Today for breakfast: “Perfect” French Toast

This recipe, of course, came via Martha Stewart, which…perfect is really unnecessary, Martha.  I’m just shooting for very good. 

Perfect French Toast 

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 6 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• Juice of 1 medium orange, (about 1/4 cup)
• 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons cognac, (optional)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Zest of 1 lemon, (about 1 tablespoon)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• Pinch of salt
• 6 slices bread, such as brioche, sliced 1-inch thick, preferably day-old
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Pure maple syrup, (optional)

1. Whisk together eggs, milk, juice, vanilla, cognac, sugar, zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a bowl; set aside.
2. Place bread in a shallow baking dish large enough to hold bread slices in a single layer. Pour egg mixture over bread; soak 10 minutes. Turn slices over; soak 10 minutes more or until soaked through.
3. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Place a wire rack on a baking sheet, and set aside. Heat 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat. Fry half the bread slices until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to wire rack; place in oven while cooking remaining bread. Wipe skillet, and repeat with remaining butter, oil, and bread. Keep in oven until ready to serve. Serve warm with maple syrup, if desired.

 I of course modified as usual.  I didn’t have the cognac, so I used bourbon and triple sec, used Ezekiel bread, subbed out Splenda for sugar and half-and-half for milk because that’s how I do, left out the orange juice and vegetable oil, and used TJ’s pumpkin pie blend spices (cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, ginger, etc).  I have yet to see any kind of diet - low carb, low fat, whatever - that thinks Ezekiel bread is bad for you.  Apparently there are some people who take issue with the fact that it’s called Ezekiel bread (like this doofus who tries to riff on the whole Biblical thing and fails miserably), but seriously…I’m an atheist and nobody has yet proved any religious ties to the organization that produces Ezekiel bread.  Clearly they need some sort of hook to sell their bread, so Ezekiel it is (it’s made from sprouted whole grains, is kosher, and sans flour).  Frankly, they’re probably a bunch of friendly hippies.

Anyhow, D stated that he would suffer with me, but clearly wanted some nice high carb bread, so I made his with a crunchy rustic bread with pecans, raisins, and dried cranberries.  Unfortunately at some point I forgot to keep modifying quantities for two people and the batter turned out a little boozy, but it still was quite tasty.  If you are not using day old or super rustic bread, don’t soak for 10 minutes on each side as it will become too soggy (I probably did about 3 minutes on each side with the Ezekiel bread).

To veganize it, just use the vegetable oil to cook the bread in and a combination of soy/coconut milk for the batter.  Subbing out eggs is always an interesting proposition when converting recipes to vegan…this vegan French Toast recipe blends bananas with the soy milk to form the batter (which I bet would be pretty darn tasty also using the coconut milk, and perhaps adding some ground macadamias on top, but I am a sucker for anything tropical).  I think if you incorporated that and kept the booze, spices, vanilla, etc, you would have a very delicious vegan French Toast.  Top with Smart Balance and maple syrup and you’re good to go!

- Posted by Tanya