofesen cannot be made ahead and reheated. They must go from pan to plate to table. The crisp shell softens within minutes. This is a cook-and-eat dish.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 190g)
Calories
420 calories
Total Fat
16 g
Saturated Fat
8 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
7 g
Cholesterol
165 mg
Sodium
400 mg
Total Carbohydrates
57 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
28 g
Protein
12 g
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