Brioche French Toast

Serves 3 as part of breakfast

Whole milk- 1 cup

Double cream- 1/4 cup

Eggs- 3

Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

Dark brown sugar- 1/4 cup

Salt- a pinch

Brioche bread- 6, one inch thick slices

Butter- 1 1/2 tbsp

Whisk together the milk, double cream, eggs, vanilla brown sugar and salt in a bowl until well combined.

Arrange the brioche slices in a high rimmed baking tray, without overlapping each other

Pour the milk-egg mix over the bread slices, making sure all the pieces are soaked.

Cover with a cling film and leave in the fridge for about an hour.

Remove after 2 hours and flip the bread slices over, carefully.

Cover with cling film and place back on the fridge for another hour.

 

When ready to cook, place a frying pan over medium heat and melt about 1/2 tbsp butter.

Fry the bread slices till they turn golden brown on both sides. 

Do them in batches of 2, as its easier to manage. Make sure you dont burn them. 

After each batch, add more butter, 1/2 tbsp at a time and continue frying.

If you feel the butter is getting burnt, use a kitchen towel to wipe off the burnt butter before proceeding with the next batch.

Dust some icing sugar on top and serve with honey, maple syrup or golden syrup and fruit on the side.
If you would like to try a butterscotch brioche bread pudding, you can find the recipe here

Notes: Add 1/2 tsp cinnamon or a pinch of nutmeg to the batter for another version.

Soaking the bread till all of the liquid is used up is ideal, but if you are short of time, you can leave it for just half an hour or so just till the bread slices are pretty well soaked.

I fried the bread in my Le Creuset cast iron pan and it worked wonders because of the heat retention.

Challah bread

I don't have too many bread recipes on my blog. Its not because I don't bake bread, its because the process takes waaay too long in this cold weather. I have to start in the morning for it to rise (twice) and have it ready for dinner. Which makes it impossible to take pictures. This time however, I was lucky, since I had a bread bin to keep my bread in and not worry about it going stale since the next sunny day was 2 days later. You think I'm crazy? Join the club. I know a whole lot of people who think I'm crazy because I check the weather every hour to plan my photo shoot. Lucky for me, most of my readers are food bloggers and you'd know exactly what I'm talking about!

Garden Trading is this beautiful online store which provides functional everyday products for the home and garden. First look at their website and I was hooked. I wanted everything they displayed and they fit my style so so well. I'm a sucker for anything rustic with the whole country-house, farm house feel and Garden Trading has everything that fits the theme.. I was sent the Bread Bin in Flint to review and since we were on the look out for a bread bin, the timing couldn't be better. 

The colour, a soft grey, blends well with my decor, the design stylish with a chrome handle lid, and the interior the same soft grey colour. The only (small) issue I had was the size, which for my tiny kitchen was a tad too big. I have very little counter space and so putting the bin there wasn't an option. It was too big to go on top of my microwave either. That said, the bin can easily hold two big loaves of bread and we've even chucked in some packs of chocolate and stuff as well. We made it work somehow and I, for one, love having the bread bin in my kitchen now.

The Challah bread (pronounced "hallah") was put in the bread bin for about 2 days and then I made some delicious French toast with it. I've wanted to make this gorgeous looking bread for so long but kept putting it off because I thought the braid was complicated. And it was!! After watching numerous YouTube videos I still didn't get it right. Tried it thrice and then on the 4th I just made a normal 3 braid challah, shaped it in a circle and called it a day. The bread is soft, slightly sweet and perfect with a spread of brandy butter. Or if you want to be more experimental, make a French toast or bread pudding with this gorgeous looking bread.

Recipe halved from here (makes one small loaf)

 

Plain flour- 2 to 2 1/4 cups 

Granulated sugar- 

Salt- 1 tsp

Instant yeast- 1 tsp

Egg- 1 large

Egg yolk- 1 small (take off about 1 tsp from this and keep aside to do an egg wash)

Water- 1/2 cup (lukewarm)

Vegetable oil- 1 oz

Into the bowl of a free standing mixer (or mixing bowl if using your hand) add the flour, sugar, salt and instant yeast. Stir to combine.

Make a well in the centre and add the egg, egg yolk and vegetable oil. Mix using a wooden spoon till the mix becomes wet.

Add the warm water, and using the same wooden spoon mix them all together...roughly.

Attach the dough hook and knead on medium speed for about 5 to 6 minutes, or till the dough is soft and smooth and is no longer sticky. My dough was really sticky, so I ended up adding at least 2 tbsp of flour. If you are using your hands to knead, then flour a work top and knead for about 10 minutes till you achieve the desired consistency.

Lightly oil the same bowl and place the (lightly greased) dough ball in it. Cover with a cling film and leave it in aside to rise. I preheated my oven at 100C for about 6 to 7 minutes and placed the bowl inside with the light on. It took the dough about 3 1/2 hours to double in size.

Punch the dough down and separate the dough into 3 equal sizes. 

Roll each of them out into a long rope about 1 inch thick and around 8 to 10 inches long. They might shrink as you try to roll them. In that case, just leave them aside to rest for 5 minutes and try it again.

Join the ends of all the three ropes and secure tightly by pressing then together.

