Norwegian French Toast (Arme Riddere)

Norwegian French toast — arme riddere — is what we make when there’s half a two-day-old sourdough loaf left on the board and nobody wants toast again. Slices of leftover bread soak in a cardamom-and-cinnamon custard, fry in foaming butter, and get a sprinkle of sugar in the pan that caramelizes against the crust. Ten minutes of soaking and fifteen in the pan, and stale bread becomes the best breakfast of the week.

Norwegian French Toast (Arme Riddere)

Norwegian French toast — arme riddere — made with two-day-old sourdough, cardamom and cinnamon, caramelized in butter and served with raspberries.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Soaking 10 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Servings: 6 slices

Course: Breakfast, brunch, Dessert

Cuisine: Nordic, Norwegian, Scandinavian

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

  

French toast

• 6 slices two-day-old sourdough bread about 1 cm / ½ inch thick, from a rustic loaf
• 2 large eggs
• 200 ml whole milk ¾ cup + 1 tbsp
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar 25 g, for the custard
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground cardamom
• 2 tbsp butter 30 g, for frying
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar 12 g, for sprinkling in the pan

To serve

• 200 g fresh raspberries 1½ cups
• 80 g raspberry jam ¼ cup
• 1 tbsp honey to drizzle
• 1 tbsp powdered sugar for dusting

Equipment

• Serrated bread knife For clean ½-inch slices from a crusty sourdough loaf
• Mixing bowl Wide enough to lay the slices flat so the crust soaks evenly.
• Balloon whisk Gets the eggs, milk and spices fully emulsified in under a minute.
• Non-stick frying pan A 28 cm / 11-inch pan fits five slices at once
• Wire cooling rack The single most important tool here: it keeps the finished slices crisp instead of steaming soggy on a plate.
• Digital kitchen scale We bake and cook by weight

Method

 

1. Cut the sourdough into 1 cm / ½ inch slices. We use bread that's two days old — dry enough to soak up the custard without falling apart. Three days works just as well.
   
2. Whisk the eggs, milk, 2 tbsp sugar, cinnamon and cardamom together until fully combined and slightly foamy.
3. Lay the slices in the custard and let them soak. Give the crust extra time in the liquid — it needs longer than the crumb to soften. Turn them once so both sides are evenly soaked.
   
4. Melt the butter in a wide pan over medium-low heat and let it foam.
5. Fry the slices on medium-low. Just before flipping, sprinkle a little sugar over the top of each slice.
   
6. Turn the slices, raise the heat to medium and fry until deep golden and caramelized on both sides.
7. Move the finished slices straight onto a wire rack — never a plate — so the crust stays crisp while you fry the rest.
   
8. Serve warm, stacked, with raspberries, raspberry jam, a drizzle of honey and a dusting of powdered sugar.

Notes

Chef’s tip: the sugar you sprinkle into the pan before flipping is what makes the difference. It hits the hot butter and caramelizes directly against the bread, so you get a thin, crackly, almost brûléed surface instead of a soft eggy one. A pinch is enough — too much and it burns before the slice is golden.

On the bread: a well-fermented sourdough with an open crumb gives you the best of both — the large holes drink up the custard, and the chewy crust holds everything together in the pan. Two days old is our sweet spot; three still works.

Make it sharper: a little grated fresh ginger or a few turns of black pepper in the custard cuts through the sweetness beautifully, and works with both raspberries and honey.

Why two-day-old sourdough is the right bread

Fresh bread is the wrong bread here. A loaf that’s two days old has dried out just enough to act like a sponge — it takes up the custard without collapsing into mush when you lift it. Three days is fine too. An open, well-fermented crumb is ideal, because those big holes fill with custard and turn silky in the pan while the crust stays chewy.

Cut the slices around 1 cm / ½ inch. Thinner and they go limp; thicker and the centre is still raw when the outside is dark. And give the crust extra time in the bowl — it needs longer to soften than the crumb does, and an under-soaked crust is the most common thing that goes wrong.

The sugar goes in the pan, not on the plate

Here’s the one technique that separates good arme riddere from the average version: sprinkle a little sugar over each slice just before you flip it. It lands in the hot butter and caramelizes directly against the bread, giving you a thin, crackly, almost brûléed surface. Fry on medium-low first so the custard sets through, then raise the heat to medium after flipping to build colour.

The other rule is even simpler — move every finished slice straight onto a wire rack, never onto a plate. Trapped steam is what turns a crisp slice soggy in under a minute.

Make it your own

We served ours with fresh raspberries, raspberry jam, a drizzle of honey and a dusting of powdered sugar — the tartness is what keeps the whole plate from tipping into too-sweet.

If you want to push it further, grate a little fresh ginger into the custard, or add a few turns of black pepper. Both are excellent with raspberries and honey, and neither is as strange on the plate as it sounds. Lingonberry jam, cloudberries or warm apple compote all work in the same role.

More Nordic bakes you’ll love

• Your First Loaf — the everyday sourdough we sliced for this
• Leftover Sourdough: What to Do With the End of the Loaf
• Sourdough Discard Pancakes