Brioche French Bread

I love Trader Joe's - a fabulous little store out here and in CA, and I believe in other parts of the country! They aren't your huge Safeway, Albertsons-type store...they are small and have wonderfully unique items for sale, along with some standard fare. Yesterday, I picked up a loaf of Brioche bread, a very decadent bread made with a lot of butter and eggs. I don't normally use Brioche, but when you're making French Toast, you might as well use the good stuff!




This is what Brioche looks like - YUM!!!


So, here's what I made for breakfast this morning. The recipe is courtesy of Ina Garten in her cookbook Barefoot Contessa Family Style.

Brioche/Challah French Toast
Ingredients:
6 extra large eggs
1.5 cups half-n-half
1 tsp grated orange zest
1/2 tsp pure vanilla
1 tbs honey
1/2 tsp salt
1 large loaf of challah or brioche bread
Unsalted butter
Vegetable Oil

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees or your "warm" setting.

2. In a large shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs, half-n-half, orange zest, vanilla, honey and salt. Slice the bread into 3/4-inch-thick slices. Soak as many slices in the egg mixture as possible for 5 minutes, turning once.

3. Heat 1 tbs butter and 1tbs oil in a very large saute pan over medium heat. (I used my griddle and only a little butter and an olive oil spray instead...) Add the soaked bread and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side, until nicely browned. Place the cooked French toast on a sheet pan and keep it warm in the oven. Cook the remaining slices.

4. Serve with pure maple syrup. ENJOY!!!