Ellen's Test Kitchen--French Toast

So I am in the middle of testing those two recipes I mentioned in my last post--baked brioche french toast and polenta mushroom diamonds.

Finished product.  Delish! 

The baked brioche french toast is amazing.  I am pretty impressed that the bread machine made such nice brioche.  I made only a half recipe of the french toast to try it out.  Not because I was unsure what I would do with all that french toast, but because I know exactly what I would do -- eat it.  That said, after having what the recipe said was one serving for breakfast this morning, I am wondering if I should have just had half.  It's fabulous, but filling.  A slice of french toast that is an inch thick is a lot. 

I was a little concerned this was too brown!

Last night I cut two thick slices of brioche, cut those in half, made the custard mixture and drenched the bread on one side.  Before heading off to bed, I turned the bread in the custard and put it in the refrigerator.  This morning I transferred those slices to a baking sheet, on which I had put my silicone baking sheet.  I was worried about them sticking.  When the buzzer rang and I pulled out the french toast I was a bit concerned that the silpat was a mistake--that side was really brown.  But once I flipped them over for a couple of minutes and got it ready to serve my skepticism abated.

Boy, is it good.  The outside was just a little bit crispy and the inside was custardy, soft and moist.  And no frying!  But, I think for my brunch I am going to cut those slices into quarters.  People are welcome to more than one, but for a brunch buffet people often want to have a little of this and a little of that.  This french toast is rich and lovely, so maybe people will just want one quarter--or maybe since it is so good they'll want more!

Bread Maker Brioche (1 1/2 pound loaf)
Admittedly, I got this recipe from the internet and made it just as directed, but it is good enough to share here.  This is probably the only way in Spokane to get organic brioche anyway.

The first slice of the brioche.  Warm brioche, yum.

3 large eggs
1 stick of softened butter
1/3 cup warm milk
3 tablespoons of warm water
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Measure the ingredients into your bread machine pan in the order suggested by the manufacturer.  Process of the sweet bread cycle if your machine has it.  If not, process on the white or basic machine cycle.  Use the lightest crust color option available.  Remove bread from pan and cool on wire rack or wrapped in a clean dish cloth.

Baked Brioche French Toast
The recipe for the custard for the french toast is my own, but the method for baking it rather than frying it is from a ugh, I am going to admit this, a Martha Stewart recipe.

For four servings (that, might more reasonably, be eight).

4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups of milk (even skim works fine!)
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
dash of salt
4 1 inch thick slices brioche

In a large baking dish whisk together eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, salt and cinnamon. 

Soaking the bread.

Arrange bread in dish in a single layer.  Let soak 15 minutes.  Turn bread over, cover, and refrigerate over night (preferable) or at least 30 minutes until most of the liquid is absorbed.

Preheat over to 350 degrees.  Oil a rimmed baking sheet or line with a silicone baking mat.  Carefully transfer the sliced to the sheet.  Bake french toast until it is set in the center about 25 minutes.  Flip slices and bake for another 5 minutes.

Serve with butter and syrup.  For an extra treat, stir a little cinnamon and brandy or orange flavored liquor into the syrup.

Eager to get the second recipe tested I found myself mincing onions and mushrooms in the food processor before 10:00 am on a Sunday morning.  I used my oven method for making the polenta (so much easier than stirring, stirring, stirring and completely indistinguishable in taste and presentation).  The polenta is now cooling on a baking sheet and so is the mushroom filling.  I am anxious about this recipe.  It is pretty much new and I am really wanting something savory that is vegetarian for this brunch.  I hope to have a positive report on this one later in this afternoon!

Cooking Contest

I am not entirely sure what possessed me to google "cooking contests" today. I guess I was a little bit bored. But I did find some interesting sites that listed lots and lots of cooking and recipe contests of various kinds. Many were sponsored by some food company.

I was surprised, however, to find a contest devoted to using zucchini in something other than bread. People who grow zucchini do need things to do with it as I mentioned in my earlier post about zucchini bread. That site also featured a contest for using fresh herbs and one for cookies. The basic idea of that site was about contests for recipes using natural ingredients. There was another sponsored by an organic brand of salad greens, even. But there was also a contest for "good food products" and in describing what they meant they talked about products that were made sustainably. These are called "the Good Food Awards."

This is something I find encouraging. Normally when I think cooking contest I think of the good old-fashioned Pillsbury Bake-Off, which is still a main stay of cooking contests. More and more Americans are likely also thinking of shows like Top Chef and Food Network's Next Cooking Star as cooking contests. But there are still county fairs and chili cook-offs. And they do provide an outlet for people to actually cook which I think is a good thing. Now, granted, some that are sponsored by a food company encourage using weird processed food ingredients (like the one that requires you to use Cheez-Whiz, I kid you not) and some of the winning recipes sound downright dreadful to me. Some are more about saving money or cooking quickly. But they are all, after all, about cooking.

The more people cook, the more I expect that they will search out quality ingredients and start thinking about how those ingredients get to them. this is how we work to change, ever so slowly, the way people eat and they way they appreciate food. This is part of being a responsible eater--knowing how to prepare food for one's self and others. We have to be willing to know a food's history and cooking is part of that.

So far I haven't found entered any contests, but there is one for recipes made with mushrooms and I do have a killer pasta sauce made with mushrooms as the main ingredient, but on this hot evening it is hard to think about pasta sauce.

The more of us who can cook for ourselves (and I mean more than reheat) is a good thing. Watching cooking shows on television should be inspiration not just entertainment. I think I am starting to be inspired to enter that cooking contest after all.