My favorite recipe for Challah French Toast is made with a secret ingredient– banana! The addition of a ripe banana to the coating adds healthy sweetness for a light and fluffy texture. The result is absolutely delectable. Challah and French toast are just meant to be together.
“I went to a restaurant that serves ‘Breakfast at any time.’ So I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance.” ~ Steven Wright
French toast is a weekend tradition in our family. It all began when I first tackled the art of making a beautifully braided challah. It took me countless tries of braiding and baking before I was happy with my technique. Those first few weeks of experiments resulted in copious amounts of challah piling up in our kitchen.
Luckily, my husband makes a mean French toast… and no bread is better suited to this sweet breakfast treat than eggy, fluffy challah bread. Challah acts like a sponge, soaking up the liquid mixture and saturating itself with goodness. My stepdaughter loves her Abba’s French toast, and she loves it even more when we use challah. What a treat!
The most basic form of French toast is bread soaked in milk and/or eggs, then fried. This simple cooking concept has been around since antiquity. There is a loosely similar recipe to French toast in the oldest known cookbook, Apicius, an Ancient Roman collection of recipes written in the early 5th century CE. Here is a translation of that recipe:
Aliter Dulcia
Another sweet: break grated Sigilines (wheat bread) and make larger bites. Soak in milk, fry in oil, douse in honey and serve.
~Apicius Book VII, XI-3
As you can see, the basic method for cooking French toast hasn’t changed much throughout the centuries. Eggs didn’t appear in a printed recipe until 1870. The practice of soaking bread and then frying it most likely came about as a way to use up bread that had gone stale to make it more palatable. Where the “French” name came from is not exactly clear; there are many theories, but the actual source of the name is a culinary mystery.
Our version of Challah French Toast is easy and versatile. We like to use homemade challah when possible. On the weeks when I am running short on time, we pick up a challah from our local bakery. To make the milk mixture for the French toast thicker and naturally sweet, I add a banana and blend it together with a little flour. A touch of rum or Grand Marnier is optional, but tasty.
The resulting French toast is seriously amazing. It’s fluffy, airy, and not at all soggy. This preparation is much lighter than other recipes I’ve seen that drench the bread in cream, sugar, and butter. I much prefer to give the bread a rich flavor without a ton of sweetness and excess fat. That way, people can add as much syrup or butter as they want and adjust the sweetness to taste. It might not be “health food,” exactly, but it makes your soul happy… and we all deserve a little treat once in a while.
Speaking of treats, I think I might make “brinner” tonight. There is nothing we love more than serving breakfast for dinner, especially when the entree is a delicious batch of Challah French Toast. And because one of the best things about breakfast, brunch, and brinner is having salty and sweet foods on the same plate, I also like to serve this French toast with a side of my famous scrambled eggs.
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Challah French Toast
Ingredients
- 12 slices challah, sliced 1 inch thick (cut larger slices in half)
- 1 cup milk
- 3 large eggs
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 banana, ripe
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1-2 tablespoons rum, Kahlua, or Grand Marnier (optional)
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
NOTES
Instructions
- This recipe works best with day-old or slightly stale challah bread. If your bread is fresh, you can take some of the moisture out by placing the slices on a baking sheet and putting them in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes, flipping the slices once halfway through cooking. This will dry the bread out a bit, which will help it soak up the moisture from the milk and egg mixture. If you don't have time for this step, no worries-- fresh bread will work too, it just won't soak up as much of the egg mixture.
- In a blender, combine the milk, eggs, flour, banana, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and optional rum or liqueur. Blend for a few seconds until well mixed.
- Pour the liquid mixture into a shallow baking dish or pie plate.
- Soak your slices of challah in the liquid for about 60 seconds, turning once, until the bread is nicely saturated on both sides. This should be done in batches.
- Heat your skillet over medium and grease it with 2 tbsp butter.
- Fry the toast in two batches of 6 slices each.
- Let the slices brown nicely on each side for 3-5 minutes. Keep the heat on medium (or a little lower) to make sure the toast cooks through but doesn't burn.When the first batch of toast is cooked, regrease the pan with remaining 2 tbsp of butter and fry the second batch.
- Plate the French toast and garnish with powdered sugar, using a mesh strainer to lightly and evenly powder the toast with sugar.
Nutrition
Oohlala. That is the most mouthwatering French toast I have ever seen. I didn’t know Kahlua and French toast go together. I shall try this soon…maybe tomorrow. LOL.
I am convinced challah makes for a perfect Frech toast. Its heavenly. And with liquor? Ooooh now we are talking.
Oh, I adore French toast made with challah…and the addition of Kahlua is perfect!!! YUM.
Sounds gorgeous. Love challah and love French toast, so the combination should be spectacular. I’ll make that as an anniversary surprise next Shabbos as it is our 24th wedding anniversary. Thank you for posting this recipe.
we’ll be in paris on holiday just after purim.. what a great idea for a brinner, a real french shiksa toast.. a toat to you & that really interesting idea of adding a banana to the mixture
This looks amazing! And since I have a full challah loaf sitting in front of me, I think I’ll make this for breakfast tomorrow.
The most most scented breakfast meal I have ever eat! :))
It looks so good, I wanna have it for breakfast…and afternoon snack!
I. LOVE. FRENCH TOAST!
And, you’re right… there’s nothing better than French Toast made with Challah. I don’t even need syrup… just a snowfall of powdered sugar.
We just had a lesson on yeast bread (including challah) in class today and I am so excited to start making some! YUM!
Oh man, I just made French toast with homemade Challah last week, and it IS amazing. I also used a stale loaf in a raspberry bread pudding recipe which was equally spectacular. Gotta go make more Challah!
The use of banana in the french toast mix is nothing short of brilliant! I love it! ….and the quote at the top is PERFECT! (I’d like YOUR French toast – we’ll have breakfast with Thomas Jefferson at Monticello – sound good?)
I always make French Toast with challah. Raisin challah is even better that the plain. I love the idea of blending in a banana. Will try it tomorrow morning. I also melt no sugar added jam or jelly to pour over the finished product instead of syrup.
Oh I dream about this. My goal for this year is to make a braided challah and then make french toast!
My favorite bread for French Toast – bar none. Could slide it off the monitor and have it now.
Challah makes the best french toast hands down! This sounds lovely!
sound good.. My grandma made it before. I was little girls
Sounds delicious, especially with bread or challah that’s homemade! I’ve been making French toast for years and like you, I don’t like it really sweet. Definitely will try!
Breakfast for dinner is something I indulge in every once in a while too! One thing I have not indulged in is using homemade bread to make french toast. No doubt it does make a big difference in the taste. Homemade challah is a great choice! Oh and the banana and rum in there makes it even more amazing. Great post Tori!
Yum! Challah french toast is my favorite!! This sounds incredible!
Lovely idea! 🙂 I enjoy challah, so this should be fantastic!