French Toast

Breakfast is the one meal where I don't feel guilty about eating a lot. After all, it's the most important meal of the day, right? When I have time to make a big, sit-down breakfast, I like to go all out and hit my major food groups--meat, eggs, carbs, and coffee. Yup, I think that just about covers it.

The last time I made French toast was before I started med school so I had aallll the time in the world to make everything fancy and gourmet. I even baked my own bread. If I hadn't gotten accepted, I would probably be making my own Nutella and grinding my own powdered sugar in a mortar and pestle. Luckily, nowadays, I doing something a little more productive with my time. The raisin bread I bought from Safeway makes for some pretty darn good French toast, and I don't even like raisins. Maybe it's the power of butter and maple syrup. Other than PB&J's I can't think of any other good uses for this bread, so it looks like I'll be making a few more servings of French toast with the rest of the loaf. Oh, I guess I could make bread pudding!

As for the rest of the breakfast...
Steven and I both love hash brown patties and prefer them over the more homemade shredded potato variety. I'd like to blame McDonald's for getting us hooked on deep fried processed potato in patty form.

Then, we have our breakfast sausage, taking the place of bacon, the usual suspect. What can I say, living on the edge today.

And finally, one of my personal favorites. A fried egg over medium with soy sauce and a sprinkling of furitake flakes. It's way better than plain old salt and pepper, trust me.

French Toast
6 slices of bread (something soft like sandwich bread, challah, or brioche)
1 large egg
1/2 C milk or half and half
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt

In a bowl whisk the egg, flour, and sugar together until there are no lumps of flour remaining. Add the milk, vanilla, and salt and mix until smooth. Pour into a pie plate or small tray.

Melt a half to one tablespoon of butter in a skillet or griddle, depending on the size of your pan. Dip a slice of bread into the batter and let each side of the bread soak for approximately 3 seconds. Make sure there are no dry spots on the bread. Soak only enough slices that you can cook in your pan at one time. Fry each side on medium low heat for 3 - 4 minutes, or until the bottom is a crisp golden brown. Flip and cook the second side until crisp and golden brown. Repeat for the remaining bread slices.

Serve with powdered sugar or maple syrup.

French Bread

Did I ever mention that I like to procrastinate? I would be a professional procrastinator if I could but I'm sure the pay is pretty crappy. I figured I would have plenty of opportunities to do the Daring Baker challenge but before I knew it, it’s the last week of February! I'll just blame the fact that February is a super short month. The only day I had time to do the challenge was today, which is technically posting day. Eek! Down to the wire here!


As always, we have lovely hostesses who select our secret recipe and this month, the wonderful duo Mary aka Breadchick, writer of The Sour Dough, and Sara of I Like to Cook chose something that I’ve always wanted to make, French bread! And not just any French bread, Julia Child’s French bread, the bread she devoted 18 pages to in her Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol 2. If you’ve read her memoir, My Life in France, you will know just how much of Julia loved to bake and how much time and effort she devoted to that one recipe. She made boulangerie style French bread accessible for the home cook!

The day started off beautifully, it was bright and sunny and my kitchen was 68 degrees, perfect dough rising conditions. After a donut and tea for breakfast, I rolled up my sleeves to tackle the dough making. Nothing like feeling the warm morning sun hit your face and hearing the *slap slap slap* of bread dough hitting the side of the KitchenAid bowl. After the machine did most of the work, I kneaded for a few minutes by hand to feel the dough, making sure to give it a good poke to test its springiness. Then back into the bowl, covered with a towel, for a long 5 hour rise. Who wouldn’t like a warm 5 hour long nap?

Then after the dough tripled in size, I gently shaped it for the second rise of 2 hours. It was beautiful after the second rise. The top was smooth and domed and it was absolutely gorgeous. After reading the instruction on how to form a batard, I was afraid I would mess up because it sounded pretty complicated so I decide to just make one large loaf. Then I gently coaxed the dough out of the bowl again and shaped it into a large loaf. It made some funny hissing noises as some of the gas bubbles popped, which made me giggle. Then after shaping the dough into the loaf, I gently placed it on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet for the final nap. It was like my little bread baby, so cute! Then under covers again for the final 2 hour rise.

