Healthier maple syrup Bostocks recipe! A kind of magical French toast with leftover brioche… :)

These are absolutely delicious and super easy. If you’ve bought or made brioche that’s a little heavy or has gone dry then ‘bostock’ it and fall in love with it all over again. The recipe calls for day-old brioche and is traditionally popular with French bakers or pâtissiers as a way of recycling unsold brioche from the previous day. Slices of the brioche are quickly soaked in almond syrup, covered in a layer of rum almond cream and flaked almonds, then baked briefly to crisp up. They’ll be slightly caramelised on the outside but tenderly soft in the middle so they’re like French toast but even better, with amazing flavour and textures! You can use lower-gluten, glutenfree or sourdough brioche (homemade or shop-bought) or even milk bread. And I made mine healthier by using pure maple syrup to replace practically all the sugar in the almond cream and syrup. The result was some truly scrumptious maple syrup Bostocks!

The brioche

Some prototypes were made with my lower-gluten homemade rum and orange blossom water brioche (recipe here).

You can also use homemade sourdough brioche (my recipe’s here) or a shop-bought loaf – there’s a really nice gluten-free Schär brioche-style loaf which should work great. The Bostocks will turn out a little differently each time (and with different kinds of brioche) but they’ll always be delicious.

Sourdough brioche Bostocks

THE RECIPE

This healthier unrefined sugar version is based on a recipe by Jacquy Pfeiffer in their book The Art of French Pastry. My recipe has been hiding in the archives and I’ve been meaning to post it for ages, which explains why I haven’t managed to locate my process photos (sorry) but the elements are pretty straightforward so no worries.

It’s a classic French treat and the perfect comfort food for this Autumn, and for doing some lovely no-waste recycling. Yay! So let’s make some! Yum, yum, yum…

Sourdough brioche Bostocks

Almond cream

50g/3 and 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened at room temperature (good-quality French-style butter)
1/3 tsp pure vanilla extract
small pinch fine sea salt
1/2 tsp plain/cake or gf flour
1/2 tsp cornflour (cornstarch like Maizena)
50g/1/2 cup + 1/2 tbsp ground almonds
30g/2 tbsp beaten egg (1/2 medium-large free-range egg), at room temperature
10g/2 tsp dark rum (optional)

Method (printable PDF recipe here)

Tips:

Don’t overmix the cream – don’t incorporate too much air in it.
The almond cream should be shiny and creamy. If the cream separates, warm it up a little in the bowl (over hot water, bain marie, etc) and beat again until it goes back to being smooth. If that doesn’t work you can also add a teaspoon of warm water and whisk briefly until smooth.
You can keep the cream in airtight tupperware in the fridge for up to 3 days before use.

Almond syrup

63g/3tbsp + 1/2 tsp pure maple syrup
62g/ml water
7g/1 tbsp ground almonds
6g/1 and 1/4 tsp light brown sugar
1 drop pure almond extract
Optional: 1/2 tsp/2-3g orange blossom water

Method (printable PDF recipe here)

Assembling the Bostocks

10g/scant tbsp butter, melted
about 150g/5.3oz brioche, a day old (I had 8-10 rounds – diametre 6.5cm/2 and 1/2 inch). I used the leftover brioche in bread pudding, but you can also just use whole slices without cutting out rounds.
12g/1/8 cup flaked (blanched and sliced) almonds
1 tbsp icing sugar (powdered/confectioner’s sugar)

Method (printable PDF recipe here)

Note: you can assemble the Bostocks up to and including Step 5 and freeze unbaked. When you want to bake them, allow to defrost 30 mins or more on buttered wire rack before baking as per Step 6.

Once baked, sprinkle with a little icing sugar and serve. So very yummy! 🙂

Eating and storing

Eat immediately or warm/cooled at room temperature. They’re best eaten on the same day. If eating the next day, you can reheat 1-2 minutes in a hot oven to refresh. You can also freeze once baked, wrapped tightly in plastic film, for up to 2 months – again, refresh in a hot oven 1-2 minutes before eating.

This may be one of my favourite recycled brioche recipes. Hope you’ll try them out in your kitchen too! In the meantime, please help yourself… 😉