Sunday, October 25, 2009

Crunchy French Toast: An Experiment

Since I started teaching full time in August, I've really grown to appreciate the weekend. I've always loved Friday afternoons and all they promise, but it's a totally different ballgame now that I spend 10+ hour days with over one hundred college freshmen.

This Friday started with a cleansing nap and ended with dinner and dancing. Saturday saw brunch, a teacher meeting (I know, right?!), and pumpkin carving. And Sunday... well... this Sunday, like most, is all about Amanda.

So I slept until 11:12am. And I didn't even think about sitting up in bed until I knew exactly what I was making myself for Sunday brunch.

Crunchy French Toast with Peaches


I've wanted to try this french toasting experiment since I bought this Shredded Wheat a week or so ago. I was swayed by the vintage packaging, but... in reality... plain shredded wheat doesn't have a lot of flavor. I settled on a peach topping because I ate one of my peaches yesterday, only to find it wasn't as soft and perfect as I wanted it to be. Cooking the other one down just seemed like the natural response.

For this experiment, I needed...


(Not pictured: sugar, very necessary cup of coffee, Pandora "Folk FTW" station, photo staging/cropping skillz)

All the troops assembled, I...


sliced up the peach...


pulverized the shredded wheat...


cracked two eggs and beat them up about a tablespoon of half and half and a 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste.


Then I stewed the peach in some sugar (didn't measure) and a little bit of water to get things going.


I dipped bread in egg, coated it in shredded wheat, and fried it up in a skillet over medium heat.


While I was super excited about the prospect of a crunchy French toast (which I got), I didn't really think about the fact that adding one flavorless crunch to a fairly bland French toast would yeild a... ya know... somewhat blah French toast that just so happens to crunch a bit.


Enter peaches... The syrupy peaches were the perfect counterpoint to the rock steady toast. I ended up adding syrup to the whole deal (don't judge), but in the future, I'll double the vanilla in the egg mixture and stew more peaches to step up the peach influence.

This shredded wheat technique could also be nice when paired with a stuffed French toast that would bring it's own flavor in a filling.

Overall, I'm pleased with how Sunday is going so far. My legs are happily sore from Friday's dance-a-thon, my stomach is full of brunchy goodness, and my bed has already informed me that she wants me back.

12 comments:

kmari03 said...

What a lovely picture of a lazy sunday. I myself made pumpkin pancakes today. I would recommend that for your next breakfast festivus.

Dan K. said...

This looks fantastic?! I'm driving to Georgia to share some with you :) And if that isn't the epitome of a Georgia peach I don't know what is!

Dan K. said...

Ok, question mark above, definitely supposed to be an exclamation mark. Just correcting to avoid confusion :)

Amanda said...

Love it, Dan K.! I just took the added question mark as an excitment lilt. :)

Evan said...

Interesting. The stuffed part sounds really, really good.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like the perfect start to a Sunday :D

Kate said...

Have I ever told you that I think you're really brave? I would never have tried this, especially because I was totally intimidated by your peach-to-toast ratio. But I'm pleased it was such a success.

Hilary said...

Hmmmm, I wasn't sure how I felt about this at the start of the post, but I think the peaches totally redeem the slightly dodgy shredded wheat coating. The coating actually ends up looking pretty yummy, and I can definitely appreciate the crunch!

LP said...

Easy like sunday morning...wish you were my personal chef!

Ash said...

I quite like this new take! Perhaps adding coconut for a tahitian twist might give it that added sweetness mixed with your healthy weaty crunch?
Or just add more peaches and syrup like you've suggested.... more syrup and fruit is always a win for me!

Eva said...

mmm that looks good.

Ideas:
add stuff to the shredded wheat (shredded coconut or sliced almonds)
Add stuff to the batter (sugar, cinnamon, maple syrup)
Add stuff to the peaches (maybe some spices or stew them with maple syrup)

I might need to try it this weekend....

ashley said...

good god that looks delicious.