Frugal Feeds | French Toast Five Ways

Using up stale bread is a staple of frugal living. So, to continue on yesterdays theme I am going to continue talking about what to do with that left over bread.

French Toast is broken down into a few simple components--

1. Bread that is unpalatable as it is.
2. Something that makes the texture of that bread palatable.
3. Something that makes the taste of that bread palatable.

The bread does not need to be French Bread. It can be any bread. But what makes French Bread make great French Toast is the chewy crust and airy, absorbent body. When thinking about turning that stack of unpalatable bread into French Toast consider the breads current components. Then consider what you will want to do to modify that bread so that everyone in your household is not only willing to eat the bread, but actually eagerly anticipating its yumminess.

The Basics--Traditional French Toast Custard Dip
To moisten your stale bread you need a custard dip. The traditional dip consists of egg, milk, vanilla and sugar. You can enhance this a million ways and modify it with different qualities of the basic ingredients. Using cream or skim milk makes significant differences. Using egg whites, tofu or bananas in place of the eggs makes a huge difference in texture and flavor. Pure vanilla, artificial vanilla, vanilla beans, orange flavor, almond flavor, no flavor--all result in totally different tastes. Brown sugar, syrup, stevia, all make a difference. Really, once you learn the basic custard dip you can make it as different as your imagination allows--but take it a step or two at a time and see what you like. Changing too many things too fast could result in recipes that don't work very well. Experiment, but do it a few things at a time.

My Version of the Basic Traditional Custard--For 8 thick slices

2 Eggs, beaten
1 cup 2% Milk
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Pure Vanilla Extract


So, lets look at a few different types of common bread and how we want to modify them:

Day old French Bread--Slice at a diagonal into 1 inch thick ovals. Use a straightforward custard mix. Serve with Honey, Maple or Fruit Sauce. French Bread with the custard is traditional and tastes great. No need to doll it up.

Day old Sour Dough Bread--Slice as above or, if it is pre-sliced sandwich style, consider whether the slices are too large and if so, cut in halves. Sour Dough is naturally tangy so you are going to want to make that work to your advantage. You can do the traditional custard but it will just taste good enough. Lets make it great by removing the milk from the custard and replacing that with half apple juice and half apple sauce. A bit of cinnamon is nice too. Now when your family eats this they won't need any sugar or syrup and will enjoy a Green Apple French Toast.

Stale Plain Jane Bread--If the bread is soft or soggy toast in the oven for 10 minutes or until dry. Then, modify the traditional custard by reducing the milk by 1/3 and adding 1 pureed ripe banana. The more over-ripe the banana the better the flavor, so use up the one that looks the most unappetizing. Add a pinch of nutmeg. Serve with Maple syrup and toasted pecans. Creates Maple Pecan Banana French Toast.

Stale Wheat Bread--Modify the traditional custard by reducing the milk by 1/3 and adding 1/2 cup pureed berries. I puree my berries with a stick blender. If there are a lot of seeds, like blackberry or raspberry puree would create, then strain through a wire mesh strainer. Creates Berry French Toast.

Stale Raisin Bread or other moist sweetened bread--Eliminate the brown sugar from your traditional custard and reduce the milk by half and add cinnamon. Makes Cinnamon Raisin French Toast.


Cooking it--
I prefer to use my large griddle and set the temp at 350 or medium. I set up the work area in an assembly line. Stack of bread next to bowl of custard next to the griddle. When the griddle has reached temperature I butter it lightly. Then I dunk the bread, roll it around in the custard and then put it right on the griddle. I repeat until all 8 pieces are on the griddle. I cook them until they are well browned on both sides and no longer steaming. The lack of steam indicates that the interior of the toast is fully cooked. This can happen very quickly with sandwich sliced bread or may take quite a while for thick, not too dry, bread. Adjust your temperature accordingly. If you think the center will cook quickly, you can raise the temp a bit. If you think the center will cook slowly, lower the temp. That way the exterior can brown and not burn.

French Toast freezes just great too. When it is cooled just set it on a cookie sheet in the freezer for the day. That night place into freezer bags, label and close. If your freezer might give it a strange taste because of frost in the space you can also just put straight into the freezer bag, foregoing the cookie sheet but the pieces may stick together and you will get ice crystals inside the bag. To eat just place in a 275 degree oven for 15 minutes or until warmed through. (You can also microwave them but the texture isn't great.)