This does sound kind of crazy and to be honest, when I first tried it, I didn't think it would work, but oh, does it work well. It's one of the best French toasts I've ever had, especially with the spiced honey syrup we're going to serve it with, which was just an absolute perfect pairing.
Ingredients
- (1 inch thick) slices stale French bread: 4 piece
- ounces feta cheese: 4 piece (sliced)
- unsalted butter: 2 Tbsp
- olive oil: 1 Tbsp
- eggs: 2 piece
- kosher salt: 0.25 tsp
- ½ teaspoons white sugar: 1 piece
- vanilla extract: 0.125 tsp
- pinch ground cinnamon: 1 piece
- pinch cayenne pepper: 1 piece
- heavy cream: 0.33333 cup
- honey: 0.25 cup
- water: 2 Tbsp
- Aleppo pepper flakes: 0.25 tsp (to taste)
- pinch kosher salt: 1 piece
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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Place stale bread in a shallow dish just large enough to tightly fit the slices in one layer.
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Whisk eggs, salt, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, cayenne, and heavy cream for batter together in a bowl and pour over bread slices. Use tongs to toss to coat evenly. If there's excess batter pooling at the bottom of the dish, spoon it over the top of the bread slices.
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Wrap and refrigerate until bread has absorbed all the batter or is fully saturated, 2 to 12 hours.
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To make the honey syrup, combine honey, water, chili flakes, and salt in a small saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir and bring to a simmer, then cook for 30 seconds. Turn off the heat and reserve until needed.
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Remove bread from the refrigerator and press sliced feta into the top of each piece; about 2 tablespoons feta should almost cover the surface of each piece.
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Heat butter and olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Place in the bread, cheese-side down. Cook until the cheese has caramelized and the surface is well browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Turn the slices over, reduce heat to medium, and cook the other side until golden brown.
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Serve immediately with the honey syrup spooned over top. Chef John
