French toast bake (FTB)

I get requests for this all the time! It's a great make ahead meal, especially for holidays and special occasions that you don't want to put a ton of work into the day of.

The way you build it really factors into your success of this dish, so make sure to read the instructions first. This is a prep the night before, and bake the next morning. I would recommend it not sitting in the refrigerator for more than 15 hours.

Ingredients:

¾ lb loaf of bread (we use texas toast which is just a thick cut white bread, it works best if the bread is not heavy or hard, brioche or white bread works well too)

¼ cup liquid margarine or melted butter/margarine

½ cup of half and half

½ cup of liquid eggs (you can use real eggs, but the liquid egg combines with the other liquid better)

Pinch of salt (no more than 1/8 tsp)

¼ tsp vanilla extract (you can use real or imitation, or even real vanilla bean and scrape the seeds from ½ a stick)

Cinnamon shaker

2 tbsp sugar, split in two

Fruit (optional)

How to:

The night before:

*Mix the half and half, liquid egg, salt and vanilla, split almost evenly into 2 containers, about 60/40 and set aside.

*Take a casserole dish or cake pan that is about 9”x9” and heavily coat the inside with your liquid margarine/butter. Some will absorb into the bread, and if there is only a light coat, you will end up needing to scrub the pan pretty hard. (I have also heard you can do this in a crock pot, but I am not sure how you'd go about that)

*Cut the bread into cubes no larger 1 inch squares and place half of it into the casserole dish and set the other half aside (either in a bag or bowl).

*Evenly spread out the bread and drizzle the smaller amount of the liquid over the bread in the pan, trying to get the tops of all the bread wet (not soaked)

*Sprinkle cinnamon evenly across the bread, depending on your taste. This is optional, especially if you are putting fruit in your bake, some won't pair well with cinnamon. Types of fruit you can try are banana, blueberries, strawberries or apple slices, any of these can be fresh or frozen. If putting fruit in your bake, would recommend a small layer at this point, with a sprinkling on top, so don’t put all your fruit in now.

*Sprinkle 1 tbsp of sugar evenly across the layer.

*Place remaining bread into pan, pressing down if it is a bit tall for your pan.

*Drizzle remaining liquid carefully over bread, making sure to get corners. It is helpful to turn the dish so you can see it at different angles in case you only got half of an area.

*Sprinkle cinnamon and then the other 1 tbsp of sugar evenly across pan.

*Tear a piece of foil that will cover the top of your pan, spray the foil with pan spray anywhere the bread will touch, and cover the pan tightly around edges. You don’t want the oven air exposed to it because you will end up drying it out into croutons.

*Place in refrigerator overnight.

The next morning:

*Bake at 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes. It is near ready when you take a fork to the middle of it, and when you push some of the bread out of the way to see the bottom of the pan, you don’t see any wet bread.

*Remove the foil and let cook for another 5-10 minutes so the sugar can get a little crunchy on top.

*Take out of oven and enjoy! Can sprinkle with powdered sugar, fruit sauce, or syrup.

buttermilk pancakes

i've made over 25,000 pancakes in my life, and this is how i make them.

this recipe yields 16 4" pancakes, and usually people eat 2-3 (depending on how hungry you are). you can cut the recipe in half to accommodate smaller groups, or if you make a full batch, individually freeze the leftovers and they are great for a quick breakfast (just microwave until warm).

2 1/4 cups AP flour
1/4 cups whole wheat flour (or just add the 1/4 to AP if you don't have whole wheat flour)
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda (if you are not using buttermilk, do not put this ingredient in)
1/2 cup of melted butter or room temp oil
2 eggs
2 3/4 cup buttermilk

in a mixer, i put the buttermilk in the bottom, add the dry, and start to mix, then add eggs and melted butter or oil. you need to add the melted butter after starting to incorporate the dry and wet together, otherwise the butter may reach the milk and it will get cold and not mix with the batter well. if you are using a hand mixer, go in the same order.  either way, scrape the sides often.

just the right time to flip

perfect pancake

it's best to warm the pan before putting the batter on it. if you have one of those plug in griddles, use it, if not, buy one, they are fantastic. when the edges of the circle of batter start to dry and bubbles form in the middle of the pancake, it is ready to flip.  just like this first picture. you'll see that the pancake had perfect coloring and crispiness. let it cook on the other side for a short while, once the color is around the same.

