perfect french toast

I love breakfast food. I think it's my favorite type of food there is. Waffles, pancakes, scrambled eggs, toast, it's all sooooo good and satisfying. But perhaps the best of all is french toast. I love how many different ways you can make french toast, with different types of breads and toppings. 

This is a new recipe that I tried and simply loved. It's a great, basic, perfect recipe for classic french toast. It only utilizes egg yolks which is the first time I've seen that in a recipe for FT. And it's from Ree (the Pioneer Woman) so you know it's going to be good. 

As previously mentioned, you need eggs, yolk only (I added my extra whites to the scrambled eggs I was also making). You also need whole milk or half&half if you have it.

Then you'll need some vanilla and sugar and cinnamon (I added the cinnamon - you always need cinnamon).

Also new for me was dipping all the bread and letting is sit on a pan before starting it on the griddle. Not sure the reason for this, but since my FT turned out perfect, I'll keep doing it!

Let some butter get bubbly and nearly brown on the griddle.

Then add as many slices of bread that you can.

Let it cook over medium heat until golden, about 4 minutes for me.

Then flip and repeat on the other side.

Add more butter for the rest of the slices (each time you add more slices to the pan you need more butter). I turned the oven on to about 200 degrees and put the finished slices in there to keep warm while the rest were finishing up.

Finally, enjoy your delicious and perfect french toast with some more butter, warm maple syrup, and a dash of cinnamon or powdered sugar.

Perfect French Toast (I halved this recipe since it was just Steve, me and Riggs)

12 slices wheat sandwich bread, or 1 loaf crusty bread
4 whole egg yolks
2 cups whole milk or half-and-half
1 TBS sugar
2 tsp vanilla
zest of one lemon (optional)
butter for pan (about 3-4 TBS)

1. if using crust bread, cut into slices about 1/2" thick.
2. in a dish, mix together egg yolks, milk/h&h, sugar, (cinnamon!), lemon zest (if using) and vanilla. whisk to combine.
3. dip bread slices in mixture, coating both sides, then remove from dish and set aside. repeat until all bread is coated.
4. heat iron skillet or griddle over medium heat (I used a large stainless steel sauce pan for this since I don't have an iron griddle that's functional right now). add 1 TBS of butter before each 'batch' of bread. cook french toast on both sides until golden.

[original source]