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Wednesday, 6 June 2018

#ewew makes French Toast with Strawberries & Honey

I have a new found love for Korean strawberries since being introduced to them, making fruit salads with them and including them in other salads.

And recently, I decided to have them with eggy bread.  So, I made French Toast with Strawberries & Honey.  French toast and strawberries, as we all know, is a classic combination...a match made in heaven! ;)

I've made French toasts countless times at home but I usually just use Gardenia white or wholemeal bread since it's the easiest and most convenient bread we can find.  Well, some of us aren't fortunate enough to have brioche, sourdough or a good sandwich loaf at our disposal or live near a conveniently located bakery where we can buy such premium bread (+ they're also known to be expensive).

Let's admit it, using white (Gardenia) bread doesn't come off as successful as those fluffy French toasts that we eat at some breakfast/brunch cafes...and that's a fact! :(  It's not as tasty for two reasons, I realised.

One, the choice of bread, of course.  But I've since found a better alternative to Gardenia's white bread.  Go for one of Gardenia's European Cottage Style Bread like Bonjour with white sesame and sunflower seeds (even the name is so apt for French toast...hihihi!).  I've also used Gardenia's Somerset Cottage Multi Grain loaf (made with 12 wholesome grains and seeds) for a healthier and more textured bread.  It's more expensive than the normal white bread but it's worth it as it tastes a lot better.  However, even these are not commonly available (I'd usually find them once in 5 or 6 trips to Aeon).

And, two, use of utter instead of olive oil to pan-fry the French toasts.  I was using olive oil previously and, let's not kid ourselves, it's just not the same.  It doesn't give the fragrant flavour that butter will.

The best thing about this bread is that one egg is just perfect for two slices of Bonjour (or Somerset Cottage) bread.  I use just eggs only without any milk (you can add a splash of milk if you like) and season it with salt and black pepper (or you can choose to make it sweet if that's what you prefer).  Make sure the bread soaks up all the beaten egg.

Fry the slices of bread, low and slow in butter, to make sure the egg-soaked bread cooks all the way through to a nice golden brown.

Somehow, frying them in butter, gives way to a nice crisp crust around the bread and the seeds in the bread get toasty and become crunchy and fragrant.

I've made French toasts numerous times at home but I don't why I've never thought of having it with strawberries.

Serve the French Toasts with sliced strawberries and a light drizzle of honey (or maple syrup).  Sometimes, I even omit the honey altogether.

The juiciness and sweetness of the strawberries somehow goes extremely well with the contrast of the savoury French toast.

If you're feeling a bit 'naughty', you can add a few slices of bacon! ^_~

Hehe, maybe a bit of greens on top will lessen the guilt just a little? ^.^

Since discovering this bread makes a much better French toast + frying it in butter and pairing it with strawberries, I've been using them whenever I make French toasts at home coz it tastes really good.  It's also a much healthier option for breakfast (minus the bacon, of course) than any nasi lemak or noodles that we'd usually have.

10 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing about this Gardenia's Somerset Cottage Multi Grain loaf! I am always looking for more grains and this one has 12! Bingo!

    I will make my first French Toast this weekend for breakfast. I had no idea it is so easy to make as my late mum had pampered me since a toddler with these toasts.

    Yes, I will definitely stack fried bacons or luncheon meat on top!! So shiok and sedap!

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    1. I see you like to go the 'naughty' route with bacon or spam! ;) This is just my simple way of making French toasts at home...nothing like the way cafes do it of course, with milk lah, with cinnamon lah, and all that jazz! ;P

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  2. ooo, i didn't realise there are quite a number of gardenia varieties now - such a far cry from our childhood of plain gardenia white bread and gardenia wholemeal - will look out for them. i used to like the adventist bakery sprouted life seven-grain breads (baked in penang, i think), which i could find in a few kl supermarkets, but i don't know if theyy're still around ...

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    1. Yes, there are quite a few more Gardenia varieties now...just wished that they're more readily available (maybe it's because of the slightly higher price tag, so less customers and they don't replenish them daily).

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  3. Oh wow, you make me want to make French toast too! I like both Gardenia's European Cottage Style Bread and Somerset Cottage Multi Grain. Your French toast is indeed luxurious with strawberries. Hmmm... I know what I want to eat this weekend hee..hee...

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    1. Go make some this weekend...it's a simple and light breakfast for the day :)

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  4. Such a simple dish yet so good.

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  5. I've stopped buying bread since I bought a breadmaker but this multigrain bread looks not bad, will buy it if I see it.

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    1. Wah, homemade bread even better...you can control the amount of sugar that goes into it :)

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