super french toast (best breakfast ever)

Add this to the top of your To-Do List: carve out a couple hours on a free morning and make this SUPER FRENCH TOAST. It will change your life. No, that's not an exaggeration. This is the best. breakfast. ever. Yes, there are a lot more steps than normal french toast. But that's because this is super french toast, okay? Seriously. This french toast has a caramelized crunch on the outside that leads into a custard ooey gooey center. The salty goodness of the butter coats every bite. And the powdered sugar + maple syrup combo on top will literally make you drool. The orange and vanilla flavor infused into the custard sings through. And the texture is like nothing you've ever experienced. I know, you probably think I'm being dramatic. I'm just being real with you. Don't believe me? Make this for yourself and report back to me - you'll thank me, I promise 🙂
I'd rate this 5 out of 4 stars. Off-the-scale-amazing.

SUPER FRENCH TOAST
from Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi

what

- 2 ½ cups (600 ml) whole milk
- ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon (200 ml) heavy cream
- 1 orange, rind shaved into long strips
- 3 long cinnamon sticks, broken in half
- 1 vanilla bean, sliced lengthwise, seeds scraped
- 14 oz (400 g) brioche loaf, crusts removed, cut into 8 slices each 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick
- 6 eggs
- 8 teaspoon (40 g) superfine sugar
- 4 tablespoon (60 g) unsalted butter
- ⅓ cup (40 g) confectioners' sugar
- 1 cup (240 g) sour cream
- maple syrup, to serve

how

- Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C).
- Pour the milk, cream, orange rind, cinnamon sticks and vanilla bean & seeds in a saucepan. Heat gently on medium-low heat and remove from heat just before it starts to boil (~ 5 minutes).
- Set the milk mixture aside for ~ 20 minutes to cool and for the flavors in infuse.
- Meanwhile, line a 12.5 x 8.5 inch (32 x 22 cm) baking dish with parchment paper. Lay the brioche slices flat in the dish.
- Whisk the eggs and superfine sugar in a bowl.
- Gradually pour the warm milk into the eggs, whisking the whole time to create a custard.
- Strain the custard. Pour two-thirds of the custard over the brioche slices in the baking dish so the bread is fully covered. Set the remaining custard aside.
- Bake the brioche for ~ 20 minutes, until the custard is cooked through and golden brown. Set aside to cool and re-cut the 8 slices of bread (since it's probably now one giant custard/bread piece in the dish).
- Melt half the butter in a large nonstick pan on medium/high heat.
- Dip a bread square into the reserved custard, sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of confectioners' sugar, then immediately set it it sugar-side-down in the pan. Fry for ~ 1 minute, until the sugar is caramelized. (The sugar will be dark brown and crispy.) Repeat for all the pieces. (It's best to work in two batches with four slices in the pan at a time.)
- While frying, sprinkle ½ teaspoon confectioners' sugar on each slice on the face-up side. Flip in the pan and cook for another ~ 1 minute, to caramelize the other side.
- Remove from the pan and let rest on a wire rack while you work on the second batch - wipe out the pan and melt the other half of the butter. Then begin dipping, sprinkling and frying.
- To serve, the cookbook says place 1 slice of toast on each place with 2 tablespoon of sour cream and as much maple syrup as you like. But it's just me in the kitchen, so I put 4 slices on my plate, sprinkled on more powdered sugar, doused it with maple syrup, layered on a few slices of the orange (since I only use the rind in the recipe) and dug in.
I say, enjoy it however you like 😉