French Toast

I know that french toast is one of those things that you can't really mess up, but just because you can't mess it up doesn't mean you can't make it better! Now which one of these is gonna fill your belly and make you smile on a Saturday morning??

The other night we went to one of those pancake houses, and I never order breakfast food from those places but I wanted something sweet so I did... I ordered french toast, when it arrived it got me thinking about how many people settle for this stuff that they call french toast. I have visited Paris when I was a young girl but I have never lived there so what I am about to say is just my 2 cents and may be wrong but I think in France the bread is as good as it is in Sicily, Spain, Italy... it isn't flat sandwich style bread. It is a nice hearty bread. It is the kind of bread you can make a meal out of. I don't think french toast was ever meant to be the flat flimsy stuff we eat these days. OK rant over... we had french toast this morning, and I thought I would share it. Although I am not sure it needs a recipe but I will let you know what all I used.



The custard
6 eggs
1-2 cup or so of whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla (I don't measure but it was close to that)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon cinnamon




The most important part of the meal the bread...I try to get the day old bread so my type of bread will vary from a french loaf to a brioche (the best but really costly) again, what ever is on the reduced rack. Today it was a mountain loaf, sometimes called farmers bread.




You need to slice the bread the night before and let it sit out and get a little dry. Please slice it thick about 1-2 inches. I usually put it in a paper bag so I don't have to worry about the kids finding it and eating it all before breakfast! You want to soak the bread in the custard for a min or so before throwing it in the pan. We are coming along nicely here!! I used a lot of sugar in the custard so the sugar will caramelize (burns... caramelize just sounds yummier) on the toast so I like to let it get a little darker than this that caramelized sugar on top is just so yummy. Plus you want to make sure you give it time to cook inside since it is thicker.



Time to eat!

Now in my opinion this is what french toast is suppose to look like.


It was so yummy my little girl couldn't stay out of it, I told her not to touch it until we were all sitting... so she licked it! :o)