PORTLAND, Maine — I was walking around Portland last year and happened to notice a new business moving into the Old Port.
I figured it was about time I went to see what all of the hype was about, so I went to make French toast at Bread and Friends.
French toast is a quintessential breakfast item. Your family probably made it a bunch of times on weekends when you were a kid, and seemingly every breakfast joint has it on their menu, so I wanted to know what would make this French toast stand apart from the rest.
What's the key to their French toast? Homemade brioche, co-owner and head baker Tanner Rubin said. They make it from scratch, combining milk, eggs, fresh-milled flour, butter, and sugar, along with a couple of other ingredients. What makes brioche different from other breads is how the sugar and butter enrich the dough, Rubin said.
Once the dough is made and the brioche is baked, you'll want to let it sit for a day if you plan to use it for French toast. Why? When the loaf dries out a bit, it absorbs more of the custard, so you can get a better final product.
Speaking of custard, that's the next step. I got to work alongside another owner and head chef Jeremy Broucek for this part. Combine a milk, buttermilk, whole eggs, egg yolks to make it richer, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and cardamom. This all gets blended up with an immersion blender and the poured over the thick-sliced bread.
But here's where things got interesting: At Bread and Friends, they let the bread soak for two full days! Broucek said this helps the bread to really absorb the custard, so it's fully saturated.
After a couple days in the refrigerator, it's time for the griddle.
At Bread and Friends, they heat up some ghee, or clarified butter, and grill both sides. But then another twist — one I will be stealing, I may add. They then put sugar on the French toast and grill it again to caramelize the sugar. We're trying to get that crème brulée effect without the torch.
Plating was pretty simple but intentional.
It started off with some maple syrup. Classic, right? Broucek then took out what I thought was a bowl of whipped cream but was actually a bowl of whipped crème fraîche. Never heard of doing that before! He said they use crème fraîche because it is slightly more tart, allowing it to cut through the richness of the other components of the dish. Lastly, add a little freshly grated cinnamon.
Time for a taste!
OK, if you're watching the video clips, you might say to yourself, "That looks all melted." You're totally right. It takes a while to film all of the different pieces of this segment, move around the restaurant, fix the lightning, etc. By the time we were ready to go, it was about 10 minutes later, and it had melted. Trust me, the stuff I saw going out to the customers looked amazing. But, hey, this segment is me trying to make things on TV, so this is what happens sometimes.
Either way, it was absolutely delicious. The crystalized sugar had hardened up and made for a nice little crunch. Yum!
I have to say, I really appreciated the crème fraîche on top. It did exactly what Broucek said it would do. It cut through the richness of the rest of the dish to make for a well-balanced plate.
I learned something fun about the café here, too. The name Bread and Friends comes from the fact that the owners are actually two couples who are friends.
Jeremy and Tanner said they all have different skill sets that work for a restaurant (baking, cooking, operations, etc.) so they chose to go into business together. I just love that. It's heartwarming to see people succeed at their dreams and doing it with their friends and loved ones. What a nice way to go through life.
Thank you so much to everyone at Bread and Friends for having me out and showing me how to make an elevated French toast!