It's shocking how much mileage Lactose-Intolerant and Milk-Allergic Cookbooks get out of You Can Still Eat French Toast! Duh. We're talking marinaded stale bread fried in a pan. Of course you don't need the milk. Get real.

I eventually realized that you can use this recipe as a base for bread pudding.

Variations on a French Toast Theme

Sliced Bread
Egg
Soy Milk, Rice Dream, Water, Juice or Any Combination Thereof
Vanilla, Almond Extract or any Liqueur(s) you like
Cinnamon, Cardamom, or any Spice you like

The general idea here is to have one egg for every 1/3 Cup of other liquid you have. Flavor to taste. The major trick being you probably shouldn't taste it raw because it has egg in it. Beat the egg before adding the liquid for best results. Mix the spice in OR sprinkle it on the bread before or after dipping. You can marinade as long or as short a period of time as the bread will tolerate (eventually it will fall apart but if the bread is rock hard, as artisan breads are wont to do after a couple days, you can pop in the fridge overnight). If you marinade it until it's thoroughly soggy, you should pan fry it a lot longer at a lower temperature or the squooge factor is distinctly unpleasant. Serve with Maple Syrup, of course! But confectioner's sugar, peanut butter, margarine and jams should not be snubbed.

The standard exotic is milk-sub and orange juice for the liquid and Grand Marnier for the liqueur. But you really haven't lived until you've had julekake with cardamon and frangelico, with rice milk. Yum!

After you've run through a zillion variations on the marinade, don't forget to vary your bread! Challah, raisin breads and spiced breads are all very yummy dipped in eggy goo and fried.

You actually don't need the egg, either, but we'll save that story for later.

Bread Pudding

Instead of slicing the bread, chop or dice it. Rock hard bread works well for this, as long as you have the time to soak it. Any mixture of the above works, but a lot more liquid and a longer soaking time will homogenize the bready mass much more effectively. Toss in Raisins and whatever Chopped nuts you like, along with a generous amount of Brown Sugar, unless you plan on serving it drizzled with warm Maple Syrup. Bake it in a 350 degree oven until it's cooked through. In a loaf pan or casserole, expect that to take between a half hour and an hour. It all depends on the bread and amount of liquid involved. I cover mine, but if you cook it uncovered, you can sprinkle a sugary cinnamon topping over it and it will crisp up nicely.

This file recreated from The Internet Wayback Machine in January 2002. Copyright Rebecca Allen, 2002.

Updated January 7, 2008