Challah French Toast

A couple of weekends ago I had brunch with a friend and was debating between french toast or steel cut oatmeal. Oatmeal was the boring choice, but I'm also not the biggest fan of french toast. The idea of it sounds delicious but I always end up receiving a soggy piece of egg bread with no flavor or texture. I took the risk anyway and ordered their french toast made with challah and orange zest, and I'm so glad I did.  It wasn't too eggy like I usually encounter and the orange zest was a nice change from the usual sweet breakfasts drowning in maple syrup.

Two weeks later and I'm craving it again, but this time I decided to make it at home.  I don't think I've ever made french toast before.  Croque madame, waffles, pancakes, you name it I've probably attempted it and every other breakfast/brunch dish at home. But since I've had success making challah at home I thought why not? And I'm happy to report it was a success!  I amped up the orange zest to a whole orange and even ate the toast with bites of orange. Next time I might even try it with grapefruit or meyer lemon, and maybe use honey instead of maple syrup to bring out the honey in the bread.

On a side note, I've always liked how challah looks sliced because they remind me of clouds. Am I the only one?

Challah French Toast adapted from Barefoot Contessa 3 eggs 1 cup milk 1/4 tsp vanilla extract 1 tbsp honey pinch of salt zest of 1 orange butter/oil for the pan 1 loaf challah (I baked mine from the Artisan Bread in 5 recipe)

1. Whisk together all ingredients except for butter and bread into a shallow pan. Slice challah into 1/2" - 3/4" slices and dip into egg mixture. Turn over and let sit for a couple minutes.

2. Melt a bit of butter and/or oil into a pan and add soaked bread. Fry on each side for about 2-3 minutes. Serve with powdered sugar, maple syrup, and orange slices.