French Toast Ala Beverly

Bev had made an extra loaf of bread a while back and it was somewhat stale so she decided that she wanted to turn it into French Toast – about a once-a-year event around here.  She went on line and found a recipe for Challah (Jewish bread) French Toast from The Barefoot Contessa, you can’t hardly go wrong with an Ina Garten recipe.  She followed the ingredients list as written, but we cooked and topped them differently than Ina.  You can click on the link for the original recipe and a how-to video.

French Toast – Adapted slightly from Ina Garten

Ingredients:

6 extra-large eggs

1½ cups half-and-half or milk

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon good honey

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 large loaf challah or brioche bread, Bev’s homemade

Unsalted butter

Vegetable oil

To serve:

Pure maple syrup

Sliced bananas

Blueberries

Sliced canned peaches

Chopped pecans

Canned whipped cream

Sifted confectioners' sugar (optional)

Directions:

1. In a large shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs, half-and-half, orange zest, vanilla, honey, and salt. Slice the bread in 3/4-inch thick slices. Soak as many slices in the egg mixture as possible for 5-10 minutes, turning once.

2. Brush oil and butter on the griddle over medium heat to cook all six slices.  Add the soaked bread and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until nicely browned. Cut in half (if you can remember) and serve.  If cooking in a pan, place the cooked French toast on a sheet pan and keep it warm in a 250F oven while cooking the others.

For topping on mine, I used a skillet to heat some syrup, nuts, bananas, and blueberries.

Cindy had the same thing but added peaches some whipped cream to hers – forgot to cut them in half.

The Verdict:

We sided it with some good, local Swaggerty’s Breakfast Sausage for a meal that we oohed and aahed over – as would be expected from an Ina recipe.  I soaked the bread for seven minutes on each side and it turned out just right but six slices used up all of the batter – so maybe five minutes next time.

I’m thinking our next sweet breakfast should be waffles with the same toppings.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

2/26/21 meal date