Challah French toast: golden outside, custardy inside
Thick slices of yesterday's challah soaked in eggs with milk, vanilla sugar and cinnamon, fried in butter until golden. The middle turns to custard, the edges crisp. Under 20 minutes from fridge to plate, six slices for two people, and stale challah works better than fresh.
Your own work in that: 17 min.
- Egg mixture 5 min
- Frying 12 min
Step by step
0 / 5 doneSlice the challah thickly
Cut the challah into slices 2.5 cm thick. Thick slices have enough crumb to stay moist inside while the outside browns; thin ones come out dry as toast. Dry fresh challah for about 10 minutes in the oven at 150 °C.
Ingredients: 6 pcs challah or brioche · 3 pcs eggs · 150 ml milk · 1 tbsp sugar · 1 tbsp vanilla sugar · ½ tsp cinnamon · 1 pinch salt · 40 g butter
TipStale bread is drier and firmer, so it soaks up the mixture instead of turning to mush. That is why French toast is a recipe for yesterday's challah.
Slices of 2.5 cm, a day oldWhisk the egg mixture
In a wide, shallow dish whisk the eggs with a fork with the milk, sugar, vanilla sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of salt, until no streaks of white remain.
Eggs, milk, sugars, cinnamon, until smoothSoak briefly
Dip the slices in the mixture 20 seconds a side: they should soak through but not go soggy. Lift out, hold a moment over the dish so the excess drips off. Soak just before frying, not all at once.
TipSoaking too long gives a raw, wet centre you cannot cook through without burning the outside. Twenty seconds a side is enough for a thick slice.
Twenty seconds a side, excess dripping offFry in butter over medium heat
Heat half the butter in a pan over medium heat; it should foam, not brown. Fry 2–3 slices at a time 3 minutes a side, until golden and springy when pressed. Before the second batch wipe the pan and add the rest of the butter. Two batches take about 12 minutes in all.
TipMedium heat is the whole technique: too high burns the sugar in the mixture before the egg inside sets. Golden after three minutes means the temperature is right.
Foaming butter, three minutes a sideServe at once
Sift icing sugar over the toast, fruit and plum butter alongside. Eat warm: after a quarter of an hour the crisp edge is gone. Keep finished slices in the oven at 80 °C while you fry the rest.
Ingredients: 1 tbsp icing sugar · 150 g raspberries or other seasonal fruit · 3 tbsp plum butter
Icing sugar, raspberries, plum butter
Before you start
Savoury
No sugar or cinnamon, a teaspoon of mustard and a pinch of pepper in the mixture; served with a slice of ham and cheese melted under a lid. Supper in 20 minutes.
From the oven for guests
Lay the soaked slices on a tray lined with buttered baking paper and bake 15 minutes at 200 °C, turning halfway. Twelve slices at once, no standing at the pan.
Instead of challah
Butter rolls, brioche, thick slices of white sandwich bread. Not rye: too dense, it won't absorb the mixture.
