[0 - 1] - The last time I talked about
[1 - 3] a breakfast food on this program it was pancakes
[3 - 5] and there was a giant spatula-wielding robot,
[5 - 7] a 12-inch pat of butter, gallons of maple syrup
[7 - 9] and more than a few burnt fingers.
[9 - 11] This time around I'm back with another
[11 - 13] breakfast heavy hitter, French toast.
[13 - 18] And it's just me and my cat, Miamo,
[19 - 22] and some blue food coloring.
[23 - 32] Fewer robots but no less weird. (cheerful music) Good girl.
[32 - 35] Like the inventive percussion-based stage show, STOMP,
[35 - 37] French toast is an international sensation.
[37 - 39] That is to say, you can find the tradition
[39 - 41] of soaking leftover bread in liquid
[41 - 43] whether it's wine, milk, or juices
[43 - 45] and frying it in countless countries across the world
[45 - 48] from France to England, to Germany, to India and more.
[48 - 50] The practice of Frenching toast
[51 - 53] may date back to the fifth century.
[53 - 55] We are gonna stick with the name French toast today
[55 - 57] but if to you, it is German toast, Bombay toast,
[57 - 59] Poor Knights of Windsor or wicked wet toast,
[59 - 61] as we say here in Boston,
[61 - 63] please just dub that over every time I say it.
[63 - 64] While it may have started out quite humbly,
[64 - 66] there's no denying that in this country
[66 - 68] French toast has gotten pretty darn decadent.
[68 - 70] The richest versions take the richest breads,
[70 - 71] say challah or brioche,
[71 - 73] and dip them in the richest custards.
[73 - 74] I like those versions.
[74 - 75] But Frenchy-T can also be
[75 - 77] a little bit more of a restrained affair
[77 - 79] and something you could have for an everyday breakfast.
[79 - 80] I like those versions too.
[80 - 82] We're gonna talk about both today
[82 - 84] but first we start with custard.
[84 - 85] Custard, which is such a great word.
[85 - 90] Custard, custard, custard. Sorry, custard.
[90 - 92] I love custards of all kinds.
[92 - 94] Whether it's pastry cream, creme anglaise or flan.
[94 - 97] At its core, a custard is egg-thickened dairy.
[97 - 98] Most French toast,
[98 - 100] even if it's going off the richness rails,
[100 - 102] opts for milk for the liquid dairy component.
[102 - 105] When it comes to eggs, though, there's a big choice.
[105 - 106] Whole eggs or just yolks.
[106 - 107] Now we spend a lot of time on this program
[107 - 109] talking about egg yolks and egg whites.
[109 - 111] There's even a whole episode devoted to each,
[111 - 113] which you should watch if you haven't yet,
[113 - 114] but while they are super different in terms of
[114 - 117] their protein content, fat content, water content,
[117 - 118] and overall functionality,
[118 - 121] they both have the ability to gel and thicken a liquid.
[121 - 123] You see this power every time you fry an egg
[123 - 124] and you watch the raw liquid
[124 - 126] turn to a solid in the skillet.
[126 - 128] If you use just yolks in your French toast,
[128 - 129] you will end up with a richer custard
[129 - 131] because you're adding less water and a lot more fat.
[131 - 132] Whole eggs offer the benefit
[132 - 135] of not having to separate eggs before you've had coffee,
[135 - 136] which is nice and they will make
[137 - 139] an eggier-tasting French toast, which I really like.
[139 - 141] That's because the sulfurous compounds
[141 - 142] that are responsible for that eggy flavor
[142 - 144] are found primarily in the white.
[144 - 146] There, of course, loads of other added options
[146 - 147] for the custard for your French toast.
[147 - 150] There can be sugar, spices, citrus zest
[150 - 151] and melted butter to name a few.
[151 - 153] Okay, so now we've got custard out of the way.
[153 - 154] Let's get to the bread.
[154 - 155] Now, when I was growing up,
[155 - 156] there was only one kind of bread
[156 - 158] and it was called white sandwich bread.
[158 - 159] Sometimes it was a little bit brown
[159 - 162] but it was basically still white sandwich bread.
[162 - 162] And here's the thing,
[162 - 165] white sandwich bread makes a wonderful French toast.
[165 - 166] In fact, I'm gonna make some for you
[166 - 167] with that in just a moment
[167 - 170] but there are so many good options for French toast bread.
[170 - 172] Buttery brioche makes a supremely rich toast.
[172 - 175] Challah slightly less rich in the butter department
[175 - 177] but usually richer in the egg department
[177 - 178] is a natural pairing.
[178 - 180] We're trying to get eggs into the bread,
[180 - 182] so why not start with more eggs in there to begin with.
[182 - 185] Shokupan, Japanese milk bread is wonderful for French toast.
[185 - 187] A Japanese bakery here in Boston,
[187 - 188] I can get it sliced extra thick.
[188 - 190] And it's pillowy crumb has tons of structure
[190 - 192] for holding onto lots of custard.
[192 - 194] We of course have amazing recipes for all of these
[194 - 196] and I've got links to those below this video.
[196 - 198] Did I mention down there that there's also
[198 - 199] a subscribe button and a like button?
[199 - 201] They're so fun to click. You should try it.
[201 - 204] A lot of French toast recipes call for stale bread.
[204 - 207] And there's still a ton of confusion out there
[207 - 208] about what's stale bread actually is.