Then spread the three ropes and try and braid them like how you do your hair. If you mess up, don't worry, start over. (I had to.. thrice!).

Once you reach the end, carefully tuck them under the braid and shape them into a round, joining both the ends.

Place it carefully on to a baking tray lined with baking paper, cover with the same cling film, and leave it to rise in a warm place for another hour or two. I did the same oven method.

When ready to bake, pre heat the oven to 175C.

Mix the egg yolk with some egg white and 1/2 tbsp water and brush over the risen challah, generously and making sure you don't miss the cracks and sides of the loaf.

Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pan half way through for even cooking.

The loaf is done when it turns a golden brown colour.

take it out of the oven and leave to cool on a rack for about 10 minutes, after which you can slice, spread some butter or jam and have it warm.

Notes: The recipe can easily be doubled.

The dough is slightly sticky, so I had to use a generous amount of flour on the work surface while rolling out the rope.

The bread stayed absolutely fine for a week in the bread bin. I wrapped it in some aluminium foil and placed it in.

With thanks to Garden Trading for sending me a bread bin to review.

Eating healthy gone down the drain

Oh well...i knew it better than anyone else that i couldn't stick to all that gyan i gave about eating healthy. I have however reduced my cake/cookie/ brownie baking to once a week and have started eating fruits instead. Have also made it a point to have more veggies along with meals...even if its just blanched and seasoned and maybe a dash of salad dressing too. I would like to say low fat dressing, but sorry, its not..so there goes the eating healthy bit.

Anyhoo...i was watching the latest episode of Desperate Housewives and in between the lesbian-ic tensions between Katherine and stripper Robin, I managed to catch the name of the French toast Katherine was making. She made it with this bread called Brioche and i had to find out what it was. Google came to my rescue and i learned that it was this super high calorie bread with a high egg and butter content. Opened Sainsbury's website and searched for the same, and as luck might have it, they did have the Brioche bread. Off i went to S (after DH of course) and after hunting around in the bakery/ fresh bread section for a while i came across different varieties of the Brioche bread. There was the loaf, the long buns and the ones with chocolate chips etc. I opted for the long buns. Came back home and couldn't wait to try it. It is incredibly soft and mildly sweet and i loved gorging on it just like that..no topping, no filling nothing. Sunday brunch was the Brioche French Toast with caramelised bananas, I had already decided. See Ro was wrong...mindless drama like DH did inspire me after all :P

Brioche buns- 4

Eggs- 2, beaten well

Milk- 1/2 cup (I used whole milk)

Vanilla extract- 1 tsp

Sugar- 2 tbsp (optional)

Cinnamon powder- a pinch

For the caramelised bananas:

Ripe bananas- 2, sliced lengthwise

Brown sugar- 3 tbsp

Butter- 1 tbsp

Orange juice- 1 tsp (optional)

Beat together eggs, milk, vanilla, sugar and cinnamon powder till nice and frothy.

In a casserole dish, place the four brioche buns and pour the egg/ milk mixture over it. make sure they are all well soaked.

Heat a non stick frying pan and toast on either side, till light brown.

In a sauce pan melt the butter and brown sugar till it forms a caramel like consistency. Add the banana slices to the pan and coat them with the same for about two to three minutes. Don't over do it though.

Arrange the toast on a serving plate, place the caramelised bananas on top and drizzle the left over caramel syrup.

Notes: You need not pour the egg mixture over the brioche, you can also dip and toast all of them like how you do a french toast.

If you are not eating them immediately, keep them warm in an oven. I could toast all four of them at one go in my frying pan.

You can add a dab of butter to the pan before toasting, if its not non-stick

I am yet to master the art of caramelising without burning it and so mine looks a bit watery...

PS: The pic doesn't do justice, but trust me this was delicious.

Breakfast in Bed...almost

Saturday is lazy day with a big L. We wake up late, potter around while the coffee is brewing and then settle down with our laptops till brunch or lunch. Last Saturday wasn't any different except that we had the whole day planned ahead and had to head into Central London. There was no time to prepare brunch or lunch and so i came up with this quick fix breakfast which in turn was quite heavy.

French Toast with an Apricot syrup

For the toast:

Bread slices- 6 (we use brown bread)

Eggs- 2

Sugar- 2 tbs

Milk- 3 tbs

Cinnamon- a pinch (optional)

Beat the eggs, sugar, milk and cinnamon together in a bowl until light and fluffy (don't over do it). Dip the bread slices in it and toast on medium heat in a frying pan. Take it off the burner when both sides are brown. Keep aside.

For the syrup:

Apricots- 4 sliced

Brown sugar- 1 tbs (white sugar is also fine)

Butter- 1 tbs

Orange juice- 3 tbs

In a sauce pan, melt the butter and stir in the brown sugar. Keep stirring till the sugar melts. To this add the orange juice and the sliced apricots and mix well. Keep stirring till you get a syrupy texture and the apricots are nice and soft. Take it off the stove, pour over the toast, wait for it to seep through and then dig in.

Notes: You can adjust the sweetness according to your taste. I like it a bit sweet and so add sugar in both.

If you don't like the tangy taste of the orange juice, you can leave that out too.

If you over do the cinnamon, it can be a bit too over powering and not the best of tastes. So add a pinch if you like or omit that.