Puffy French Toast

French toast was the subject of a recent post in Simply Recipes by Elise Bauer. Elise writes a blog that is a source of valuable information for anyone interested in food preparation.

I checked her offering with a bit of trepidation since I was thinking about posting my French Toast recipe on Buck Cooks. The recipe offered by Elise is worth reviewing, as is almost everything she writes in her Blog. Fortunately for me she did not use my approach to French toast..

My Puffy French toast was a favorite in a small waterfront restaurant we operated years ago in conjunction with one of our projects. On weekends I would go into the restaurant kitchen and annoy the operators by working breakfast for a few hours each Saturday and Sunday morning during the summer months. I enjoyed those few hours since I only did a few things – the Omelets and the Puffy French Toast-

Beach Marina’s Puffy French Toast

Ingredients:
½ cup milk
1 egg
¾ cup of your favorite pancake mix
4 slices of dense white bread slices(crusts removed)
½ cup shortening
Maple syrup

Preparation:
Step 1. In bowl- beat milk, egg and pancake mix until combined
Step 2. Cut each bread slice diagonally in half
Step 3. Dip each bread slice in batter and leave in batter for a minute
Step 4. heat shortening in a heavy skillet
Step 5. cook bread slices in shortening about 3 minutes on each side until golden and puffy

Serve warm with heated maple syrup and a sprinkle of powdered sugar

Simply Recipes suggests a Silver Palate Cookbook addition of some grated orange zest to their recipe. That sound like a good idea and I think I’ll try it next time with the Puffy French Toast. You now have two excellent approaches to French Toast. Give them each a try and send along any comments you might have to contribute

Afterthoughts: I use a Pepperidge Farm white bread that is left out for a day before preparation. Make sure you use a dense bread, either white or wheat. The airy loaves won’t do the job. In the restaurant I used professional equipment but I have done this at home in a heavy skillet successfully many times. The sugar is simply for effect since the maple syrup is sweet enough. A thin twisted slice of orange on some greens along side the toast also adds to the visual effect of the offering

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