[209 - 211] While stale bread can feel really dry,
[211 - 211] unless it's been sitting out
[211 - 215] for a really, really long time,
[215 - 217] chances are its still got all its water,
[217 - 218] you just can't feel it.
[218 - 221] As bread stales, a process called retrogradation,
[221 - 223] starch molecules that got nice and flexible
[223 - 227] during baking reform into crystals trapping water inside.
[227 - 229] When the water is trapped, the bread feels dry
[229 - 231] but heat that slice of bread up
[231 - 233] past about 140 degrees Fahrenheit
[233 - 235] and the water is released and the bread feels moist again.
[235 - 237] Why does this matter at all?
[237 - 238] Well, if you want dry bread
[238 - 240] so that it can soak up as much custard as possible,
[240 - 242] which if you want that more power to you,
[242 - 243] you don't want stale bread.
[243 - 245] You want bread that has actually been dried out.
[245 - 247] Baking slices of bread on a wire rack
[247 - 249] in a 300 degree oven for about 20 minutes
[249 - 250] will get the job done.
[250 - 252] We've got custard, we've got bread.
[252 - 253] Let's put this all together.
[253 - 255] And for that, we gotta go to the kitchen.
[255 - 256] Okay, first up, we're gonna go fancy.
[256 - 258] I'm gonna use this lovely challah
[258 - 259] that I already dried in the oven
[259 - 261] based on that method I just mentioned.
[261 - 262] For the custard, we're gonna go nice and rich
[262 - 264] with whole milk, three yolks
[264 - 266] and a couple tablespoons of melted butter.
[266 - 267] And we're actually gonna go a little wild here,
[267 - 269] cinnamon, triple sec, orange zest
[269 - 271] and of course, vanilla and salt.
[271 - 273] We'll dunk our dried out slices in this custard,
[273 - 275] top them in the mixture of ground almonds and brown sugar
[275 - 279] and pan fry them in butter until they are golden brown.
[279 - 280] Jeez, that looks good.
[280 - 284] I am going to eat that, all of that, but before I do so
[284 - 287] I wanna show you another recipe that I might like even more.
[287 - 289] This genius recipe comes from "Cook's Illustrated"
[289 - 290] senior editor, Lan Lam.
[290 - 293] It's called everyday French toast because guess what?
[293 - 294] You're gonna wanna eat it every day
[294 - 296] and it is simple and mess free enough
[296 - 297] that you might actually do that.
[297 - 299] First up, we've got our custard.
[299 - 300] We're going for whole eggs for ease of use
[300 - 302] and that lovely eggy flavor.
[302 - 303] We've got some melted butter
[303 - 305] and in the flavor department, we're going purist.
[305 - 308] Just brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt.
[308 - 310] Here's where things take a dramatic turn.
[310 - 311] We're gonna pour this custard
[311 - 313] directly onto a sprayed baking sheet.
[313 - 317] Now time for the bread, classic white sandwich bread.
[317 - 319] I lay down all of the slices into the custard
[319 - 320] and as soon as I put the last one down,
[320 - 321] I go back to the beginning
[321 - 324] and I flip them over in the same order that I put them down.
[324 - 327] And look, all the custard is perfectly absorbed.
[327 - 328] This method takes all the guesswork
[328 - 329] out of how long to dunk
[329 - 331] and how much custard gets into each slice.
[331 - 334] How did Lan figure out exactly how much custard to use?
[334 - 336] With blue food coloring, of course.
[336 - 337] Check out this experiment.
[337 - 339] We'll repeat exactly what I just did.
[339 - 341] But this time the custard is dyed blue.
[341 - 342] We lay 'em down, flip 'em over
[342 - 344] and the custard is gone. Magic.
[344 - 346] Now let's slice one of these pieces of bread in half
[346 - 349] and see how far the custard has traveled.
[349 - 351] Boom. This is exactly what we were looking for.
[351 - 352] That sliver of un-soaked bread
[352 - 354] is what Lan calls "the bone" of the French toast.
[354 - 355] And like all bones,
[355 - 357] it provides structure to everything that's touching it.
[357 - 359] The slice will be easier to flip without tearing
[359 - 362] and it will bake up custardy and rich but not soggy.
[362 - 364] But believe it or not, this soaking method
[364 - 366] is only the second coolest part of this recipe.
[366 - 367] What's the coolest?
[367 - 370] The sheet pan goes straight into the oven.
[370 - 371] Get outta here, skillet.
[371 - 373] We'll bake on the lower rack at 425 degrees
[373 - 375] until the bottoms turn golden
[375 - 376] and then we'll broil the tops.
[376 - 378] And there you go. No skillet.
[378 - 380] No batch cooking. No messy transfers.
[380 - 383] Just one glorious stack of French toast.
[383 - 385] You can share this if you want to.
[385 - 388] Whether you go Richy-Rich or Geniusy-genius,
[388 - 393] this is absolutely how to eat French toast.
[395 - 396] Thanks for watching.
[396 - 398] Do you have a favorite bread for French toast?
[398 - 399] Are you whole eggs or yokes?
[399 - 401] Have you seen STOMP, the international sensation?
[401 - 402] Let me know in the comments
[402 - 404] and don't forget to dip below this video
[404 - 406] and get access to both of those toasty recipes.
[406 - 407] We'll see you next time.