This is just another way to not waste good stale bread. Known as pane fritto in Italian or schnitte in dialect, this snack or dessert (or even breakfast, depending on how you look at it) from the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia is as simple as can be. Think of it as French toast but with a few small tricks.
There are two main ways this is enjoyed in Friuli. One is a version known as pan dorato (golden bread), where the day-old bread slice is passed first through sweetened milk, then beaten egg and finally coated in breadcrumbs. It's fried and has a super crunchy texture outside, thanks to the breadcrumbs, and is soft and fluffy inside.
The second way to do this is the classic schnitte – the bread slice is passed through sweetened milk, then placed in a mixture of egg, lemon and white wine. The bread is fried in butter, oil or lard and then served hot, sprinkled in sugar. It's delicate, fluffy and wonderfully tart. Another traditional way to do this is without the lemon and the plain pane fritto is then drizzled in the Friulian version of vincotto (“cooked wine”, a sweet, dark, thick reduction of must, the leftovers of the wine harvest) – seek it out, or you can try a reduced, sweet balsamic vinegar. —Emiko
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