American French Toast

This morning I had to find an excuse to use some of the homemade American Sandwich Bread I made yesterday so I decided to pull out some cookbooks and look for a French toast recipe.  I typically make French toast the way my mom made it growing up where you whisk together a couple of eggs, some milk, splash of vanilla, and a dash or two of cinnamon.  It always tasted great, but I was looking for more of a custardy French toast recipe with some flavor other than cinnamon.

I ended up finding a recipe in one of my Williams Sonoma cookbooks with nutmeg and hint of orange zest.  I was a little worried that Kyle might not like the addition of citrus to the French toast, but we both really enjoyed it.  I also used to cook my French toast on an electric skillet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, but now I plan to follow this technique of frying the slices in melted butter.  The flavor you get from the melted butter is wonderful and you don't have to worry about buttering your slices before adding syrup.



French Toast
Makes 3 or 4 servings

Ingredients:

6 slices of American Sandwich Bread
1 1/2 cups (12 fl oz/ 375 ml) 1% milk
4 large eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup (2 oz/ 60 g) granulated sugar
1 tsp grated orange zest
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
Confectioners' (icing) sugar for dusting
Pure maple syrup, warmed, for serving

Directions:

In a large baking dish, place the bread slices in a single layer.

In a large glass measuring pitcher, thoroughly whisk together the milk, eggs, vanilla, granulated sugar, orange zest, nutmeg, and salt.  Pour evenly over the bread and let stand for 1 minute, then turn the bread over and let stand for another minute.

In a large frying pan over medium heat, melt 1 Tbsp of the butter.  When the butter has foamed and the foam begins to subside, add as many slices of bread as will fit in the pan without overlapping (if you can use a frying pan that will fit 3 slices of bread).  When the slices are golden brown on the bottom, after about 1-2 minutes, carefully turn them over and cook until golden brown on the second side, about 1-2 minutes longer.  You may want to extend the cooking time slightly if you like a drier French toast.  Transfer the finished slices to a warmed platter in a 200 degree oven to keep warm.  Melt the remaining 1 Tbsp butter and repeat with the remaining bread slices.  Transfer the French toast to individual plates, dust the tops with confectioners' sugar, and serve at once, with warm maple syrup.

I found that the bread slices browned quickly over medium heat so definitely keep an eye on it and turn down the heat slightly if needed.

Source: Adapated from The Williams-Sonoma Cookbook: The Essential Recipe Collection for Today's Home Cook