Improved Sous Vide French Toast

[ChefRobb]

Hello everyone,

I would like to share my recent experiment with Sous Vide French Toast.

I began by making a pear and black walnut bread. I cut it into thick (Texas toast) sized slices and left them on a rack in my oven overnight. This did not entirely dry them out but I went ahead with it anyway.

I made a standard FT custard recipe and poured in into a sandwich sized plastic container. I then placed that into the marinade conatiner that goes with my Foodsaver vac. After placing a piece of toast in the custard base I placed a small glass condiment bowl (monkey dish) on top of the bread to keep it submerged. I ran the Foodsaver in marinade mode and released the pressure. This did a great job of impregnating the custard into the bread. I then put the bread in a ziplock and used the displacement method to remove the air and seal it. I cooked it in a water bath for 40 minutes @ 60 degrees C (140F), then pan fried it in butter until browned.

This method produced superior results to others that I have read online. The bread was not smooshed from traditional vac sealing, the inside had custard all the way into the middle in less time, and was perfectly cooked to the doneness I like, the end result was fantastic. I believe not drying the bread completely was also advantagous because it was much easier to handle after being impregnated with the custard. And, by cooking it Sous Vide I am able to keep prepared French Toast in my refridgerator ready for use, only needing to brown and reheat in a pan for service. In a commercial kitchen I would make these ahead in mass, then finish them in a hot oven on preheated and lightly oiled sheet pans (sheet pan sauteing). You can use this method at home to prepare a lot of French Toast at once (for family or brunch). *See end of post for more info.

The only downside to this is that you need enough custard batter to completely cover the bread during vacuuming or the custard will not penetrate the bread correctly. This left me with some batter (not enough to use in vacuum but too much to just throw out). So I ended up punching out bread rounds with a biscuit cutter and making a few pieces the traditional way (soak 30 seconds then pan fry). Although I admit it was nice having a snack to eat while the rest of the pieces cooked Sous Vide.

* Sheet pan sauteing -

Place enough lightly oiled sheet pans in a cold over to accomidate the required amount of servings. Turn oven to 450 degrees F and let pans heat for 20 minutes or so. Pull the oven rack out and place French Toast slices on pans (If they are hot enough you should hear sizzling immediately. If not, let pans get hotter before adding toast.) Leave in oven for 30 seconds or so or until bottoms of toast are browned. CAREFULLY, flip toast and let sit in oven until other side is browned. Remove toast from pans and allow the sheet pans to remain in the oven until they have cooled off. If you remove them and run cold water over them they will warp.

This method works well because it not only browns the toast but the heat of the oven will warm the inside of the toast. It is important to get the sheetpans warm enough that browning occurs quickly so that you are not cooking (over-cooking) the inside.

[rotuts]

how clever!

[Twyst]

What is the difference in the end product between traditional FT and sous vide FT? Do you get different textures or a better end product?

[ChefRobb]

The difference is that the bread did not get soggy or fall apart during handling, they did not droop in the middle as they sometimes do, the custard pentrated all the way into the bread without the outsides getting oversaturated, and the custard was cooked to the consistancy I like.

I have made equally good FT the traditional way but there are always variables (how dry the bread gets, how well the batter absorbs without becoming soggy, differences in cooking times to get the custard cooked and not under/over cooked). Removing those variables and getting consistant results is always a good thing IMO.

And I also like that I can make them ahead and just pull them from the fridge, sautee them and enjoy.

My wife also enjoys it because I can cook them all at once instead of one or two at a time so I can actually sit down and eat with her (a luxury I don't always get when making FT or pancakes).