I actually read ahead for this week's French Fridays with Dorie and knew that I needed to make challah. OK, I am sure that I could have bought challah, but I love making challah. I love the way that it makes my kitchen smell, and how it feels when you braid it. And youtube is filled with wonderful examples of bread braiding.
I had never made challah before I baked along with the group of bakers making the breads in The Bread Baker's Apprentice. As with any bread that you have grown up on, there was some discussion on which challah was the favorite challah. A couple of the bakers preferred a recipe a book called in the Second Helpings Please, put out by the Mt. Sinai Chapter of Montreal of the Jewish Women's International of Canada in 1968. GrongarBlog recently posted a most beautiful post on this challah recipe. The pictures alone will make you run to make a loaf.
Early into the process, my camera died. The battery will not accept a charge. It will take a little investigating to see how serious a situation this is but I had my cell phone.
The challah was sliced and dipped into a combination of eggs, milk and sugar and cooked in some butter in a griddle. French Toast.
The french toast soaked in eggy custard of eggs, sugar, vanilla, milk. We were supposed to add some dried fruit. Adding dried fruit would guarantee that I would be the only one eating this. So, I added some strawberries and bananas and a touch of cinnamon and put it into a water bath to bake.
We served this with a little whipped cream and everyone loved it. I think it would have been too sweet for us to eat for breakfast.
Murphy was quite excited by all the egg cracking that went into this recipe. Eggs for challah, eggs to brush the challah, eggs to make the french toast, eggs to make the custard. A definite egg fest, perhaps I shared with the hopeful puppy.
The first challah I ever made, which was my first bread ever, is still my favorite one. This looks so good with the strawberries, of course, but also the bananas! I love that idea!
ReplyDeleteI love the addition of strawberries and bananas!
ReplyDeleteI have always drawn the line at baking bread since nowadays there are so many fine private bakeries around that do so many wonderful things. but you make it sound so appealing and yes, the smell would be a marvelous thing. Banana and bread pudding are natural companions! I bet this tasted amazing.
ReplyDeleteFollow the link to the challah recipe, you will not be disappointed.
DeleteLove the strawberries and bananas! :) I think it was just perfect for breakfast but I'm one to have something sweet with a nice tea or coffee so it balances nicely :)
ReplyDeleteMy husband would have been with you on baking the bread. I am not a baker and I did not read ahead... Next time I'm going to use challah or brioche to make this dish sweeter.
ReplyDeleteI like your choices of fruit for this - nice variation. I've yet to make challah, perhaps I'll have to try the Montreal version (everything's better when it's from Montreal, after all).
ReplyDeleteI couldn't bring myself to add the dried fruit either. Especially this time of year when there is so much tasty fresh fruit around.
ReplyDeleteNah, I would take a loaf of home bread over store any day. Especially since you can freeze it and pull it out for projects like this.
ReplyDeleteStrawberries - yum!
The fresh fruit looks delicious. And, with homemade challah, I'm sure this was over the top. My dog Bella's favorite food is challah. She'll do anything for a bite of it, so I can appreciate Murphy's enthusiasm!
ReplyDeleteYour challah looks amazing! One of my favorites! Yeah, this was a little too sweet for me, but the guys loved it.
ReplyDeleteAnneMarie, I do realize that at your house and most dog-lovers' homes, it's all about the doggies sooooo I am happy, for Murphy's sake that it was all about eggs this week. You put me to shame because I bought my challah. Not half as delicious as yours, I am positive. I am quite impressed you made your own and I appreciate the recipe suggestions. Other Doristas used fresh fruit and it worked as well as yours did. I liked mine better for breakfast with syrup. But, this was tasty, no matter what time of day, wasn't it?
ReplyDeleteI also bought my challah and did so on such a hectic day that I was giving myself accolades for getting it from the specialty shop :) Shame on me. Seriously, I do love to bake bread and am delighted to see you included a link. Now that I have all kids home (aka carb eaters) I would love to try challah and you have inspired me. I also love the french toast that it made - really gorgeous. The casserole was lovely as well but I do not know that it will be repeated , fun and yummy but we like ours savory and our desserts more "desserty" :)
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