pan is too hot

pan is not hot enough

how hot is your pan? if the batter appears to dry out but bubbles haven't formed, looks rubbery or seems hard to flip, your pan is not hot enough.  if you keep it on the pan for too long, it could get tough. if the edges form quickly but bubbles are small and mostly around the edges, your pan is too hot.  neither of these are inedible, they just may not result in the best pancake ever. if it doesn't have enough time on the pan, the middle may be gooey. you can see the kind of markings these situations result in with these pictures. if it is too hot you get instant coloring as the batter hits the pan (you'll most likely hear a sizzle). it doesn't get a chance to spread evenly and creates ridges that cook more than the other part of the surface. when the pan is too cool, it does have a chance for the entire surface to get to the heat source, but there isn't enough heat, so it is just pale.

fyi...
buttermilk is generally low in fat (unless you seek out a higher percentage) but gets a bad rap of being fatty, i think due its consistency. to make butter, you churn cream, in this process, the fat separates from the liquid in the cream. this left over liquid is still milk, so they called it buttermilk. since all the fat went and made the butter, it's not in the buttermilk. but this is not how the big business make it since they aren't our farming ancestors who utilized what they could of everything. they use cultured bacteria (like when they make yogurts) instead which still results in relatively the same product, just a bit thicker than traditional. its consistency comes from having a higher acidic content then regular milk, it basically curdles it, but not to the point it turns into cheese, and not in the bad way of forgetting about that milk in the back of the fridge. we add the baking soda when we use buttermilk because we need a fast acting leavening agent to produce those bubbles. if we didn't, we'd end up with some dense pancakes.

in conclusion, i highly recommend using buttermilk :)

if you like to create things - try making your own butter (and then you can use that buttermilk towards recipes like this), all you need is a mason jar, cream and some eager volunteers to shake it up like crazy.  if you don't want to work out your biceps, you can also make it in a stand mixer (if you've ever made whipped cream and walked away for too long, you end up making butter) or a blender (just make sure you hold the lid down for the entire time). with a stand mixer, you can start slow and speed it up when it starts to look like whipped cream, as soon as it starts to separate, you want to slow it down or the buttermilk will splash everywhere.  in a blender, as soon as it starts to separate, you want to stop the blender and let it sit for a few minutes (so the butter can rise). i've read to help your butter last longer, you rinse it.  to do this, after you drain the buttermilk from the container, add ice cold water to the butter and blend for about half a minute. drain the water from the container and use a large spoon or a rubber spatula to press the butter against the edges to get any remaining liquid out. use a tight sealing container to store it in (i like mason jars).  as far as the yield goes, you get about half butter and half buttermilk, so if you use 2 cups of cream, you end up with 1 cup of butter and 1 cup of buttermilk.

breakfast cookies

woah, it's been a while since I posted anything!  and look, it's not a condiment or side thing!

these things are yummy.  like ridiculously delicious.  they also have the most ingredients in all of my baked goods recipes.

1 egg
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 banana
1/4 cup yogurt (i like to use vanilla dannon natural)
1 1/2 tbsp honey
1/4 cup butter
1 cup AP flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
2 tbsp flax seeds (any kind, golden will hide well for those picky eaters, ground even more so)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

mix from top of list to the bottom, i like mixing all the wet together to blend well before adding dry, and as always, when adding things that aren't incorporated into making the dough (chocolate chips), add very last after you have formed the dough.  you can scoop or roll out the dough and cut squares or circles.  it stays in the shape you make it.  the picture is a scoop that has been pressed down.  you can put them really close to each other on the greased pan as they do not spread.  i bake them at 350, and each batch takes its own time, so it's best to go off their coloring.  they get golden brown when done, if they start to turn a caramel or chocolate color, they will be dry.  instead of putting mini chocolate chips in it, you can always melt down chocolate chips and then drizzle the top, big chocolate chips are just too chunky for this cookie.  i can only imagine walnuts or pecans would make this even more heavenly.

for real, 2 of the cookies and you are set for hours.