- 6 minutes ago
You’ll be wondering why you never thought to combine breakfast and lunch like this before. In this video, Chef John shows you how to make loaded baked potato French toast topped with a sweet and sour maple syrup. The loaded baked potato filling is layered onto the egg-soaked bread and griddled until it forms a light crispy crust before finishing in the oven to heat all the way through. Garnish with green onions and your sweet and sour syrup before digging in!
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello, this is Chef John from Foodwishes.com with Loaded Baked Potato French Toast.
00:08That's right, I have done a lot of wacky, weird, and wild mashups over the years.
00:13And some were amazing and some weren't.
00:16But this Loaded Baked Potato Stuff French Toast is probably the most delicious one I've ever done.
00:22So if you're ready to blow some minds at your next brunch, let's go ahead and get started
00:26by taking a couple of russet potatoes and we'll give those the old polka polka with the tip of a
00:31knife
00:32just to pierce the skin to let out steam while these bake,
00:36which is what we'll do in a 400 degree oven for about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes
00:42or until they're fully cooked and nice and tender, which we don't guess at.
00:47We'll go ahead and grab a knife and give these a test and that blade should slide in with no
00:51effort.
00:53And then what we'll do is let these sit until they're cool enough to handle,
00:56at which point we will handle them.
00:59And what we'll do is slice those open with a knife,
01:01and then we'll take a spoon and scoop out the insides into a bowl.
01:05And by the way, we really do want to do this while these are still warm,
01:08since the ingredients we're about to add are going to mix in a lot better if they are.
01:12And I don't have any idea why I'm trying to hold both halves at the same time.
01:16All right, this is much easier if you pull those apart and do one half at a time.
01:20But anyway, one way or another, we'll scoop out both those potatoes,
01:24and then we'll take a fork and break this up into pretty fine pieces.
01:29But we're not trying to make mashed potatoes.
01:31And when we add the rest of the ingredients, it's going to get mixed even more.
01:35So what we'll do is stop right about here,
01:38and then we'll season it up with some salt,
01:40as well as some freshly ground black pepper,
01:43plus a few shakes of cayenne to stay in shape,
01:46at which point we will add the holy trinity of loaded baked potatoes,
01:50which is some cheddar cheese,
01:53some freshly sliced green onions,
01:55as well as some crispy fried bacon bits.
01:58And yes, we do want to cook the bacon this far.
02:01All right, the last thing you want in your loaded baked potato French toast
02:04is flabby bacon.
02:06And that's it.
02:07We'll finish up with a big spoon of sour cream,
02:09and we will give this a mix until everything's evenly incorporated.
02:14And other than maybe giving this a quick taste for seasoning,
02:17our loaded baked potato filling is done.
02:19And of course, if there's other things you add to your loaded baked potatoes,
02:23or maybe you want to use a different cheese,
02:25feel free to adjust this as you see fit.
02:27I mean, you are, after all, the ghostface killer of your French toast filler.
02:32But no matter which you use,
02:34once that's mixed up, we'll set it aside
02:36and move on to the next component,
02:38which is going to be the egg batter for our bread.
02:40And what we'll do is take a couple eggs,
02:42plus some salt,
02:44and we'll bust those eggs right in the yolk,
02:46and then we'll fork these until the egg whites disappear,
02:49at which point we'll stop and add the last ingredient,
02:52which is some milk,
02:53and we will mix that in.
02:55And if you're wondering why we didn't mix that in with the eggs,
02:58it's because if you do,
03:00due to the different viscosities,
03:02that milk will splash out of the bowl while you're beating the eggs,
03:05and it will get on the counter,
03:07and you'll have to clean it up.
03:08So to avoid that drama,
03:10we'll add the milk after the eggs are beaten.
03:12And once we have that prepped,
03:14we'll grab our bread,
03:15and we'll drop that into our egg mixture,
03:17and flip it back and forth,
03:19at least two or three times.
03:21Okay, we want to make sure our bread gets nice and soaked,
03:24which, if you're using basic white bread like this,
03:27happens pretty quickly.
03:29And I know, we usually use stale bread for French toast,
03:32or lost bread, as our French friends would say.
03:35But for this recipe,
03:36it's actually fine if the bread's fresh.
03:39All right, if your bread is stale,
03:40you might have to soak the bread and let it sit for a while,
03:43before you stuff it and try to cook it.
03:45But anyway, once our bread has been egged,
03:48we will take a nice big spoon of our filling,
03:50and spread that out evenly over a slice,
03:52and we'll try to push and pat that all the way out to the edges.
