Who knew? Aunt Beezy’s soda bread makes the Best! French Toast. Ever! And, since tomorrow is St. Paddy’s Day, and yeh, a lot of folk’ll be making soda bread, I thought I may as well share Barb’s Aunt Beezy’s recipe, and this pretty frikkin’ nice french toast recipe.
INGREDIENTS
Soda Bread:
•3 cups flour
•2/3 cup sugar
•1 tsp baking powder
•1 tsp baking soda
•1 tsp salt
•1-1/2 cup dried cherries
•2 tsp melted butter
•2 eggs, beaten
•1-3/4 cup + 2 tbsp buttermilk
French Toast:
•2 large eggs, beaten
•3/4 cup cream or milk
•1 oz dark rum
•1 tbsp sugar
•1 tsp cinnamon
•1/4 tsp salt
•1/8 tsp black pepper
•1 small loaf of leftover soda bread
•2-4 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
•Maple syrup, for serving
First, the soda bread:
Heat your oven to 350º and brush a loaf pan with softened butter.
Whisk the flour together with the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl until nicely blended, then add the dried cherries and stir.
In another bowl, whisk the eggs together with the buttermilk and melted butter, then stir this into the flour and dried cherry mixture just until mixed together.
No buttermilk? No problem! Simply add two tablespoons of white vinegar or fresh lemon juice to a measuring cup, then add milk to measure two cups. Give it a stir, then set it aside to rest for ten minutes or so. Voilà! Buttermilk!
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 60 minutes – until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Set the pan aside to cool completely before tipping the loaf out.
Enjoy with your corned beef and cabbage with fresh Irish butter or mebbe a nice cream cheese glaze.
After dinner, if your house is like ours, you will more than likely have bread leftover, so, the next day, why not make French toast?
Whisk the eggs together with the cream, rum, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and pepper until smooth and well blended, then pour into a flat bottomed bowl.
Melt a couple of tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
Slice the soda bread and then dip each piece in the egg and cream mixture, flipping each slice to coat both sides.
Note: do not let the bread soak in the egg mixture, it will get soggy and fall apart. Soak each slice just before adding it to the butter in the skillet.
Arrange the soaked bread slices in a single layer in the skillet and cook for three to five minutes on each side, until both sides are lightly browned and toasty looking.
Transfer the cooked French toast to a plate in a 200º oven to keep warm while you soak and cook the remaining slices.
Note: I used my rather huge chef’s pan, which easily took four slices at a time, and I added another two tablespoons of butter after cooking the first four slices.
Once all of the toast is done, dust with a little powdered sugar and serve with butter, maple syrup, and yeh, why not have a bit of maple roasted bacon on the side?