Sweet Bread French Toast

Before seeing this recipe, my French toast consists of drenching bread in lots of beaten eggs. I would use at least one egg per piece of bread. It was okay....but not quite like the ones from the restaurant. I was browsing my The New Best Recipe cookbook from Cook's Illustrated and thought I would try this!

What surprised me is there's only one egg for four servings of French toast!!! Is it just me or is that crazy? I ended up using some sweet bread for the French toast and it was so delicious!! It was nice and fluffy, not too eggy, and the perfect crisp to soft ratio. Yum!! It's also so easy, it's really doable even for a weekday morning.

Sweet Bread French Toast
from The New Best Recipe

1 large egg
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 to 5 day old challah or sweet bread, 3/4 inch thick (see note)
unsalted butter for frying (1 tbsp per batch)

1. Heat a 10 or 12 inch skillet (preferably cast iron) over medium heat for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, beat the egg lightly in a shallow pan or pie plate; whisk in the melter butter, then the milk and vanilla, and finally the sugar, flour and salt, continuing to whisk until smooth.

2. Soak the bread without oversaturating, about 40 seconds per side for challah and 30 seconds per side for sandwich bread. pick up the bread an allow the excess batter to drip off; repeat with the remaining slices.

3. Swirl 1 tbsp butter in the hot skillet. transfer the prepared bread to the skillet in a single layer; cook until golden brown, about 1 minute 45 seconds on the first side and 1 minute on the second.. serve the French toast immediately. Continue adding 1 tbsp butter to the skillet for each new batch.

Note:

• *You can also use sandwich bread instead of challah.  You will need about 6 to 8 slices of day old sandwich bread.  You will want to cook it for 30 seconds on the first side instead of 40 seconds.