"french toast" news and stories

• One blogger is eating her way through the hundreds of menu items at the Hollywood's Jitlada. Hey, it's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it.
• What's the best focaccia topping? (Trick question!)
• Ready for Valentine's Day? Los Angeles restaurateurs are.
• French toast: It's not just for breakfast anymore.

French toast meets the flavor of an almond croissant in this insanely good (and simple to prepare) brunch recipe. "You'll love the way the almond topping crisps up to offset the custardy innards of the bread," says KitchenDaily contributor Kemp Minifie, who created this baked version of the stovetop classic. Topped with ice cream and fresh berries, it's pretty close to dessert. We'll take it anytime we can get it.

Recipe for Baked Almond French Toast

And here's another perfect baked, fruit-laden French toast, this one for a romantic Saturday-morning-in-bed breakfast:

Melissa Roberts's Pilow-Talk French Toast

Got a bounty of peaches, plums and nectarines? Roast them for a delicious summer dessert.

Happy National French Toast Day!

Dubbed "poor knights of Windsor" by the Brits, French toast originated in Europe during the Medieval times. As a way of making use of "pain perdu" (or "lost bread," as it's called in France), cooks discovered they could add moisture to hardened bread by dipping it in a sweetened egg-milk mixture. Despite the practicality of using up old bread, this practice was most likely confined to the wealthy, who would cut off the bread's crusts, an unthinkable, wasteful move to those less fortunate.

Today, French toast still refers to the breakfast dish involving bread dipped in an egg-milk mix, then fried, then topped with a combination of powdered sugar, jam, syrup or other various toppings.

What do you like to top your French toast with? Let us know, after the jump!

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Now this is something to wake up to. Linda Nguyen, the intrepid force behind the Australian blog butter sugar flour, whipped up this beautiful plate of French toast with spiced pears. The bread has that even golden-brown skin that is a hallmark of the best French toast, and the pears give it a lusty, buttery twist. The shallow pool of maple syrup is a nice, realistic flourish; you can practically taste the syrup-saturated toast, and feel it the sugary burn it leaves in the back of your throat. A very good morning, indeed.

[Via butter sugar flour]