I can still remember the very first time I ate French Toast. I was in Grade 5 and a friend at school told me about how her mother made French Toast every Friday for dinner. I had no idea what it was and so she invited me to come to her house on Friday for dinner. I asked my mother and she said it was okay and so the next Friday I hopped on the bus with my friend and went to her house for dinner. I have to say it was love at first bite and I have been loving it ever since!
I just adore the magic and chemistry of cooking. The way that you can combine a few simple ingredients and come up with something incredibly tasty. There is nothing really fancy in French Toast. Fresh eggs and milk . . . some vanilla . . . are whisked together to make a soaking custard . . .
A good bread is then used to soak up the custard and then the bread slices are fried in butter until golden brown on both sides. I have a few secrets that will help you to make really great French Toast. This is when you will really benefit from using an artisanal bread, preferably a day old and a bit on the dry side. I used GRADZ Sourdough bread which is also yeast free.
Drier stale-ish bread helps to soak up and hold the egg/milk custard better. A bread with some heft will soak up and stand up to the custard and not fall apart easily. GRADZ sourdough bread is perfect for this. You also don't want your bread to be sliced too thinly. 1/2-inch to 1-inch is about right.
Too many eggs in the custard and you risk your French toast tasting too "eggy." You want a good ratio of eggs to milk. I find that 1 large free range egg to approximately 60ml (1/4 cup) of milk works best.
Some people like to add sugar to their custard. I don't. You are probably going to drizzle something sweet over it when you eat it anyways, so I leave the sugar out of the custard. I do however like to add some pure vanilla . . . but you can also add a teaspoon or two of your favourite liqueur if you like.
Orange flavoured or coffee or chocolate flavoured liqueurs are especially nice.
Another thing you can't do is rush French Toast. I like to take my time cooking it. I get my pan really hot and then I turn it down to medium low. I brush it with butter and once the butter foams I add my slices of bread.
Slow and stead wins the race here. Too hot a pan and your toast will be burnt on the outside and raw in the middle. You want that custard to cook through and you want your toast to be just golden brown.
Because I am not cooking it at a really high temperature I can use all butter to fry it in, which adds an even deeper depth of flavour to the finish and a really nice golden brown colour. Too high a temperature and your butter will burn, which isn't nice. So don't be in too much of a hurry!
Some people add cinnamon to the custard. I don't, and neither does this recipe. When you add cinnamon like that, it tends to collect in clumps in the liquid, which isn't all that appealing.
In this recipe you dust your finished French Toast with cinnamon sugar. I like a lot of sugar in my cinnamon sugar.
I want it to taste nice and cinnamony. I have used Caster sugar which is a finer form of granulated sugar. You can use regular granulated sugar if you wish, or you can whizz some regular granulated sugar in a food processor for a few seconds to grind it finer.
This delicious version of French Toast is drizzled with melted dark chocolate when it is done, just prior to serving.
Dark chocolate really gives it a nice finish. Not too sweet, yet really rich and decadent . . . I adore dark chocolate. Use one with a high cocoa content and you won't be sorry!
Altogether I would call this French Toast the perfect French Toast. Fresh and quality ingredients, put together simply . . . you can't go wrong!
Yield: 2 - 4 (depending on appetites)
Author: Marie Rayner
Chocolate & Cinnamon French Toast
Delicious fluffy French toast made with GRADZ yeast free sourdough bread, dusted with cinnamon sugar and drizzled with melted dark chocolate. What's not to like?
ingredients:
- 4 slices GRADZ yeast free sourdough bread
- 2 large free range eggs
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 100ml whole milk (1/2 cup less 2 TBS)
- 4 TBS caster sugar whisked together with 2-3 tsp ground cinnamon
- butter for the skillet
- 50g dark chocolate, melted (2 ounces)
instructions:
How to cook Chocolate & Cinnamon French Toast
- Have ready a shallow bowl or casserole dish large enough to hold your slices of bread. Crack the eggs into the bowl and beat them together with the milk and vanilla until well combined. Dip your slices of bread into the mixture, one at a time, flipping them over to coat both sides and allowing any excess to fall away. Place onto a baking sheet in preparation for cooking.
- Heat a large skillet or grill pan over medium heat. Brush with butter. Add the slices of egg soaked bread. Cook for several minutes until golden brown on the bottoms and then flip over and cook on the other side until golden brown. If you haven't been able to do them all at once, keep the ones you have done warm in a low oven and repeat until all your French toast has been cooked.
- Whisk together the caster sugar and ground cinnamon.
- Dust the slices of French toast with cinnamon sugar to coat. Stack the French toast on a serving platter and drizzle with the melted chocolate to serve. Enjoy!
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GRADZ bakery specialises in Artisanal Sour Dough breads, Wheat and Rye breads as well as a Gluten Free range of breads. Their Yeast Free Sour Dough is one of a huge range of breads that they bake and sell.
This recipe used their basic white sour dough bread. Using natural ingredients is not enough; GRADZ master bakers are also patient. Agness treasured family recipes require a slow fermentation process in which the dough rises gradually for up to 24 hours. During this time, flour and other ingredients are broken down, eventually making a bread which is gentler to the digestive system. Its lovely and chewy with a nice crust and a beautiful texture, and a nice tangy flavour that is quite delicious!
You can read more about their process and the rest of their range on their website, here. They are available to purchase on line via Ocado.
e-mail: hi@gradzbakery.co.uk
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This lovely French Toast recipe would make a great holiday breakfast I think!