Finally, I preheated my stone, slashed the loaf with a razor blade, brushed water on the outside, and slid it into the oven.


The Results:
After 25 minutes, I checked the internal temperature of the bread with my Thermapen and it was only 160 degrees F. Weird! Either my brand new Thermapen is off or my oven is off. I kept the loaf in the oven for another 5 minutes and took it out because I was afraid of overbaking.

The crust was a beautiful golden brown and shatteringly crisp, it was just gorgeous. Unfortunately, my slashes didn’t serve their purpose, I thought they were deep enough but on the finished loaf, they looked very superficial and they didn’t allow the steam to escape, instead the bread split open near the bottom. Am I suppose to slash a little deeper or should I not have brushed water over them? After cooling for 2 hours, I sliced into it and I was a little disappointed. The crumb was too dense and a little chewy/gummy. Where did I go wrong? I was really careful when I handled the dough but maybe I didn’t let it rise enough the third time. Maybe I should have baked it longer since the crumb was a little gummy, is that because the bread is underbaked and the interior is still too moist? It tasted really good but it was a little yeasty. Did I do something wrong? What should I do differently next time?

All in all, I still give myself a pat on the back for making a pretty decent loaf of French bread. I wish the interior could have been a little airier and fluffier but I’m still happy with how it turned out. I’m really proud of the crust because I’ve never been able to get bread to look that good. The crust was my favorite part, it was so thin and crispy. Yum! Now I can cross French bread off my list but I know this is a recipe I will repeat over and over until I can get it just right.

As for the recipe? Head on over to Mary’s blog for the whole shebang, all 18 pages. Thank you so much Mary and Sara for choosing this wonderful recipe and for taking the time to type up the whole thing! The side notes you gals added were especially helpful!

Recipe here

The recipe is long and the process takes almost all day. I started at around 10 in the morning and finished at 6 or so?

I already ate half my loaf and I bet I’ll finish the other half tomorrow. Here are some idea’s for any leftover bread you may have.

Cover the inside with roasted garlic and butter for roasted garlic bread.

Make sandwiches:
Ham and Butter
Salami, Baby Spinach, and Cream Cheese
Pate and Cornichon

Stale French bread is wonderful on top of French Onion Soup

Make sure to see all the beautiful breads everyone made by heading over to the Daring Baker Blogroll

Garlic Bread

Scarpetta is the Italian word for wiping up the rest of your pasta sauce with a piece of bread. I'm glad there's a term for it because I love ending my meal with a piece of crusty bread and the bit of lingering sauce on my plate. What makes it even better is if it's a piece of garlic bread slathered with butter and toasted to golden perfection.

Garlic Bread
1 large loaf of Italian (or French) bread
1 stick of butter, at room temperature
Roughly 1/2 head of garlic (more or less depending on how much you like)
1/4 tsp dried Italian herbs
1 Tbsp of chopped Italian parsley (I used chives instead)
Optional: A few tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese (as much or as little as you'd like)

Optional Step: To cut the harshness of raw garlic, you can dry toast it in a skillet. The garlic will not be as smooth and creamy as roasted garlic but it will be a little mellower. Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Add the garlic cloves with skins on to the skillet and toast, shaking occasionally, until the skins are golden brown. When the cloves are cool enough to handle, peel the garlic and use as you would raw garlic in this recipe.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Slice the loaf of bread in half horizontally.

Put the garlic cloves through a press or smash and finely mince them. Add the garlic, parsley, crumble in the Italian herbs with the softened room temperature butter and mix until combined. Spread the butter to both sides of the bread. If you don't use all of it, you can always freeze it for another time.

Bake the bread until it is warmed through, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle the Parmesan on top if using, then broil the bread until the garlic butter side is golden brown. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn. Time will depend on the strength of your broiler, anywhere from 1 to 3 minutes.

Variation: Roasted Garlic Bread

I like this roasted garlic variation more than the original garlic bread. Roasted garlic is sweeter, mellower, and smoother than raw garlic. You can even use the whole head of garlic rather than just half the head. The softened cloves make a delicious puree that's mixed with the butter. Add the herbs as you would normally and use the roasted garlic butter on your bread and bake in the same way.

