Chef Joost
Appelpannenkoek
The apple pannenkoek is supper pretending to be breakfast: a plate-wide Dutch pancake, tart apple softened into the batter, and cinnamon sugar doing honest work.
Culinary Explorer
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Wentelteefjes (Dutch Lost Bread)
Created by
The name tells you to turn the bread, and the older name tells you why: lost bread rescued with egg, milk, cinnamon, and a hot pan.
Breakfast & Brunch
Dutch
Comfort Food
Budget Friendly
Quick Meal
10 min
Active Time
10 min cook•20 min total
Yield4 servings
In my grandmother's second notebook, wentelteefjes sit exactly where they belong: not under feast days, not under company puddings, but in the small economy of a weekday table. Stale bread was never thrown away if an egg and a little milk could still persuade it back into usefulness. Dutch thrift can look severe from the outside. From inside the kitchen, it often smells of cinnamon and butter.
The name already tells you part of the method. Wentelen means to turn, to roll over, and these slices are turned first in sweetened egg-milk and then in the pan until both sides go gold. The older cousin-name, verloren brood, lost bread, is even plainer: bread past its first virtue, found again. But let me tell you a secret. The trick is not abundance. Too much liquid makes the bread collapse into custard before it reaches the pan. You want stale bread, patient soaking, and enough heat that the outside browns before the middle gives up entirely.
This is peasant intelligence, not poverty theatre. The cinnamon in the sugar bowl is the quiet Dutch luxury, one more reminder that a frugal country once filled its cupboards from spice routes. Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple: yesterday's bread, one egg, milk, a little sugar, cinnamon, butter. Breakfast is served when the edges are crisp, the centre is tender, and nobody at the table believes the bread was ever lost.
Recipes for bread revived in milk and egg appear across medieval and early modern Europe, with Dutch versions known both as wentelteefjes and verloren brood, the same idea found in French pain perdu. The word wentelteefje is old Dutch household language; its first part comes from wentelen, to turn, while the second part is less certain and should not be over-explained. The dish belongs to the thrift kitchen, where stale white bread was made useful again with dairy, egg, and the everyday luxury of cinnamon.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
stale white bread or brioche
Quantity
8 slices
about 1.5cm thick
eggs
Quantity
2 large
whole milk
Quantity
250ml
sugar
Quantity
1 tablespoon
ground cinnamon
Quantity
1 teaspoon
vanilla extract (optional)
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
salt
Quantity
pinch
butter
Quantity
30g
for frying
sugar
Quantity
2 tablespoons
for serving
ground cinnamon
Quantity
1 teaspoon
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| stale white bread or briocheabout 1.5cm thick | 8 slices |
| eggs | 2 large |
| whole milk | 250ml |
| sugar | 1 tablespoon |
| ground cinnamon | 1 teaspoon |
| vanilla extract (optional) | 1/2 teaspoon |
| salt | pinch |
| butterfor frying | 30g |
| sugarfor serving | 2 tablespoons |
| ground cinnamonfor serving | 1 teaspoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide shallow dish
- •Large frying pan
- •Thin spatula
Instructions
- 1
Mix the custard
Whisk the eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla if using, and salt in a shallow dish until the egg disappears into the milk. The cinnamon will float a little, because cinnamon is stubborn. Whisk once more before each slice and it will behave well enough.
- 2
Soak the bread
Lay the stale bread in the custard for about 30 seconds per side, longer if the slices are thick and truly dry. You want the middle moistened but not collapsing. Fresh bread drinks like a fool and falls apart; yesterday's bread has manners.
If your bread is fresh, leave the slices uncovered on a rack for an hour, or dry them in a low oven at 120C for 10 minutes. Lost bread must first be a little lost. - 3
Fry until gold
Melt a knob of butter in a wide frying pan over medium heat. When it foams and smells nutty, add the soaked slices without crowding. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until the surface is deep golden and the edges have a little bite under the fork.
- 4
Sugar and serve
Stir the serving sugar and cinnamon together, then scatter it over the hot wentelteefjes as they leave the pan. Serve at once, with nothing more complicated than coffee, tea, or a spoonful of apple compote if the fruit bowl is insisting.
Chef Tips
- •Use stale white bread, casino bread, challah, or brioche. Brown bread works, but it brings its own sternness; the old Dutch kitchen usually meant pale bread for this dish.
- •Keep the pan at medium heat. Too hot and the sugar burns before the centre warms; too low and the bread soaks up butter like a sponge.
- •Cinnamon sugar is the proper finish. Maple syrup is pleasant, for obvious reasons, but then you have wandered across the ocean before breakfast.
- •For a leaner weekday version, fry in a small amount of butter and wipe the pan between batches if the milk solids darken.
Advance Preparation
- •Slice the bread the night before and leave it lightly covered so it stales evenly.
- •The egg-milk mixture can be whisked a few hours ahead and kept refrigerated; whisk again before using.
- •Wentelteefjes are best straight from the pan, but leftovers can be reheated in a dry frying pan over low heat until the edges return a little crispness.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 150g)
Calories
315 calories
Total Fat
12 g
Saturated Fat
6 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
5 g
Cholesterol
120 mg
Sodium
350 mg
Total Carbohydrates
42 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
17 g
Protein
10 g
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