Thursday, September 12, 2013

Homemade Egg Bread for Texas Toast

Can I let you in on a secret? My other yeast breads that I've made have only turned out okay. Granted, I have not made that many yeast breads, rather many quick breads. Because damn, waiting around for things to rise is kind of annoying, right?

But this bread totally turned out! It rose like crazy. The best rise in a dough I've ever made! This makes it lighter with more air pockets on the inside, which is really what makes a bread a bread.

Homemade Egg Bread for Texas Toast by freshfromthe.com

That may leave you to wonder why I would make this bread. It seems kind of random, perhaps? Well, recently I went to Phoenix and had a sandwich, a sandwich my boyfriend would come to call the best sandwich he's ever tasted. And it was made using this Texas Toast-style bread. Now, this was not my all-time favorite sandwich because it had too much aioli sauce on it, but I did like the bread. Incidentally, if you ever want to try this sandwich and you happen to be in Phoenix, it's the BLT Revival at Tonto Bar & Grill.

(P.S., my favorite sandwich appears to be this fish sandwich I had at another place in Phoenix. OMG it was GOOD. And, sadly, they don't make it at the same restaurant here in LA! What! Quelle horreur! So, if you ever go to the Hillstone in Phoenix, try out the Gulf Coast Fish Sandwich. You won't regret it!)

Anyway! I made the bread, and we ate almost a whole loaf in one day, including making some grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. I imagine it would be amazeballs when made into french toast, so maybe I'll have to get some maple syrup that hasn't expired and try that out with the remaining loaf!

Homemade Egg Bread for Texas Toast by freshfromthe.com

Delicious homemade egg bread, perfect for Texas toast, grilled cheese, and French toast.

Ingredients:
  • 6 to 7 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 packages active dry yeast
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 3 large eggs
Instructions:

  1. In a large mixer, combine 3 cups of flour with the yeast. Leave that while, in a saucepan, you heat up the milk, sugar, butter and salt until warm and butter is almost all melted, stirring constantly. Mix this in to the flour mixture, then beat in your eggs one at a time on low speed for about 30 seconds each, scraping down the sides of the bowl when necessary. Beat this mixture on high speed for 3 minutes, then stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can with a spoon (probably around 3 cups).
  2. Onto a lightly floured surface, knead the dough, adding in the last cup of flour (or so) until the dough is semi-stiff, smooth and elastic. Should take around 6 minutes. Shape this into a ball and place in a lightly buttered large bowl. Turn the ball over once to butter all sides of it. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, which should take about an hour and 15 minutes. Make sure you keep it away from drafts, I usually stick this in a turned off oven.
  3. After it has doubled, punch it down and divide the dough in half. Cover again and let rest for 10 minutes. Shape into 2 loaves and place in 2 sprayed loaf pans. Cover one more time and let rise for 35 minutes until nearly double.
  4. Bake in a 375°F oven for 35-40 minutes, covering with foil for the last 15 minutes to prevent over-browning. Let cool in the pans for a few minutes, then remove to a wire rack to completely cool.
  5. Slice it up and do whatever you like - make some french toast, maybe some grilled cheese sandwiches, a BLT, or just butter it up and eat it as is!

Recipe via Just a Pinch

In Photos:


 Mix together 3 cups of flour with the 2 packages of active dry yeast in your mixing bowl.


In a saucepan, heat your milk, sugar, salt and butter until warm and the butter is almost 100% melted. You can see one little bit of butter left in the bottom right area. Done!


Mix your milk mixture into your flour mixture.


Beat in your 3 large eggs one at at time, about 30 seconds each. Then beat that for about 3 minutes on high.



Mix in as much of the remaining flour as you can with a spoon (about 3 cups for me).


Turn that out onto a floured surface and knead the last cup of flour in until the dough is semi-stiff and elastic, about 6 minutes.


Put your dough into a buttered bowl and turn over so both sides get buttered. Cover and let rise for 1 1/4 hours until doubled in a non-drafty place. Take out and PUNCH IT! I forgot to take a photo pre-punch to show you how much it grew. Trust me, it grew a lot!


Divide that dough in half and put in two bowls. Cover and rest for 10 minutes.


Then form loaf-shapes and stick them in the prepared pans (butter 'em up!). Cover and let rise again for 35 minutes until almost doubled.



Look how much they grew! Also, if you don't want a weird looking loaf, make sure you smooth out the tops, unlike that one on the left there. Stick this in your 375F pre-heated oven for 35-40 minutes, covering with foil for the last 15 to avoid too-brownness.


Take those out of the oven and voila - you have bread!


Apart from the slightly wonky top of the one loaf, this is probably the most successful yeast bread I've made! Look how tall!

Take them out of the pans and let them cool on a wire rack, then get to slicing!


We made some delicious grilled cheese sandwiches with the bread. Super rich, very yummy!

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13 comments:

  1. This recipe looks great I think i'm gong to try this today. Do you have a Print button? I can't seem to find it. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Copy the text of the recipe ingrediants and directions. (Hold left click and drag
      until all of the text is highlighted) Then right click and select print. Of course
      the printer must be on when you do this.

      Delete
  2. Hi Stephanie - You know, I'd never really done printable versions of my recipes, but perhaps I should start including those! I just updated this post to include a printable version of the recipe, with the link directly below the recipe title. Hope that helps!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Can I use instant yeast? How will this effect the proof time? Thanks!

    -Michelle

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To be honest, I've never really used instant yeast before. If you use it, I would just suggest checking in on the dough rising to see where it's at and go more by how much it has risen than actual times. Even that can vary anyway, as everyone's house is different. A drafty house may require more rise time than a nice and toasty one, for example.

      Hope it works out well for you!

      Delete
    2. I used to be a restaurant cook, and the bread we used for French Toast was
      a thick sliced yellowsh bread that used to be generically called "Egg Bread."
      I have been looking for local sources and all I can find is Brioche or Challa
      bread recipies. If this is what I am looking for, you have made my day!

      Delete
  4. Don't u have to let active yeast sit in water and sugar to activate before using it? Cuz u say just combine flour and active yeast together.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll be honest, this was before I made very much bread, and you're right, typically you would do that. I was following someone else's recipe. Now I'm wondering if they meant to but in rapid rise yeast. It's also quite a bit of yeast, I might try it again with one packet rapid raise vs two of active dry!

      Delete
    2. Nope. Most recipes call for that, but it works just fine the way it's written in this recipe

      Delete
  5. Should I cook it for the same amount of time if I’m just baking one loaf at a time? I only have one bread pan hahah

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep! You may check on it a little earlier just to make sure it hasn't overcooked because the oven doesn't have to distribute the heat as much, but it's probably going to be a similar amount of time.

      Delete
  6. This is fabulous. Everyone ate both loaves. Now we can't move. Well done!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's great to hear! Glad you all enjoyed the bread!

      Delete