"Cooking School"- French Toast, 2 ways

Either one of these versions would make a great breakfast on a holiday morning like today.

Let me explain the "Cooking School" in the title.

It all started when we made these Bunny Buns ( the recipe is at the bottom of that post- it's really just a fancy way of twisting orange rolls). My daughter decided that she wanted to have a weekly "Cooking School" where she picked something and we made it together. Please forgive the formality of the title, but that is just what she said. I am by no means qualified in any way to call it that or teach, but it is what we are going with. :D

I decided that since summer was upon us, that this would be a great way to spend some time together in the kitchen.

Her first request- French Toast.

French Toast is not something that I make often. I guess because I usually feel like it doesn't come out quite right.
Well folks- "Cooking School" has cured the problem. I decided that we would make French Toast 2 ways- the traditional way and the baked way.

I searched for a basic French Toast recipe and found one by Alton Brown that fit the bill. It had a few extra steps that I have never seen before, but I have watched an episode or two of Good Eats, so I knew that if anyone had perfected a technique, scientifically, it was him. He uses half & half in the custard mixture and has you let the bread drip over a wire rack before you cook it, but I think what gives his French Toast the perfect texture and taste is the last step. He has you warm the oven and the french toast goes into the hot oven for 5 minutes, which puffs it up and makes it turn out restaurant style. We topped our french toast with a homemade strawberry sauce and strawberry whipped cream.

Baked french toast is just a slightly healthier version of bread pudding, in my opinion. I have made it a few times in the past. This recipe is basic and very good. We loved it.

Of course we didn't make these 2 recipes in the same day, but it was a lot of fun.

My daughter decided that the next series in our "Cooking School" should be salad, because these were a little on the rich side!


Here is the recipe for French Toast from Alton Brown
* We used real maple syrup instead of honey
* We used challah and topped it with a homemade strawberry sauce & strawberry whipped cream
* We only used 2 Tablespoons of butter to cook the french toast in our electric skillet in 2 batches

Here is the recipe for Baked French Toast with Blueberries from Giada de Laurentiis
* We used sourdough bread