The Ultimate French Toast Experience
Friday, March 10, 2006 9:33
I love to cook. You’ll probably find me in the kitchen at least five nights out of seven, concocting the evening’s meal for my husband and myself. As a full-time writer, I also work from home, so that affords me the luxury of being able to devote a fair amount of time to this gratifying yet sometimes time-consuming endeavour.
So, that means I also devote a lot of my time to perfecting certain dishes. That, in turn, means that there are some menu items I feel I do so well at home that I wouldn’t dream of ordering them when I am out, for fear of disappointment. I’m talking about meals such as Risotto, Osso Bucco, Roast Chicken, various Salmon entrees, Crêpes…
French Toast is definitely one of these dishes.
I defy you to direct me to a restaurant, hotel or breakfast place that can deliver a better version of french toast than I can whip up, quite easily, in my own kitchen.
There are a couple of secrets to my success, which I am happy to divulge.
First off, you have to start with good brioche. Not just any brioche, mind you, but “pain brioché� or Brioche Loaf. I’m talking about the incredible fluffy, soft and yellow, high crumb content, enormously long loaf I get from LA Bread and Bakery, on Los Feliz Blvd.
Now, this is generally something you have to pre-order the day before you pick it up. Also, it is a huge loaf and I always slice and freeze about 3/4 of it. So, you can either pre-order it and pick it up the day you are making your brunch, or you can order it in advance and have it in the freezer for when you need it. Like all bread or cake when frozen, it probably wouldn’t keep much longer than a month or two. But I couldn’t say for sure because whenever we have it in the house, it doesn’t last that long anyway. You can toast it from frozen or have it on hand for entertaining or special brunch mornings. I recommend you thaw the slices for about 20 minutes before making french toast with it.
My tried and tested recipe for Brioche French Toast goes as follows:
Ingredients for two persons:
3 eggs
decent quantity of milk (about ¾ of a cup, I think)
a good splash of dark rum (I like Jamaican varieties, and Myers’s (sic) Dark Rum is a good one)
1 teaspoon or more of vanilla essence
Four thick slices of brioche, approx ½ an inch thick
Method:
Whisk your egg and liquids together in a shallow bowl.
Get your frying pan good and hot (but not too hot – medium-high heat)
Drop in a pat of butter – if it browns too quickly, your pan’s too hot
Now dip both sides of your brioche slices briefly into the egg mixture – take care not get them too sodden or they will fall apart when cooking and will taste too eggy – and immediately toss them into the pan.
Fry once on each side until golden brown. If you get the thickness of your slices right, as well as the pan temperature, the middle won’t be cold or seem uncooked.
Serve straight off the pan with fresh fruit of your choice, such as blueberries or thinly sliced strawberries, and take a minute to warm your maple syrup. You’ll be glad you did. This delicious meal goes especially well when paired with a strong cappuccino.
LA Bread and Bakery
3119 Los Feliz Blvd, LA, CA, 90039
nearest cross street is Edenhurst Avenue, just East of the 5 Freeway
323 662 8600
Brioche loaf is $18.00
available fresh on Mondays, or when you pre-order, but do call first.
::STOP PRESS::
Trader Joe’s also have a decent and affordable “pain brioché.â€?
By MaxMillion (see more of her posts). Max Million is the nom de 'net of Pauline Adamek. Born in Sydney, Australia, Pauline has lived in Los Angeles for the past ten years and finds it agrees with her. She has been reviewing films and filing celebrity-based interview articles since 1991, and has filed stories from various international film festivals, including Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto and Sundance. She is completing a family cookbook and also writes novels for 8-12 year olds.
Jonah says:
March 10th, 2006 at 9:39 am
French Toast is definitely one of those foods that just doesn’t come out as good in a restaurant as it does at home.
Thanks for the tips! Excellent timing since strawberries are just starting to shop up at the Farmer’s Markets.
Rebecca says:
March 10th, 2006 at 12:36 pm
Sounds yummy. I always use vanilla, but never thought of adding rum or using brioche. I can’t wait to try it!
Just says:
March 10th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
Would be interested to hear if you have ever tried using a pinch of cinnamon and whether you have dismissed it outright as excessive!
MaxMillion says:
March 10th, 2006 at 4:59 pm
ha ha — excessive? MOI?
Actually, I loathe cinammon (except in lentil stews - go figure) but it probably would work well for other palates.
Just keep that overpoweringly pungent dust offa my goddamn cawfee!
VeggieGal says:
March 10th, 2006 at 5:22 pm
I love the rum idea, but I’ve got a different technique.
I like to use a nice italian loaf, slice the night before, and let dry out a little overnight. Make the custard as you outlined above, but I soak the bread a little longer, brown it in the pan and then put the browned slices on a cookie sheet an bake in the 300 degree or so oven, while I’m browning more slices. By baking it, the custard on the inside of the bread cooks, making a crispy outside and creamy inside.
My favorite use for brioche loaf (I get mine at Masa-they use it for their french toast, and don’t usually sell to the public, but if you ask nicely…they make theirs with French butter - very high fat content) is bread pudding. I made Bradley Ogden’s pumpkin bread pudding for thanksgiving a couple years ago - yum!!!
Homer says:
March 11th, 2006 at 7:01 pm
Sounds delicious! I’m going to try it next weekend!
kauai boy says:
March 13th, 2006 at 11:22 am
While this sounds all real gourmet, I’m not a white bread eater. Being a life-long veg (with dairy) I know how important it is that every bite of every meal not only taste good but be nutritious. I use a hearty Branola or other seven-grain whole wheat bread. It may go without saying but I never use maple flavoured syrup, always the pure thing. And I like to put a few Tbls. of butter into a bowl with an ounce or two of syrup and pop it into the microwave for about 20 seconds. The melted blend allows me to pour butter and syrup on the toast at the same time, avoiding ripping it apart by trying to spread room temp butter. Cinammon, nutmeg or even a little white pepper are also good options. Thanks for your take.
suprodupro says:
March 13th, 2006 at 5:23 pm
This recipe absolutely kills! I choked a bit on the $18 brioche pricetag but it was worth it.
MaxMillion says:
March 18th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
Veggiegal — I’m not sure I follow. You use Italian bread (which kind?) AND you let it dry out overnight? Does. Not. Compute.
Some peeps use challah bread, bc it is similarly eggy.
But I dig your baked method. Must be handy for keeping it all hot when serving more than two persons.
I have heard of brioche bread pudding — I am going to have to try Ogden’s recipe. Thanks.
Kauai Boy — dontcha think all that focus on good health just takes the fun outa indulging in french toast once in a while? Branola?! Seriously…
And supro? Yeah, it’s a pricey loaf, but it’s YOOGE!
Catherine says:
August 6th, 2006 at 10:18 am
When I’m experiencing a brain fart and can’t think of a place to eat, I refer to this site often because I just love that you’ve covered so much ground! Now that we live in Eagle Rock I forget that some of my favorite places in SL & LF still exist! Thanks for the reminder. :D
Doug Stewart (French Food Fan) says:
December 26th, 2006 at 5:15 pm
Two suggestions for this recipe:
1) Cut the brioche in advance and let it get semi-dry. It then soaks up the batter more and tastes better.
2) If possible, use a vanilla pod (cut lengthwise and scrape out the seeds) rather than vanilla extract. In my opinion, this tastes better.