Alton Brown and America's Test Kitchen aren't always right. Well, mostly they are, but I vividly recall my father saying as he watched Alton Brown spatchcock a duck, "That's really interesting. I can't imagine ever wanting to actually do that, but it's interesting."He had a point. Some recipes from ATK or Alton Brown seem, if not unnecessarily complicated, perhaps trying to accomplish something beyond the basic--admirable in some cases, but in the case of french toast, it's not what I'm looking for.
I've been making french toast since I was in the single digits, and it's still what I will order in a restaurant if I'm there for a weekend brunch. I've always been frustrated when I made my version, because it didn't look--or taste--like the french toast I got at a diner. I knew that part of it was the bread--thin slices of wheat bread, while great for sandwiches, were not, I knew, what the diner was making their french toast out of. The wheat bread I had made a very tough, dry french toast--diner french toast was thicker, and stayed moist but not soggy on the inside, while the outside got brown with eggy goodness.
The answer I eventually worked out was Texas Toast, available for about $2.75/loaf at Trader Joe's. Regular white sandwich bread (like the Farmhouse-style from Pepperidge Farm) will do if there is no TJ's nearby. A slice of Texas Toast is about 3/4 of an inch wide, compared to 1/2 of an inch for regular sandwich bread. This helps the toast stay moist on the inside.
I tried both Cook's Illustrated and Alton Brown's recipes for french toast. They were good, but a) they were overly complicated--CI's in particular requires 8 different ingredients, including whole milk, which I don't typically keep on hand--and b) the flavor they made was classic, rich, and French-inspired. I want diner, not petit dejeuner. So here is my adapted version, which borrows a couple ideas but definitely looks more like something a lady named Muriel might hand you on a bleary Sunday morning.
Ingredients- 3 slices Texas Toast
- 1/2 cup of milk (I use 2% because it's what I have)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tbs vanilla extract (optional)
- 1/2 tbs of butter
- nonstick frying pan/skillet
- pie plate or other receptacle for egg mixure (microwave safe)
- whisk or fork for beating eggs
Directions
- Beat eggs and milk together. Add butter to mixture in small pieces, and microwave mixture (up to 1 minute) until butter melts. (Keep a close eye on this and stir if necessary so the egg doesn't cook, just warms. Microwaves differ, and I've had some unpleasant surprises.)
- Add vanilla to egg mixture, and stir to combine.
- Let each piece of bread soak in egg mixture, 30-60 seconds each side, and then set aside to rest on a plate while the skillet heats over a medium flame. (A drop of water put in the skillet should boil quickly, but not skitter all over the surface of the skillet.)
- Fry the pieces of toast until brown on both sides, about 3 min per side. (You can choose to put butter in the skillet to truly "fry" the french toast, but with a good, heavy non-stick skillet, I've never actually found that necessary in order to brown.)
- Let finished toast slices wait in a 250 degree oven while you finish the remaining slices. The slices can stay in the oven up to 45 minutes, if preparing for a crowd.
- Serve with butter and icing sugar, maple syrup, or fresh fruit as desired.
