Peel the citrus. We’ll use this to infuse the milk with citrus notes. Try to get just the yellow part of the lemon (or the orange part of the orange skin) and none of the white pith. You can remove any white bits with a butter knife or a spoon. The white part is what can make the infused milk bitter, so that’s why we want to remove as much of it as we can. Alternatively, you can use a zester to get the peel.

Infuse the milk. To a pot over medium heat, add the milk, the citrus peel, the cinnamon stick, a pinch of salt, and 1/3 cup of sugar. Warm up the milk over medium heat, making sure to stir often so it doesn’t burn on the bottom until it just starts to simmer (it will take about 10 minutes), see note 1.

Cool down the milk. Remove the pot of milk from the heat and let it cool down until it’s at room temperature or below. Once the milk has cooled, remove the lemon peel and cinnamon stick.

Soak the stale bread slices in the cooled infused milk. Cut the bread into slices that are at least one inch thick, but you can go up to 1.5 inches. Soak the bread slices in the infused milk. A good way to do this is to place the bread in a large baking dish or container and pour over the cooled-down infused milk. Let the bread absorb the milk for a couple of minutes. Then, flip them over and give them a few more minutes until they absorb the rest of the milk. You’ll be surprised by how much milk stale bread can absorb and how custardy the inside will be.

Beat the eggs with a whisk until foamy, ready for the bread to be dipped in the mixture.

Shallow-fry the milk-soaked bread that's been dipped in the eggs. To a frying pan over medium heat, add about 1 cup of neutral oil (like sunflower oil or light olive oil). We’ll be shallow-frying the toast in the pan. Very gently dip each bread in the egg on both sides. You’ll want to be very gentle as the bread is now very soft, having absorbed all that milk, and you don’t want it to fall apart. Transfer the bread to the frying pan. Repeat with the rest of the bread. Depending on the size of your pan, you’ll likely have to work in 2-3 batches. Fry until golden on one side, and then flip and fry on the second side until golden. This will be about 3 minutes per side.

Coat in cinnamon-sugar. Once golden, remove the bread from the pan to a plate with a paper towel on it to absorb any excess oil. Then, immediately transfer them to a bowl with the cinnamon sugar (mix 1/3 cup of sugar with 1 tsp of cinnamon) and make sure to coat all sides in the cinnamon sugar. Serve them warm.