I generally don’t particularly like French toast most of the time; it’s often mushy or eggy. Like pancakes (until recently), I also don’t know how to cook it properly. It doesn’t cook evenly; I can’t figure out how to make it be crisp on the outside and not mushy.
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I’ve had French toast that I’ve liked before, where the inside isn’t gooey and the surfaces are nicely browned. So, I decided I’d give it a try. The Bride and Groom Cookbook (affiliate link) had a recipe that sounded good – it included vanilla and orange zest (and perhaps some orange juice). I don’t have my book with me right now so I can’t give you the recipe, but I will try to recall everything I can and update it later.
First, you slice a baguette into about 20 slices. You pour the French toast mixture over the bread and soak it, turning it at least once and poking holes in the bread if it seems especially dry, to help it soak better. This soaks for 20 minutes. The mixture included 4 eggs, (probably) 2 cups of milk, orange zest, vanilla, and sugar. [I will have to update the ingredients list once I find my book again.] Grease a skillet and heat over medium high heat. Remove slices of baguette from the mixture and drain well, then add to the pan. Reduce heat to low/medium-low and cook for 4 minutes on each side (I think). Repeat with remaining bread.
I was disappointed in how this turned out. Even with careful draining, egg mixture spread out from the bread (like it would when you start to fry an egg) when I put it in the pan. Medium-low (or what I considered to be medium low on my stove) was too low to create any kind of browning on a side, and it took much longer to cook than it said it would. Once I turned up the heat a little bit, the sides began to burn. The flavor was okay – I kind of enjoyed the orange zest in this recipe – but I couldn’t get past the soggy texture and lack of crisp on the outside. Alex thought it tasted good, but it was still just French toast. I won’t make this again, but it’s possible that you’d have better luck if you already had a good French toast-making technique.
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