Homemade French Toast!

Sunday morning I wanted to make something special in honor of the Boyfriend's visit, so I decided to make the stuffed French toast out of Lilly Pullitzer's book on entertaining. The recipe calls for challah bread, which would likely make Alton Brown proud since challah bread is the best for anything that's going to need to absorb some kind of liquid. I made the challah bread Friday afternoon (day old bread is easier to slice and then stuff, and the French toast recipe can be prepared the night before) using the recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. The bread recipe was super simple and made my house smell amazing. I'm pretty much thinking about baking bread all the time now. Here's the first loaf:

It was tempting to start eating the bread right away--but I resisted! The following night I prepared the French toast and stuck it in the refrigerator. I baked it the next morning, and it came oat perfect. The inside was soft and chewy, stuffed with banana and strawberry, and the crust was crisp. Pure deliciousness! I served it with warm maple syrup, extra strawberries to top it with and sparkling blood orange juice. It was well worth it to make the challah bread instead of buying it from the store, since 1) I'm not sure our grocery store carries it and 2) you can totally taste the freshness of the bread and it makes all the difference.