Yemenite French Toast

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Hot chilies, garlic and other Middle Eastern spices make this crispy French Toast delicious. Serve with chopped vegetables such as cucumbers, carrots and/or tomatoes. Baking the French Toast, as opposed to frying, insures perfect browning, saves time and eliminates too much over heated oil.

Ease: super quick Type: breakfast, brunch Prep Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Yield: serves 4 - 5 people

Cook's notes

The single most important ingredient in French Toast is the bread. Use any whole grain bread that is not sweet. Especially good are Healthy Hemp and Sunflower Flax Seed breads made by French Meadow Bakery, Sprouted Rye Seed breads by Alvarado Street Bakery and Spelt Organic Bread by pacific Bakery.

For the "real thing" you need to use Yemenite zhug, powerfully hot and incredibly delicious relish with cumin and garlic. However, you can very successfully use you favorite hot sauce in this recipe.

All hot sauces are different but here is a guide for how much to use: Realize that the eggs temper down the heat of your sauce so use a little more than you would initially think. For a tabasco-like hot sauce, 4 teaspoons give flavor but barely any bite at all and kids will still be able to enjoy it. 4 teaspoons of zhug will give you a bit more bite, too much fo kids. Use 4 tablespoons of zhug and it will be very hot. Personally, I use about 2 tablespoons of zhug which gives a good flavor and reasonable bite. Of course, everyone's tolerance for heat and spice is different, so put less the first time. You can always spread on more of the hot sauce or zhug after baking.

Ingredients

4 eggs
2/3 c milk
zhug or hot sauce to taste, not salsa (see notes )
10 slices whole wheat bread (see notes)
canola or safflower oil for the pans

Steps

• Preheat oven to 400° F, no convection. Lightly oil 2 nonstick jelly roll pans. (In a pinch, you can use cookie sheets.)
• In a medium size bowl, whisk all of the ingredients, except the bread. (You don't want a deep mixing bowl, but you need about an 8" diameter at the base. Serving bowls work well.)
• Submerge the slices of bread in the egg mixture and let soak for a few seconds. Remove slices to prepared jelly roll pans.
• Bake for 12 minutes then turn the slices over. Continue baking for another 13 - 15 minutes until golden brown.
• To keep warm, place on rack in 200° F oven.
• Freeze left over toasts in airtight plastic bags. Just toast and serve for a quick meal.

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