How to roast garlic:
Slice off the top of a head of garlic exposing the cloves. Drizzle a bit of olive oil on the cloves, sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper and wrap the whole head in some aluminum foil. Roast in a 400 degree oven for about half an hour or until the garlic is soft and and brown. Squeeze out the cloves and use in pasta, on pizza, baked in bread, or spread on bread, etc.



More Garlic Bread Links
Elise's soft garlic bread looks delicious as well
Heidi adds lemon zest and chives to her Dad's garlic bread recipe

Bagels: Daring Bakers June

June marks my first Daring Baker's Challenge and this month, Jenny of All Things Edible and Freya of Writing at the Kitchen Table chose Real Honest Jewish Purist's Bagels. I've made a few yeasted baked goods before so I was fairly comfortable with the idea of making bagels. I was ready to break out the KitchenAid for another bout of effortless kneading. That is until I found out we had to knead by hand. To be honest I don't really know how to properly knead by hand so it was definitely a little intimidating. I'm extremely reliant on my KitchenAid, perhaps too reliant. It was something I saved up for and bought many years ago as a teenager and is my most prized kitchen possession. But knowing how to knead by hand is definitely a good skill to know for a baker so I left the beloved mixer alone in the corner and rolled up my sleeves to attack the dough. I made half the recipe because I was afraid of having too many bagels. I'm a little glad I only made half the recipe because the dough was quite stiff and definitely gave me an upper body workout with all the kneading. In fact my right side was even sore the next day! The downside of only making half the recipe is that the bagels were oh soooo delicious and unfortunately making half the recipe meant only 8 bagels, which were quickly devoured in 1.5 days.

The recipe can be found here.

The rules this month:
- Toppings should be savory and nothing should be added to the bagel dough itself.
- Bagels can be filled with anything your heart desires. They tasted delicious plain so I didn't add anything.

Some recipe notes:
Ingredients
I used King Arthur's bread flour, instant yeast, clover honey in the dough, and sugar in the water. Next time, I will only use 1 packet of yeast (2 1/4 tsp) for 4 C of bread flour rather than the 2 Tbsp stated in the recipe.

Kneading
I kneaded for about 15 minutes and left it alone to rise. Then I reread the recipe and it said the dough should be smooth and elastic. My dough wasn't smooth or elastic so I was worried I underkneaded. But I forged ahead with the rest of the recipe and luckily they turned out okay.

Rising
The dough rose extremely quickly. In order to avoid bready bagels, you want to really punch down the dough. I mean REALLY punch it down.

Making the bagels
I used the hole method to make the bagels (making a disc then poking a hole in the middle then stretching it out a little for an even bagel). I was afraid the "snake" method would uncoil in the water. Don't worry if the bagels aren't very pretty, mine were all uneven and lumpy.

Floaters or sinkers?
Although the recipe stated that the bagels should at first sink in the simmering water then float, like many other Daring Bakers, all of my bagels floated immediately as they hit the water.

Toppings
In the end I made five different bagels: plain, sesame seed, poppy seed, Parmesan, and pizza (leftover tomato sauce and some mozzarella). After the initial 25 minutes in the oven, I noticed the pizza ones were getting a little dark so I move the sheet from the middle rack to the lower middle rack (I didn't flip the bagels over). I used pretoasted sesame seeds on the bagels and I was afraid they would burn in the oven but they turned out fine.



You can visit all my fellow Daring Bakers (links on the righthand sidebar) and see what toppings they put on their bagels.

Nutella Stuffed Brioche French Toast

I look forward to a stale brioche as much as a fresh-from-the-oven loaf. In fact, I specifically set aside a portion of my last brioche and eagerly waited for it to dry out. Why? Because stale brioche makes the absolute best French toast and bread pudding. The day had finally arrived, and I was gathering ingredients for French toast when I spotted the jar of Nutella sitting innocently on the pantry shelf. “Eureka!” I knew I wouldn't be making any French toast but Nutella stuffed French toast! A luscious layer of Nutella is sandwiched between two slices of brioche, then the whole thing was to be dipped in French toast batter, fried in butter, and finished with a dusting of powdered sugar. It sounded so divine the prospect of making it led me to hum and prance excitedly around the kitchen. And the taste? Well, brioche and Nutella were made for each other. It made my heart flutter with happiness (or was that my heart struggling to pump after all that artery clogging goodness?), it was no doubt the best French toast I have ever had with a crisp exterior and a soft, custard like interior.

