Something new for The Savory Notebook.  A breakfast post!
Although I love a big homemade breakfast, I have to admit that I'm not all that keen on actually making them.  I like a leisurely morning, spent drinking tea and reading the paper.  Cooking breakfast seems like such a hassle.  So, I tend to make big breakfast meals for dinner.  When I do take the time to make a hot breakfast, I find out it's really not such a big hassle and it's usually oh-so-yummy.
The boys have been requesting French Toast ever since I bought a loaf of really thick white bread.  It's been my plan to make it, just never got around to it.  Until this morning.
I decided to try a recipe I saw Rachael Ray prepare on Food Network - Pain Perdu.  The addition of cornstarch to create a bit of a battery crunch intrigued me.  I hadn't planned on making the berry compote, but then realized I had some fresh blueberries and raspberries in the fridge, so I went for it - after all, it's in keeping with my resolve to not let things go to waste!
The only changes I made to the recipe were to add one more egg and a bit more milk - I tend to like a lot of egg in my French toast batter, but I also had 9 very large pieces of bread and wanted to make sure there was enough egg/milk mixture to go around.  I also followed the recommendations of several reviewers to cut the sugar to a 1/2 cup.  1 cup seemed like overkill and even a 1/2 cup was a bit sweet.  Maybe 1/3 cup next time.
The French toast was tasty and did have a nice crunch on the outside.  The syrup was delicious but really overwhelmed the French toast.  I think I would have preferred just a simple maple syrup, but that's a matter of personal preference.  In the future, I would reserve a berry syrup like this for a heartier base like a whole grain pancake.

Wow that looks amazing... I absolutely love french toast, I'm definitely, definitely going to try this one! Thanks for sharing!
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