French toast that is worth staying at home for
ble to use fresh bread, which is less absorbent. “You want to just fill the pores of the bread to make it supple and flfluffffffffffffy,” she said. “You don’t want to cream-log it.”
French toast that has been oversoaked stays damp and gooey in the middle even after the outsides are crisp
brown. A dip lasting for a few Mississippis on each side is enough to coat the slices and keep them from falling apart, especially if you’re using fresh bread.
Of course, stale is the traditional choice. But I have found thick slices of fresh bread to work just as well. They soak up slightly less liquid than stale bread, but, if the bread itself is delicious, the result is just as good.
While freshness may not matter as much, the type of bread does.
Basic white bread is the clear choice, as are brioche or challah, which have extra fat in the dough. If challah is hard to fifind where you live, go shopping on a Friday; many supermarkets receive shipments that day. I have no problem with packaged, sliced white bread, except that the slices are usually too thin. It’s worth seeking out a whole loaf, so you can make substantial slices.
Whether F re nc h t o a s t should be sweet itself, or unsweetened, is a matter of taste. Many recipes include sugar in the egg-milk mixture. I prefer it unsweetened, to let the deliciously basic egg-milkbread flflavors shine through — the better to enjoy with maple syrup, preserves, sugared fruit and the like. Either way, French toast is not a dessert, so skip the whipped cream and chocolate sauce.
The fifinal, irresistible flflourish of restaurant French toast is in the lacy brown crust that adorns both sides. You’re looking for the golden brown of caramelized sugar, not the dull brown of overcooked egg whites, which often gives the dish a tough texture and a sulfurous taste. Adding egg yolks to the custard is part of the solution. Dusting the French toast with sugar at the end of the cooking, flflipping it often to build a crisp crust, is another. This step is optional, but it does make people mad with lust — for more French toast.
But if a slosher you are, and a slosher you wish to remain, think of these instructions not as a recipe, but as a formula. For every four slices of bread, slosh in about cup of milk or milk with some cream). Add an egg and an egg yolk. Whisk vigorously. Dunk quickly. Cook slowly.
Eat immediately, and be glad you’re not standing out in the rain.