This will be my entry for Leftover Tuesdays hosted by Foodie Project



Notes:
- The batter recipe will also work for regular French toast, just cut the brioche slices 3/4-in thick instead of 3/8in thick.
- I kept the flavorings to a minimum because the brioche was already scented with lavender but if you're using a plain brioche, you can try variations such as adding cinnamon, nutmeg, or swap the vanilla extract with almond extract

Nutella Stuffed Brioche French Toast
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

1 egg
3/4 C milk
3 Tbsp AP flour
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted (and more for frying)
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Half loaf of brioche; cut into 8 3/8-in slices
Nutella, a few tablespoons
Powdered sugar for serving

Whisk the egg, milk, melted butter, flour, sugar, salt, and vanilla together until a smooth, thin batter is formed.

Spread some Nutella on half of the brioche slices and then top with a second slice of brioche, forming 4 Nutella brioche sandwiches about 3/4-in thick.

Add a tablespoon of butter to a nonstick skillet over medium heat.

To ensure even soaking of the bread, pour only half of the batter into a flat dish and soak both sides of 2 brioche pieces. You may not use up all of the batter but this way you don’t oversoak the first two bread pieces, leaving you with not enough batter for the second two pieces.

Once you have soaked the first two slices, remove and start frying them. Pour the remaining half of the batter into the dish and soak the next two pieces of bread.

Fry the French toasts until crisp and brown, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on the first side, flip then fry the second side until crisp and brown also, another minute or so.