03:56Oh, and one production note here,
03:58the amount of filling we made is enough for six of these,
04:01although I'm only cooking two for the video.
04:03But in the written recipe,
04:05we'll give you the amounts for the full batch.
04:07And then once the filling's been spread over,
04:10you've probably figured out the next step.
04:12We will top that with another slice,
04:14and give it a little pressing down.
04:16And once we do have our bread stuffed,
04:18we have a couple options.
04:20We can cook these right away if you want,
04:22and it will be fine.
04:23Or we can pop them into the fridge for about 15 minutes,
04:26to really let that bread absorb the egg even more,
04:29which is exactly what I'm going to do.
04:32And while those are chilling,
04:33we'll go ahead and make the sauce
04:34we're going to finish this with,
04:36which is going to be some maple syrup,
04:38some apple cider vinegar,
04:40and a big spoon of cayenne pepper.
04:43And what we'll do is bring that up to a boil
04:45on medium-high heat,
04:46and we'll let that boil for about 30 seconds,
04:49and we'll carefully give it a stir,
04:51at which point we'll turn it off and let it cool.
04:54And that is going to make an incredible,
04:56spicy, sweet and sour syrup,
04:58which we will drizzle over our French toast to finish.
05:01And that's it to cook our French toast.
05:03We will melt a whole bunch of butter in a skillet,
05:06set over medium heat,
05:07and we will place our stuffed double-decker French toast in,
05:11and we'll let that first eye cook for about 3 or 4 minutes,
05:14until we've achieved a nice light golden brown,
05:17at which point we're going to flip these over,
05:19and then we'll actually turn off the pan,
05:21since we're actually going to finish these in the oven,
05:23at 375,
05:25for about 15 minutes,
05:27since if we tried to do this on the stove,
05:29by the time the inside of our filling was hot,
05:32the outside might be browned too much.
05:34So finishing these by baking is the way to go.
05:37And after about 15 minutes,
05:38we will pull those out,
05:40and we'll flip them over,
05:41to make sure they're nicely browned on the other side.
05:44Oh, and you know the rule.
05:45Anytime we pull a pan out of the oven that has a handle,
05:48we drape a towel over it,
05:49so everybody knows,
05:50and nobody gets burned.
05:52And then what we'll do is turn the flame back on to medium,
05:55just because I want to give that first side a little extra browning.
05:58So I guess that's optional,
06:00but I do enjoy a nicely brown French toast,
06:02that's a little bit crispy on the edges.
06:05And that's it.
06:06Once that's browned to our liking,
06:07and looking beautiful,
06:09we'll go ahead and serve up,
06:11and we'll ladle over our sweet and sour,
06:13spicy maple syrup,
06:14and I was really leaning in,
06:16to the sweet and savory mashup here.
06:18But if you wanted to go full savory,
06:20you could just finish with some more sour cream,
06:22or creme fraiche, of course.
06:24And then we'll finish up,
06:26with a garnish of freshly sliced green onions,
06:29because loaded baked potato.
06:31And that, my friends,
06:32to me,
06:33could not look more inviting.
06:35Although, you know what?
06:36I'm going to take that back,
06:37because when I cut in and show you the inside,
06:40it will actually look more inviting.
06:42I mean, come on,
06:43check that out.
06:45And yes, it tasted as good as it looked.
06:47And as I took this first bite,
06:49I was stunned at just how well all these flavors went together,
06:52which really does make perfect sense if you think about it.
06:55And notwithstanding our spicy, sweet, and sour maple syrup,
06:59what this reminded me of was eating pierogi,
07:02which are those Polish cheese and potato-filled dumplings,
07:05often served with bacon and onions,
07:07and sometimes a sweet fruit-based sauce.
07:10So if you're a fan of those,
07:12this is a must-make.
07:13So to summarize,
07:14when I came up with this idea,
07:16I assumed it would work and be very delicious.
07:19But it really did far exceed my wildest expectations.
07:23So I'm officially deeming this mashup a complete success.
07:28Oh, and because Michelle wasn't around,
07:30and I had a second portion to play with,
07:32I tried an alternative presentation,
07:34where it's cut into quarters,
07:36and served like this.
07:37You know, just like they cut the sandwiches at the country club,
07:41which might make for a little fancier presentation,
07:43for your next special occasion brunch.
07:46But no matter how you present it,
07:48this was one of the most enjoyable things I've eaten in a long time,
07:51and I really do hope you give it a try soon.
07:55So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts,
07:58a printable written recipe,
08:00and much more info as usual.
08:02And as always,
08:05enjoy!
08:07Enjoy!
08:08Enjoy!
08:16Enjoy!