Showing posts with label Cinnamon raisin bread. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cinnamon raisin bread. Show all posts

Friday, May 7, 2010

French Toast

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When ever I have a good dense home made bread (especially cinnamon raisin) I want to make french toast in the mornings. Some people get a little scared when they hear 'french' in cooking, but this is not a difficult recipe. I don't even use an official recipe, it's all very basic.

The main thing about french toast, is you soak your bread in an egg mixture so it softens and absorbs some of the flavor. Then you bake, toast or fry it. It's raining today or I would try grilling it...maybe another time.
  • note this is a great use for slightly stale bread
  • also note this works best with a more substantial slice of bread, one that will not fall apart when it gets soaked
My bread:

From my earlier post, I have cinnamon raisin bread. This is a great type of bread to use for french toast b/c it has so much flavor. As I mentioned in my post, this bread is rather dense so it will hold up nicely.

My Soak:

I am only making enough french toast for myself (so only 2 slices). I think I will use only 1 egg. Then I will add milk, for this I will use vanilla soy milk. It has great flavor, and a little less fat than regular milk, and I won't need to add any vanilla extract.
  • note on soy milk: I only buy and use organic soy milk. This is the only way to make sure the beans used in my soy milk are not genetically modified. While it is not certain if genetically modified foods cause any health risks, I choose not to support genetically modified (GM) soybeans for other reasons. GM seeds are patented by the company that modifies them. They then sell these seeds to the farmer. However even after the farmer buys these seeds he/she does not own them. After planting and harvesting the farmer is not allowed to keep the seed and replant he/she must buy a new batch of seeds from the company that modified them. I don't like this so I choose not to support it. I would rather support farmers not big corporations.--I apologize for the rant
So I have an egg/milk mixture (kind of like scrambled eggs). To this I add a little cinnamon, alittle nutmeg, and a little maple syrup. This is all up to individual taste and smell, I never measure--if you use regular milk, you may want to add just a dash of vanilla extract. Then let the bread soak for about 10-15 min per side (this depends on how stale/hard your bread is. It can soak over night if necessary).

My cooking method:

I will be frying my french toast. So heat up the pan about a medium heat, grease/oil the pan. You can use butter if you want, I will be using almond oil (it has a little less saturated fat and it wont burn at this temperature. Fry the toast on both sides until it is browned and a little crisp.

Finish off with a sprinkle of powdered sugar and enjoy. (I will be enjoying mine with a few links of turkey sausage)

Results:

Wow that was a great breakfast/lunch. 2 pieces was more than I could finish with sausage and fruit. I did not add any more maple syrup to the toast when it was done (I didn't want too much sweetness b/c I also had fruit)

I had a whole fresh pineapple that I cut up, I had about 1/2 cup of pieces, about 10 grapes, and a banana cut up. The fruit was a wonderful addition to my breakfast, it added great color, and freshness.

I still have 1 piece of french toast and 2 sausage links left for later.


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Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

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I love bread. I became interested in learning how to bake bread in college and have been trying to perfect my skills every since. I give much praise for the book The Bread Bakers Apprentice. This book taught me so much. I suggest it to anyone who strives to make extraordinary bread.

Oddly, I decided to try going gluten free about a year ago. Seems crazy, I know. I had some reasons to give it a try, and it was a challenge to see if I could do it. Well I got a chance to learn some new recipes an try some new things. I stayed gluten free for at least 6 months. It was challenging and I have a lot of respect for people who have to live gluten free.
I am no longer gluten free and I haven't made bread in over a year. I am so happy to be back kneading the dough and filling my house with the smell of fresh baked bread. I decided to make a loaf style bread instead of a 'rustic' type just for quickness and ease. So I made Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Bread.


Formula: 3 parts flour: 1 part liquid
3 cups bread flourCinnamon raisin bread loaf
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup toasted rolled oats
.5 cup flax seed meal
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1.5 cup raisins
1 package yeast (about 2 tsp)
1.5 cup 2% milk
1 large egg
1/4 cup melted butter
In a large bowl I mixed the flours, oats, sugar, raisins, and yeast. I mixed the milk, egg, and melted butter in another bowl and let it sit at room temp for about 1 hour. I mixed the liquid with the flour stirring (adding a little more milk to make a sticky dough. I turned the Dough out onto a floured table and kneaded for 8-10 min until the dough became soft and tacky (but not sticky). I did this by hand, if you have a stand mixer feel free to use it. Once dough is kneaded, put it into a lightly oiled bowl rolling it to coat all sides, cover with a damp towel and let rise for 90 minutes.Cinnamon raisin bread slice
Once risen, punch down dough, separate into 2 pieces. Roll out pieces to about 8x10 inch rectangle about 1 inch thick. Smear with butter, sprinkle liberally with cinnamon/sugar, then roll tightly pinching the seam together and tucking the ends under. Place rolled dough into greased loaf pan (9x5). Let rise for another 90 min. or until it fills the loaf pan. Bake at 375 degrees F for 35-40 minutes.

Conclusion:
This bread turned out wonderfully, soft, chewy and slightly sweet. The oat meal adds a nice texture. The whole wheat gives this bread a denseness and makes a more substantial slice. Wonderfully addictive. Great with or with out butter.

Let me know what you thinkCinnamon raisin bread nutrition facts: thanks to www.nutritiondata.comFor more nutritional information about this bread this link will take you to my recipe page on NutritionData.com. This is a really cool website where you can enter your recipes and it calculates the nutrition facts.

p.s. I got my grill thermometer yesterday. Will post more when it is installed.
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