Really Good French Toast

 

Have you ever had extra loaves of bread and wondered what to do with them?  Recently that was the situation I found myself in. Instead of freezing the loaf, I decided to make french toast and freeze the french toast..

Cooks Illustrated had an interesting article and recipe on how to make the perfect french toast; I thought I’d give it a go. A few months back, I tried a different recipe from another source and was disappointed. For this particular recipe I used Pepperidge Farms Hearty White, which was one of the recommendations listed,  along with Thomas English Muffin Toasting bread, Arnold Country Classics White, and a good challah.

As I started into the recipe I realized I didn’t have enough milk, what a bummer, so I substituted French Vanilla International Delight for the 1/3 cup of milk that I was missing. Sweet goodness, that made it even better 🙂 I did leave out the sugar and vanilla from the original recipe because the creamer is sweet and has a vanilla flavor.

Cooks Illustrated perfect french toast,

8    large slices hearty white sandwich bread or a good – quality challah

 1   1/2 cups whole milk (warmed)

3     large egg yolks

3    T. light brown sugar

1/2 t.    ground cinnamon

2 T    unsalted butter (melted)

1/4   t.  table salt

1 T.    vanilla extract

Maple Syrup

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Place bread on baking sheet in the oven. Bake bread until almost dry about 16 minutes, flipping slices half way through. Remove bread from rack and allow to cool about 5 minutes.

Whisk milk, yolks, sugar, cinnamon, 2 T melted butter, salt and vanilla in large bowl until well blended.  Transfer mixture to 9×13 dish.

Soak bread in milk mixture until saturated but not falling apart, 20 sec per side. Using firm slotted spatula, pick up bread slice and allow excess milk mixture to drop off.; repeat with remaining slices. Place soaked bread on another baking sheet or platter.

Heat a tablespoon of butter in a skillet over medium. When foaming subsides,  use slotted spatula to transfer bread to pan. Cook until golden on each side approx. 4 minutes per side.

*** Tip about Cinnamon*** Did you know that not all cinnamon is equal.See the type below called Saigon Cinnamon, it is so much more potent. The stores that make and sell the famous cinnamon rolls use this higher potentcy cinnamon, it gives it that extra kick of cinnamon flavor!! I’ve only seen it on Spice Islands brand.

Added notes: The egg whites were omited in this taste testing recipe to remove the eggy flavor to more of a rich custardlike taste. Research shows that most of the flavor in eggs comes not from the yolk but from the sulfer compounds in the whites. The oven dried bread method won hands down, producing French toast that was browned and crisp on the outside and tender and velvety on the inside, with no trace of sogginess!

Personal note: I took some of the french toast out of the freezer this morning for a quick breakfast.  I poped it in the toaster….to my surprise it came out perfect, not soggy like it would from the microwave. Other people probably do this all the time, it is a new discovery for me 🙂