Torrejas

Ingredients

The bread

• 1loaf pan francés
• or a plain white loaf
• day-old and slightly dry
• cut into 2 cm slices
• or 12 to 16 slices
• or torrejas bread from a bakery

The batter

• 5eggs, separated
• a pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoonssugar
• 1 tablespoonplain flour
• half a teaspoon vanilla
• optional

The syrup

• 500 gpanela
• or dulce de atado
• or 500 g dark brown sugar
• 1 litrewater
• 2 stickscinnamon
• 8whole cloves
• a strip of orange or lime peel
• a pinch of salt

For frying

• 500 mlvegetable oil
• or enough for 2 cm depth

To serve

• warm, swimming in syrup
• with the syrup spooned over
• coffee or hot chocolate

Directions

1. Cut it into slices about two centimetres thick. If your bread is fresh, dry it out first. Lay the slices out for a few hours. Or dry them in a low oven for ten minutes. Break the panela into pieces with a knife. Hold the block firmly on a board. Chop it carefully with a heavy knife.
2. Put the panela and water in a large pan. Add the cinnamon sticks and the cloves. Add the citrus peel and the pinch of salt. Heat it gently and stir until dissolved. Panela takes several minutes to dissolve. Simmer it for about twenty minutes. It should thicken slightly but stay quite thin. Strain out the whole spices if you prefer.
3. Keep the syrup warm on a low heat. There is a safety point about the syrup. Cool it for a full twenty minutes. Keep children well away from the pan. Any yolk in the whites stops them whipping. Beat the whites with a pinch of salt.
4. Beat them to soft peaks, not stiff ones. Stiff peaks make a dry, cracking coating. Add the sugar and beat briefly again. Fold the yolks into the whites gently. Fold, do not stir, so you keep the air.
5. Sift in the flour and fold that through too. The flour helps the coating cling to the bread. Add the vanilla if you are using it. The batter should be light and foamy. Use it straight away before it deflates. Two centimetres of depth is enough here.
6. Keep a well fitting lid within reach. If it catches fire, turn off the heat. Heat the oil to about one hundred and seventy. It should sizzle steadily and rise.
7. Dip each slice fully into the batter. Turn it so both sides are coated. Let the excess drip off for a moment. Lower it carefully into the hot oil. Fry two or three slices at a time only. Fry each side for about two minutes. They should be golden and puffed.
8. Turn them once with a spatula. Lift them out and drain them briefly. Drain them on a rack over kitchen paper. Do not drain them for very long though. Lay them in a wide dish and pour syrup over. Or drop them into the pan of warm syrup. Let them soak for at least ten minutes. Turn them once so both sides soak. Five minutes of gentle simmering works well.
9. Taste one after ten minutes and judge. Serve them warm with plenty of syrup. They are meant to be genuinely wet. Spoon extra syrup over each serving. They are eaten with coffee or hot chocolate.

Technique

• Use day-old bread. Fresh bread collapses into mush when soaked, and slightly dry bread absorbs the batter and syrup while holding its shape. That thrift is the root of the whole French-toast family — pain perdu means lost bread, the bread that was going stale.
• Separating the eggs and folding beaten whites into the yolks is what distinguishes Salvadoran torrejas from a plain egg-dipped slice. Beat the whites to soft peaks, not stiff — stiff whites give a dry coating that cracks.
• Panela, or dulce de atado, is unrefined whole cane sugar with a deep molasses flavour that white sugar cannot reproduce. The blocks are genuinely hard; chop them carefully with a heavy knife on a board, or wrap the block in a cloth and break it with a hammer.
• Keep the syrup thin and pourable. It thickens as the torrejas absorb it, and an over-reduced syrup will not soak in at all.
• Boiling sugar syrup burns worse than boiling water because it is hotter and sticks. Never taste from the pan; cool any splash under running water for a full twenty minutes.
• The soaking is the skill. Ten minutes with a turn halfway is a good starting point — too little leaves dry bread inside, too much and they collapse. Taste one and judge.
• They are meant to be wet. A dry torreja has missed the point entirely; serve them swimming in syrup.
• Many Salvadorans prefer them cold the next day, when the syrup has soaked right through.

Substitutions

• Dark brown sugar replaces panela; the flavour is shallower and a spoonful of molasses helps close the gap.
• Brioche or challah replaces plain white bread and gives a richer, more tender result.
• A plain beaten whole egg replaces the separated batter, giving a flatter, denser coating — this is the everyday shortcut.
• Piloncillo from Mexico is the same product as panela under another name.
• Lime peel replaces orange peel in the syrup and is equally common.
• The whole spices can be strained out or left in; both are done.

Variations

• Spanish torrijas are the ancestor, eaten at Holy Week, usually soaked in milk and dusted with sugar rather than steeped in syrup.
• Some Salvadoran cooks soak the bread in milk before the egg batter, giving a softer interior.
• A version with the syrup poured over at the table rather than soaked in advance keeps the coating crisper.
• Guatemalan and Honduran torrejas are close relatives with slightly different spicing.
• Some households add a splash of rum to the syrup, which is an adult variation.
• Torrejas de leche, made with a milk-soaked bread base, are a softer and richer version.

History

El Salvador’s Christmas dessert, sold from December stalls in trays swimming in dark syrup.

Frequently asked questions

What is Torrejas?

Torrejas is a dessert from El Salvador: fried egg-soaked bread steeped in panela and clove syrup. El Salvador’s Christmas dessert, sold from December stalls in trays swimming in dark syrup.

How long does Torrejas take to make?

Torrejas takes 20 minutes of preparation and 40 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 8. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Torrejas?

Yes, within limits. Dark brown sugar replaces panela; the flavour is shallower and a spoonful of molasses helps close the gap. Brioche or challah replaces plain white bread and gives a richer, more tender result. A plain beaten whole egg replaces the separated batter, giving a flatter, denser coating — this is the everyday shortcut. Piloncillo from Mexico is the same product as panela under another name. Lime peel replaces orange peel in the syrup and is equally common. The whole spices can be strained out or left in; both are done.

What is the most important thing to get right in Torrejas?

Put the panela and water in a large pan. Add the cinnamon sticks and the cloves. Add the citrus peel and the pinch of salt. Heat it gently and stir until dissolved. Panela takes several minutes to dissolve. Simmer it for about twenty minutes. It should thicken slightly but stay quite thin. Strain out the whole spices if you prefer.