Saturday Morning French Toast

Yesterday Andrew had a charity gig in Mason, OH for Relay for Life. Days like that, I like to cook an awesome breakfast to prepare for the long drives and hard work [[well, his hard work, I mostly hang out and take pictures]].

I felt like french toast out of the blue. I haven't made it in forever, and last time I did, I used white bread and white flour. So, I was happily surprised with the healthy alternatives.



If you read any vegan recipes online, there's always one comment from some confused soul saying, The outside got burnt and the inside never cooked. Cooking vegan french toast is not as easy as the egg variety. BUT, I have a few methods that help me out:

1. KEEP THE BURNER HEAT MEDIUM. A lot of people see that the inside isn't cooking so they blast the heat, only to burn the outside and keep the middle soggy. You must keep the heat medium. You don't want your oil to start smoking and the french toast burning.
   
2. APPLY PRESSURE. If you notice that the middle is not getting as cooked, with the back of your spatula, apply pressure. I notice with some breads, the crust elevates the middle so it's not touching the pan as much as the outside parts. You don't want to squashed the bread, but apply a little pressure so it gets cook just as well as the outside.
   
3. MAKE SURE YOUR MIXTURE IS THICK. I hardly ever use the same amount of chickpea flour [[or white flour]] when I make a mixture. Sometimes it just needs a little more. Make sure you have that thick runny consistency. If you try these first two tricks on your first slice and it doesn't work, add another tbs of flour to the mix. The next one should be better then. [[Also, flour will sink to the bottom sometimes, make sure you whisk it really well]]

[[Easy French Toast]]
Top it off with pure maple syrup and a little earth balance.

4 tbs chickpea flour
1 1/2 cups vanilla rice milk [[you can also use soy, start out with less flour]]
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
opt: 1 tsp vanilla extract [[only if you use plain milk instead of vanilla]]
1-2 tbs canola oil
6 pieces of whatever whole wheat, whole grain bread you like

-- Whisk together flour, milk, and cinnamon [[plus extract if you're using]] until very well combined. You may notice that the cinnamon will float, so you may want to add it as you go so that all the toast gets some cinnamon flavor.
-- Heat a skillet with 1 tbs canola oil. Dip the bread on each side in the mixture. Avoid letting it soak too long.
-- Place soaked bread on hot skillet and allow to cook for about 5 minutes on each side. [[keeping the heat on medium and applying pressure as needed]]
-- Continue with the rest, apply more oil as need.