French toast experts needed

[AdamskiAirsoft]

I love french toast. I absolutely love it.

And for the past month or so, I've been trying so hard to replicate IHOP's French Toast. I've gotten the recipe/ingrediants that they use, and said that they use either Texas Toast or Egg Bread as the bread.

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/7619/10026847jy.jpg
There is a picture of exactly what I wish to replicate. (It's to big for forums)

Now, from what I've seen and read, I believe that is texas toast. Texas toast have soft sides, soft center, and being thick to absorb the eggs, and other ingrediants used in french toast. If it is texas toast, what kind is it? I've heard most texas toast comes with garlic and buttered, do I want to find a buttered version, or just a no-garlic no-butter no-anything texas toast? And would I be able to find it at say Tom Thumb, Krogers, Albertsons?

Lastly, how exactly do you cook it? I've tried before, you mix the ingrediants together, then dip the bread in one side, flip it, and put it on the skillet, but it just doesn't seem right. From the picture, it looks like the ingrediants are INSIDE the bread.

[Pinot]

I don't know much about IHOP but this is my tried and true method.

Take fresh or day old sour dough french bread and saturate in a mix of fresh beaten free range eggs and a little full cream milk. I occasionally add some clotted cream as well. You can also add a little spice (cinnamon for example)

Fry carefully on an iron skillet or pan to golden brwon with european butter , being careful not to let the butter burn. Serve with top grade maple syrup and strawberries.

I believe the result will mirror the quality of ingredients used.

[Jock]

Just out of curiosity, what are the ingredients that IHOP uses? For French Toast as pinot suggests, eggs with milk or half and half or cream, a pinch of salt is all that is needed with maybe a drop or two of vanilla. (I sometimes add a cap full of some liquor like brandy or rum for added flavor.)

Jock

[AdamskiAirsoft]

# 2 eggs
# 1/2 cup milk
# 1 tsp. vanilla
# 3 tablespoon all purpose flour
# 1/8 tsp salt
# 3 tsp. butter
# 6 slices thick sliced french bread
# 1 tablespoon powdered sugar

[delish]

Texas toast is cheese toast--also known as "Sizzler Toast" in our neck of the woods. At that well-known chain restaurant, they take big slabs of egg bread (much like those slices pictured on the IHOP plate), slather it with margarine and not-so-good parmesan cheese and Voila! Cheese toast.

Now for recreating the wondrous IHOP french toast, I'd suggest using challah bread--with no seeds--sliced thick and soaked for at least 5 minutes in a batter of:
3 eggs
1 cup half and half
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp sugar
pinch of cinnamon
(You can also add lemon zest to brighten the flavor of the batter.)

Bon Appetit.

[Mezzaluna]

Just a thought- IHop could be using homogenized eggs rather than fresh eggs, which may change the flavor and appearance. Can someone comment on that? I don't have experience using that product.

I second Delish's idea of using challah. It's eggy, a bit sweet, and PERFECT for french toast and bread pudding. Whether it's what IHop uses or not, you'll enjoy it.

[JonK]

The IHOP recipe given differs from the usual French Toast recipe by the addition of a little flour, which gives a crispier, puffier external coat. That's how some restaurants do their Monte Cristo sandwiches, often with the addition of a bit of baking powder to further augment the puff.

(By the way, the flour may also keep the batter from penetrating the bread as much, which may be a plus if your not using "day-old" bread and you don't want a moist interior.)

While I prefer a firmer bread (like some of those suggested in earlier posts), you can come pretty close to duplicating the Texas Toast character by buying a loaf of unsliced white bread, sometimes sold for making stuffing (a/k/a dressing to us old Mid-Westerners), and slicing it thickly.

Since that may be a bit hard to come by away from the holiday and turkey seasons, an alternative is basic white bread from your local bakery, asking them not to slice it.

[Jock]

An interesting note on the use of flour in the custard. I did not know that.

Thank you

Jock

[Marion]

I like to sustitute Butternut for Vanilla occassionally.

Best regards,
Marion

[higgins]

I make french toast so infrequently that I've never perfected the techniques. What's the consensus on
a) how saturated you want the bread before cooking
b) how cooked-through do you like it
c) how do you tell when it's done to your liking???

[Pinot]

a) I like the bread completely saturated

b) I like it cooked thru , but only just . Not overcooked and dried out. This needs to be done on medium heat so you don't burn the butter or the outside of the toast . Especially when you have thick slices of bread. Golden brown on the outside , tender and moist on the inside .

c) Depends of what your liking is . But practise and experience like all cooking techniques is the key.

[mudbug]

AdamskiAirsoft,

Here is Alton Brown's recipe, you might want to try it and see what you think:

French Toast Recipe

[Jock]

I'm with Pinot all the way. To make sure the custard in the middle is cooked without overdoing the outside I cook it to golden on one side on the stove top, flip it over and then put it in a 325 oven for 10 - 15 minutes depending on the thickness of the bread. It will souffle a bit making a nice presentation.

Jock

[Mikeb]

Originally Posted by AdamskiAirsoft

I love french toast. I absolutely love it.

And for the past month or so, I've been trying so hard to replicate IHOP's French Toast. I've gotten the recipe/ingrediants that they use, and said that they use either Texas Toast or Egg Bread as the bread.

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/7619/10026847jy.jpg
There is a picture of exactly what I wish to replicate. (It's to big for forums)

Now, from what I've seen and read, I believe that is texas toast. Texas toast have soft sides, soft center, and being thick to absorb the eggs, and other ingrediants used in french toast. If it is texas toast, what kind is it? I've heard most texas toast comes with garlic and buttered, do I want to find a buttered version, or just a no-garlic no-butter no-anything texas toast? And would I be able to find it at say Tom Thumb, Krogers, Albertsons?

Lastly, how exactly do you cook it? I've tried before, you mix the ingrediants together, then dip the bread in one side, flip it, and put it on the skillet, but it just doesn't seem right. From the picture, it looks like the ingrediants are INSIDE the bread.

Looks like they're using just thick slices of sandwich loaf.

Anyhow, for french toast you basically just mix together milk and eggs, some flavourings (vanilla, cinnamon, purely optional of course), and soak the bread slices in the custard. You want them to absorb as much as possible. Cook the french toast on low-medium heat so it's cooked through but still nice and moist, and not burnt on the outside. I've always got tasty, picture perfect results from this method.

[AprilB]

to the omelettes as well.

A*