My Fantastic French Toast Recipe

We just adore French toast. 

We also enjoy having a leisurely Sunday Brunch.  You know that kind of day where you have the paper (no Virginia, not on the IPad) and an extra cup of coffee.  Now not every Sunday is as grand as this recipe, but I whip something up.

Since we've retired and moved were food stuffs are so much cheaper, I have been experimenting with numerous recipes. 

My Mother gave me for Christmas a subscription to a food magazine.  They had a beautiful two page spread on how make perfect French toast, so I thought, how hard is it that?  I've made plenty of French toast in my day.

Well, after several tries of choking down horrible breakfasts (I refuse to throw away food if it’s edible), I think that I have honed it to our liking any way. 

We top ours with loads of BUTTER, 100% Pure Maple Syrup, no fake stuff, and a side of either pork links or bacon, some fruit if it’s in season and a glass of juice or fresh milk. 

As I was taking photos of this last batch this morning to share with the class, it struck me to try fresh berry compote next time with a dusting of powdered sugar instead. 

We have a mob of family members coming to visit next week; I’ll use them as guinea pigs.  

Fantastic French Toast

4 eggs

1 ½ C. Milk or half and half (whatever you have on hand)

½ tsp. Ground Cinnamon

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1 tsp. granulated Sugar

Pinch of table Salt

6 one inch thick slices of Challah bread or any good white bread

Preheat oven to 350⁰

Preheat a non stick skillet over medium heat

Whisk together first six ingredients in a bowl

Transfer to a pie or cake pan

Working in batches, dip as many pieces of bread into the custard as your skillet will hold

Melt ½ teaspoon of butter in the skillet, adding additional amounts as needed

Brown the bread on each side for 2-3 minutes until golden

Transfer each batch to a large baking sheet

Bake until puffed, about 8-10 minutes

Tips:

• Avoid thin, precut sandwich bread, cut your own from a loaf of nice bread
• Make sure the skillet is hot, you don’t want a soggy piece of toast
• Resist the urge to press down on the bread with your spatula, this makes them dense, not fluffy
• This recipe freezes very well, if there are leftovers, just thaw and pop in the oven to reheat

Good to know Chefedb, I never thought of that, I really like Challah bread, we never had it before

as an aside:

I am thrilled that Chef Talk chose my thread to be featured

So Many Mahalos!!

For the past few days we have had my husband’s sister and her family staying with us. 

One of the breakfast dishes that I laid out for the group was my Fantastic French Toast

that I had prepared ahead and froze prior to their arrival. 

I let it defrost in the ‘frig over night and in the morning popped the little cuties into the oven to heat. 

Maybe I left them in too long? 

Or at too high a temp? 

But they were a little firm shall we say, at least for my liking. 

Not light and fluffy as when I first had made them. 

So do I need to revamp the recipe, ‘ya think? 

Maybe if I’m going to hold them for a later use not put them in the hot box after the browning process? 

Of course everyone oohed and aahed but I was very disappointed, I love French Toast! 

Did mention that I like to call myself, a good-ole'-fashion home maker. 

What's special to me about this recipe is that most home cooks use what's in their everyday pantry, say maybe, Wonder Bread, a couple of eggs and a splash of milk from the 'frig.  This is a little more than just dragging a piece of sandwich bread through some beaten  eggs and crisping it in non-stick pan that most households have.  It takes a bit more of an effort to create this dish for your family, so you give more time to sharing love with them.  Maybe sit down at the table together and talk about the goings on of the week, reconnecting. 

That's the kind of recipes and food that I have been trying to produce in our home. 

A receipt is just the beginning of someone's thought, another person can take it where ever they like. 

For example, if you like nutmeg more so than cinnamon, by all means go with the freshly grated nutmeg.  

? did you have cocnut syrup, my fav!! or boysenberry, yum-o!! 

Wow Keith Stegmaier, that sounds absolutely out of this world delicious!  I think that I'll find some of those creamers and give that a whorl.   We like that Italian flavored one, I forget the name of it... maybe with some real Italian bread, make like a theme of it? 

OBTW, Welcome to Cheftalk, I noticed that you recently joined? 

This is a great place for use domestic gods & goddesses who make a house a home!!

uuu, yummy, banana and orange sauce!  My Dad would make his own syrup with brown sugar and I forget what else, but it was ONO!!  I think he did that instead of buying Maple Syrup, less expensive.