WORLD's BEST FRENCH TOAST

I am still on vacation. Today is my last day in New Orleans, the unofficial end of JACKIEtober (the near two week long celebration that is all about my wife's anniversary of her 29th birthday). But, before I return to my beloved grill, I still have another couple of tribute recipes. Yesterday, I posted about making my first loaf of bread. Today, I am going to expand on that success with a posting about my morning after breakfast... enjoy the fanciest french toast you have ever seen...


OK, you all remember yesterday's post when I bragged about being a master baker. If not, scroll down a post and read the incredible story of this knuckle dragging neanderthal and his pretty loaf of bread. It was the morning after; the big chili feed was a huge success, and my skills as a baker had been displayed. But best of all, even after feeding half of the neighborhood, I still had a loaf of bread left. Remember, I doubled the recipe, and made two loafs.

I could easily have just slopped up the leftover chili with the remaining bread for the next few days and been very happy. This bread is perfect for chili. But I wanted to try something special. I am going to claim full credit for this recipe. I had the ingredients in mind prior to creating. I did a quick Internet search and did not come up with anything like this. So...mine mine mine. Which means I get to name it... OK, I present...

The
"MASTER BAKER's
FRENCH TOAST"
RECIPE!

(Yeah, still pretty full of myself
after my first and only loaf of bread)

As always, assemble the ingredients...

3 large EGGS
1/2 cup BUTTERMILK
A pinch of SAFFRON THREADS
Fancy JELLIES (Peach Jalapeno and Sweet Onion and Garlic)
3 THICK (3/4 inch thick) slices of the FUGASSE Bread (see yesterday's post for the recipe to the best loaf of bread I have ever made)

Combine eggs and buttermilk, whisk until well blended.

Coat the bread generously with the eggy buttermilk.

Put on the griddle, set at 300 degrees. At this time, sprinkle some of the saffron threads onto the still raw eggy coating (careful, not too much, this stuff has a strong earthy taste that can be overwhelming if used in too high a quantity). I sprinkled at most 10 threads on each slice of bread.

After about 5 minutes, the first side is well toasted... Time to flip. Yeah, the first two flipped easy, the last piece split in half as I was flipping, but that was OK. I was going to serve 1 and 1/2 pieces of bread per serving anyway.

If you have been reading my blog in the last few weeks, you know that I was gifted some fancy jelly (FISCHER & WIESER Brand). Whatever kind of jelly you like would be fine with this. I was lucky enough to have some Sweet Onion and Garlic Marmalade and some Jalapeno Peach Preserves! But a nice orange marmalade would work (almost) as well.

For presentation, I only put the jelly on half of each slice, It was thick enough to dip the unflavored half into the flavored half.

A breakfast worthy of any MASTER BAKER (and his apprentice... that had to clean the house from the night before's chili feed). In all seriousness, Saffron threads and eggs are a natural fit. the threads have an earthy taste that melds with the eggs perfectly. the extra richness of the buttermilk means no need for butter on the toast. And the sweet and spicy combinations in my fancy jellies really flavored a wonderful meal. Give this one a try, but be sure to give thanks to the master baker!

******************************

Dave again... Do me a favor and drop by Shelly's site (Adventures With the Woods) and thank her for being a guest blogger of sorts today, as I stole her recipe for that incredible bread. Even if you left a message yesterday, go ahead and drop her a second comment today (can we really get too many comments?). I hope that she is honored by my efforts and pleased with how well her instructions worked! Shelly, thank you so much for inspiring this post!

Just a reminder, I am in the middle of the BIGGEST giveaway contest I have ever held... Coupons for 4, 15-oz bottles POM WONDERFUL (you pick the flavor). Check my post from Sunday (you can get there by clicking HERE) for the details on how to win, but one of the important ways to enter is to leave a comment here... Do a little advertising, and drop me a message that directs me to your favorite recipe you think I should try. Tomorrow, I will select one commenter to win this terrific prize!