Yummy French Toast with Homemade Berry Sauce

"What's for breakfast?" is usually one of the first things we hear on a weekend morning. If everyone's lucky, the answer is "French toast!" French toast—known as pain perdu or "lost bread" to the French or "Poor Knights of Windsor" if you're English—is easy to make and a great way to use up leftover bread that you may have in your kitchen. It's one of those recipes that we tend to vary depending on what we happen to have on hand. The basics, however are always the same: it's bread soaked in an egg custard and fried to a golden brown. Yum!

Start with really good bread. We're fortunate in the Bay Area to have lots of great artisan bread available just about everywhere, and much of it can be used for French toast. Firm, crusty bread like ciabatta or a sour batard works really well, as does old-school Bay Area sourdough, and we often have some leftover from dinner the night before. To make your French toast extra special, grab a loaf of rich challah or brioche and use that. You can even use sliced white bread if you're really craving French toast and don't have anything else available.

Now that you've got your bread, slice it into fairly thick (1/2-inch or so) slices and set aside. The next thing you have to do is make your custard. Go get:

• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup whole milk or half-and-half
• 2 tablespoons sugar or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• Spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, etc.

This recipe feeds about four people with approximately two slices of bread each. Scale it up for more servings. It's not an exact science, so feel free to experiment. Break the eggs into a large bowl, add milk, and whisk until smooth. Add sugar, salt, vanilla, and whatever spices you like. We always add at least a little cinnamon, but sometimes expand it with a little ginger, nutmeg, and other sweet spices. It's up to you.

Take your bread slices and add them to the custard. Make sure you get them all as submerged as possible. Transferring everything to a flat-bottomed deep casserole or other container may help here. Let the bread soak up as much of the custard as possible, but don't let it get so soggy that it starts falling apart. Soaking time can vary depending on the kind of bread you're using, but it's usually 5–10 minutes.

While your bread is soaking up all that eggy goodness, get out a large saute pan and melt some butter in it over medium-high heat. Don't skimp on the butter here—use at least 4 tablespoons. I usually add a little canola or vegetable oil to the pan, too, to keep the butter from burning. (As you can tell at this point, this is not a recipe that you make every day or if you're concerned about your cholesterol level.)

When the butter is melted and foamy, place the bread slices into the pan. Don't crowd it too much—you may want to cook your French toast in batches, and have some slices of bread soaking while you cook the first round. Resist the temptation to flip the bread or move it around. Just let it get nice and brown and crispy on one side, about 5 minutes or so. Turn the bread over and cook the other side until it's golden brown, another 5 minutes or so. Your bread should look like the examples in the photo here. If it's not brown enough, flip again and cook a little more.

You can serve your French toast with powdered sugar or maple syrup, but we often make a fruit compote to drizzle over ours. We usually have a bag or two of frozen organic berry medley from Trader Joes in the freezer. Before you start cooking your French toast, dump about a cup of berries into a small saucepan with a quarter cup of sugar and a quater cup of water, and let simmer until the frozen berries are soft and melted and the liquid around them has reduced to a syrup-like consistency, about 15–20 minutes. You can even mash up the berries a bit with a wooden spoon or potato masher if you want a smoother texture. Pour over your French toast slices, dust with a little powdered sugar, and serve. Bon appetit!