French toast

• 8 sliceswhole-grain sandwich bread · day-old, cut 3/4-inch thick
• 5 largeeggs
• 1 1/4 cupslow-fat cottage cheese · blended smooth, not spooned in
• 1/2 cupwhole milk
• 1 tbspmaple syrup · in the custard, not on top
• 2 tspvanilla extract
• 1 tspground cinnamon
• 1/4 tspkosher salt
• 1 1/2 tbspunsalted butter · divided across two batches
• 1 cupblueberries or raspberries · to serve
• 1/2 cupplain Greek yogurt · to serve, optional

Method

1. 1

   Blend the cottage cheese into the custard, do not stir it

   Thirty seconds in a blender or a hard minute with an immersion blender turns the cottage cheese into a smooth base you cannot detect. Stirred in by hand it stays as curds, and those curds sit on the surface of the bread and scorch before the inside sets. The blender is the difference between 24g of protein you cannot taste and a breakfast that looks curdled.

2. 2

   Use day-old bread, and cut it thick

   Fresh bread is already saturated with its own moisture and has nowhere to put the custard, so it collapses. Stale bread is thirsty. If your loaf is fresh, lay the slices on a rack in a 300F oven for eight minutes and let them cool, which dries them out without toasting. Three quarters of an inch is the right thickness. Thin sandwich slices cannot hold enough custard to be worth the protein.

3. 3

   Thirty seconds a side, not a soak

   This is the mistake that produces soggy French toast, and almost everyone makes it. Dip, count to thirty, flip, count to thirty, lift and let the excess run off for a second before it goes in the pan. The custard should penetrate about a quarter inch from each side and leave a dry-ish core that cooks into something between bread and pudding. Bread left to sit in the dish for five minutes never recovers.

4. 4

   Medium heat, and give it four minutes a side

   High heat browns the outside in ninety seconds while the custard inside is still liquid, which is why so much French toast is simultaneously burnt and raw. Medium, a full four minutes on the first side, three to four on the second. You are cooking egg custard, and egg custard needs time. If the butter is browning fast and hissing, the pan is too hot.

5. 5

   Two batches, and fresh butter for each

   Four slices at a time in a 12-inch skillet, with space between them. Crowded slices steam each other and go pale and damp. Wipe the pan between batches, because the milk solids left from the first batch are already dark and will taste burnt on the second, and add the other half of the butter. Hold batch one on a rack in a 200F oven, never on a plate, where the underside sweats.

6. 6

   The sugar goes in the custard, not on the plate

   One tablespoon of maple in the whole batch is about three grams of added sugar a serving, and because it is inside the bread you register it as sweetness throughout rather than as a syrup layer on top. Then finish with berries and a spoon of plain Greek yogurt. Most French toast carries twenty-five to forty grams of added sugar a serving once the syrup goes on, and it does not taste better for it.

7. 7

   Salt the custard, or it tastes flat

   A quarter teaspoon across five eggs is not enough to taste as salt, and it is exactly what makes the cinnamon and vanilla read as flavour rather than as a vague sweetness. Unsalted egg custard is the reason a lot of home French toast tastes like nothing until syrup is applied. Salt and a real pinch of cinnamon do more for this recipe than any amount of syrup.

8. 8

   It freezes properly, which makes this a weekday breakfast

   Cool the cooked slices completely on a rack, freeze them flat on a tray for an hour, then bag them. From frozen they go straight into a toaster or a 375F oven for eight minutes and come back crisp, which is more than can be said for most reheated breakfasts. Double the batch on Sunday and the weekday version takes eight unattended minutes and no washing up.