Making bread in our home is an occasion. All the kids get involved at one stage or another and they love it! I love it — on occasion.
When I’m not feeling in the mood for ‘an occasion’ — I buy bread from the bakery. And everytime I do there is this lingering thought that maybe they’ll be enough ‘lost bread’ left over for French Toast in the morning.
In the harsh light of day, however real bread seldom makes it past ‘day one’ in our home. Three children and fresh baked goods equals delight, crusty crumbs and empty bakery bags. So imagine my delight when I came downstairs this morning to see that almost an entire loaf of baguette bread was leftover from the two I had purchased on Saturday! I supposed the thicker crust on the bread made it less desirable for tearing and nibbling at by the children. Two loaves of Challah, for instance, would never have made it!
“French Toast” I whispered as I got out the bread knife and began slicing the long loaf up into inch wide slices on as severe a diagonal as I could manage. I then left them on a cooling rack to dry out a bit, while I got out a large casserole dish. I’ll make the custard right in the dish and use a spiral whisk. to mix it all together. 
We usually have soy or 1% milk in the house but neither of those alone will do for the French Toast I am contimplating. Only the heavy cream in the back of the fridge will give me the creamy consistency I’m imagining. The thicker custard base will make my french toast, moist and creamy on the inside.
My youngest daughter, Rebecca, who can can hear a egg-shell being cracked at 100 paces, comes running in and offers to help. So while I put ingredients into the casserole dish she whisks it all together. Good times.
My Custard Recipe for French Toast:
Whisk together the following (I measure the liquid and the sweetener and eye ball the rest):
3 eggs
3/4 cup 1% milk
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 pinch table salt *
1 heap tablespoon sugar or level tablespoon agave
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
lemon or orange zest (optional)
splash of orange juice (optional)
Notes:
I use unsalted butter when I cook, if the butter you use is salted, omit the salt in the recipe.
I set my flame at medium and use a non stick pans (usually two at a time) The dryer the bread is the better. It soaks up more of the custard that way. How long I’ll soak the bread in the custard depends entirely on how dry the bread is. Somewhere betweeen 1 and 3 minutes per side. When the bread is heavy but not yet dripping and the crust is pliable, I’m ready to add a dap of unsalted butter to my pans, swirl it around as it sizzles and add my bread. Timing is important. Bread that is left too long or put into a thin custard will be drippy,soggy, will fall apart and you’ll get a layer of egg on one side when it hits the pan and it’s unappetizing looking and tasting.
The above recipe is enough for 12 one inch slices of baguette bread, cut on the diagonal and dried out for a couple hours. Cutting the bread diagonally gives each slice a larger surface area. To make less or more use the following Custard ratio: 1 egg, 1/2 cup liquid, 1 teaspoon sweetener for every two people.
I garnish it with a sprinkling of powered sugar and fresh fruit. I especially like the support of creamy bananas and the contrast of strawberries. I’m wondering if crushed pecans would be good?
