More Brunch! Challah Vanilla French Toast

It’s pretty obvious how much GHT is about the brunch.  It’s kind of hard to overstate.  You are home, it’s the weekend, the day is still mostly in front of you.  And there’s bacon.  And sometimes booze.   This week, brunch is Challah vanilla french toast:

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The Prep:

• Slice Challah, nice and thick.  You could even do this the night before and leave it out so it stales.  Then it will suck up more of the egg custard.  But no worries if you don’t get to that.  It will be fine.
• At least 1 egg per slice of bread, beaten with a nice pour of heavy cream.  You may need more eggs depending on the size of your bread slices.  I usually do 4 eggs for every 3 slices.
• Whisk in a capful of vanilla extract, squeeze of agave nectar, pinch of salt and a bit of lemon zest.  Fresh scraped vanilla bean? Even better.  But I’m out today so am stuck with extract.
• Challah into custard, flip around.  Let the bread soak in all the goodness.
• Cooking spray or butter into a mid-hot pan (not screaming hot)*, Challah in.
• Flip when browned nicely, evacuate when other side browns up.   Serve with butter, warm maple syrup, bacon and a nice spicy bloody.

The Takeaway:

At dinner this evening friends R&T asked for a post with a 15 minute meal.  This isn’t quite that, but it’s pretty close.  And it works for a crowd, too.  Just cook off a few slices at a time and pop in a low oven on a wire rack over a cookie sheet until service (the rack helps keep that bit of crispness on the bottom).  And T – good luck at the Tough Mudder tomorrow.  If I’m going to join you next time, I think I’ll need to hit Rique Uresti’s barf-tastic Soul Cycle class much more.

*But what’s “mid-hot” vs. “screaming hot”?  Get your hand wet, flick a bit of water into the hot pan.  If the water sizzles and boils away quickly, that’s mid-hot.  If the water hisses, beads up and runs around the pan for a while?  Screaming hot.   There’s a time for screaming hot — like searing steaks.  But here, you need to be judicious with the heat or you’ll have a burned outside and a depressingly soggy inside.   We want browned and creamy, not black and runny.  So go with the mid-hot, people.   Lastly, if you are serving this to impress, go with the fresh vanilla bean.  It really does make a difference.