Serve with powdered sugar.

~~~

Brioche French Toast

1 egg
3/4 C milk
3 Tbsp AP flour
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted (and more for frying)
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Half loaf of brioche; cut into 4 3/4-in slices

Variations: Add cinnamon, nutmeg, or swap almond extract for vanilla extract


Whisk the egg, milk, melted butter, flour, sugar, salt, and vanilla together until a smooth, thin batter is formed.

Add a tablespoon of butter to a nonstick skillet over medium heat.

To ensure even soaking of the bread, pour only half of the batter into a flat dish and soak both sides of 2 brioche pieces. You may not use up all of the batter but this way you don’t oversoak the first two bread pieces, leaving you with not enough batter for the second two pieces.

Once you have soaked the first two slices, remove and start frying them. Pour the remaining half of the batter into the dish and soak the next two pieces of bread.

Fry the French toasts until crisp and brown, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on the first side, flip then fry the second side until crisp and brown also, another minute or so.

Serve with powdered sugar.

Honey Lavender Brioche

The last time I was wandering the aisles of Trader Joe’s, I curiously looked at a loaf of brioche, and then I proceeded to balk at the price. $4.29 for a tiny loaf of bread! You’ve got to be kidding me! After shunning the expensive brioche (I'm sure this is relative, it was expensive to me), I was determined to make my own. Then one day I thought, “Hmm... what about a honey lavender brioche?” I always get super excited when I think of new ideas like this. I could either use lavender honey or lavender blossoms. Lavender honey is made from the nectar of lavender flowers, produced mainly in France and Spain, but unfortunately, it can be quite expensive. So instead, I picked up some lavender blossoms (much more affordable) at World Spice a few weeks ago.

After purchasing the lavender, I surfed the web looking for a brioche recipe. I thought it was so funny when I read Megnut’s “Mean Chocolate Chip Cookie,” because it's something I do with many of my recipes (though I don’t take it as far as Meg and average the baking temperatures and times). After taking science classes for the last five years, it’s only natural that I approach each new cooking endeavor as a scientific experiment. I gathered about a dozen brioche recipes and compared the ratios of the ingredients; in the case of a brioche, the flour, eggs, butter, milk, yeast, and sugar. For example, I found that the egg content in a brioche recipe can range from 2 to 4 and butter from 4 tbsp to 10 tbsp! Then I take the average or most common measurement of a certain ingredient to create my own recipe.

I replaced sugar with honey for honey brioche but I've never cooked with lavender before so I had no idea how much of the blossoms to use. Using too much lavender can be a deathtrap, resulting in food reminiscent of soap or potpourri. I planned to infuse some milk with lavender. After the milk had cooled, I sniffed it and I could barely detect any lavender fragrance. So I decided to add half of the lavender blossoms into the bread itself to lend its aroma to the bread as it baked. And it worked! The end result was a rich and fluffy brioche with just the light lavender flavor I was looking for. The lavender scent is only noticeable after you finish eating the bread as it lingers ever so delicately on the tongue. It was really very nice, not overpowering at all.

Notes:
- When buying lavender blossoms, make sure to buy culinary lavender specified for cooking not the kind used for soap or candle making (sold in craft shops), which are usually treated with toxic chemicals and pesticides. Store the blossoms in a cool dry location.
- I’m sure you can use lavender honey instead of lavender blossoms in this recipe, just substitute regular honey for lavender honey.
- You can use this recipe to make a regular brioche as well, just omit the lavender and replace the honey with white sugar.
- This is a quick brioche that does not call for an overnight rise in the fridge.
- Some of the recipes I looked at included: Cook’s Illustrated, Thomas Keller, Helen of Tartelette and Epicurious, Freya and Paul, and Bea of La Tartine Gourmande.

Honey Lavender Brioche (or Lavender Honey Brioche)

2 - 2 1/4 C AP flour
1 package instant yeast, about 2 1/4 tsp
1/3 C milk
2 eggs, room temp
3 Tbsp honey
6 Tbsp butter, room temp, cut into 6 pieces
1 tsp of lavender flowers (only 1/2 tsp is added into the bread)
1/2 tsp salt
1 beaten egg for wash

Heat milk until it is very hot but not boiling. You can use a small saucepan but I actually used the microwave. I heated it for 20 second intervals and whisked in between. Add the lavender blossoms to the hot milk, cover, and set aside for 5 - 10 minutes, let the milk slowly cool down until it is warm, about 110ºF. The lavender will infuse into the milk and it allows the milk to cool to a temperature that won't scald the yeast.

(If you're using active dry yeast, wait until the milk has cooled until it's still warm then strain and reserve the lavender blossoms and add the yeast to allow it to proof.)

Add 2 cups of flour, yeast, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk to combine. When the milk has finished infusing and is still warm, strain and reserve the lavender blossoms, whisk the honey into the milk then add the milk to the flour. Add half of the lavender flowers, about 1/2 tsp. Add the eggs and mix with the dough hook until the dough comes together. It will look very sticky and shaggy.

With the mixer running, add one piece of butter and wait until it is almost incorporated before adding the next. Add the butter piece by piece, then knead the dough for 5 minutes. If the dough looks too sticky, add some more flour, up to 1/4 C total. The dough should still be sticky and stick to the bottom of the mixer bowl but it shouldn't be absolutely unmanageable. Put the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and set aside in a warm place and allow it to rise until doubled, about an hour.

Lightly flour a work surface. Cut a piece of parchment for the bottom of a loaf pan and grease the sides of the pan. Gently pry the dough out onto the work surface and divide in half. Then divide each half into 3 sections. Roll each section into a ball and place them in a loaf pan, 2 x 3. Cover, and set aside to let rise for another hour.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 350ºF and adjust the oven rack to the lower middle position. My loaf rose pretty high so baking on the middle position would have caused the top to get too brown.

After the loaf finishes the second rise, brush the top with the beaten egg (probably won't use all of the egg). Bake for 35 - 40 minutes, or until the loaf sounds hollow when the pan is tapped. If you notice the top is getting too brown during baking, cover the top with a piece of foil to sheild it. If you notice that the top isn't getting brown enough, move the loaf up to the middle rack.

Take the loaf out of the pan and let it cool for 15 minutes before digging in (if you can wait that long). It was delicious drizzled with some more honey.



This will be my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging, an event created by Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen and hosted this week by Ellie of Kitchen Wench.