Stale bread confection

I love stale bread. I think I tend to buy more bread than I actually ever need in hopes that I’ll have extra and it will turn into a hard, brick-like loaf. There are so many opportunities available to make it great: croutons, stuffing, bread pudding. This morning, French toast was what was in store for that quarter loaf of Italian bread.

I sliced what was left of the loaf (I had made toast with it a few days before and spread those golden, crispy slices with the creamy Mt. Tam cheese) into thick three-quarter inch slices. I whisked together an egg, some milk, some flour, a touch of sugar, a smaller touch of salt, a dash of vanilla, and some melted butter. In went the bread slices for a little egg mixture bath. My cast iron skillet was hot and I swirled a dab of butter around the pan. Then, in went the wet bread. One and a half minutes on one side and another minute on the over, and they were done.

I didn’t have any maple syrup so I ate the French toast unadorned (although now that I think of it, I don’t know why I didn’t use honey). It was still good and just sweet enough from the sugar in the egg mixture. The outer edges of the toast were crisp and the middle was soft, although not as custard-like it should have been (I should have soaked the bread a little longer). But, overall, pretty darn good. Hooray, for stale bread!