My good friend Renee got me a gorgeous cookbook for Christmas called Sarabeth’s Bakery. Have you heard of it? It’s filled with recipes for sophisticated bakery treats and I spent an entire evening drooling over all the lovely step by step photos. It was actually this book that inspired my resolution this year to become a master at whipping up fancy breads and pastries.
I was originally planning on baking the croissants first, but spontaneously decided to make the challah bread this weekend instead, mainly because I was in the mood for some French toast! I don’t have much bread baking experience (although our class at King Arthur Flour was really helpful!), but the recipe in the book was really detailed and easy to follow and my challah turned out perfectly! I was so proud. This is my favorite shot because it looks just like the one in the book – yay!
The next day I turned most of the loaf into classic French toast, but of course I couldn’t resist coming up with a fun winter twist. I topped it with a compote of pomegranate arils, dried cranberries, clementine juice, and a touch of brown sugar. I also made a lovely clementine syrup. I really think one of my favorite parts of winter is that clementines are in season. They are one of my very favorite snacks and I probably average at least three a day! I think people usually boil the juice down with sugar to make a fruit syrup, but I was feeling lazy and only had a few clementines left, so instead I just stuck a bit of zest in some maple syrup and let is seep for awhile. Then I strained it out – success, the perfect clementine syrup!
French Toast with Pomegranate Cranberry Compote and Clementine Syrup
Printable Recipe
Ingredients:
Clementine Syrup:
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
Zest of 1 clementine (1 teaspoon)
Pomegranate Cranberry Compote:
1 1/2 cups fresh pomegranate arils (from 1 large pomegranate)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Juice of 2 clementines (1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
French Toast:
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 slices challah bread (I used 14 ounces)
2 tablespoons butter
Directions:
To make the syrup, mix syrup and clementine zest in a small bowl. Allow to sit for 20 minutes, then strain the syrup to remove the zest.
To make the compote, mix pomegranate arils, cranberries, clementine juice, and brown sugar in a small saucepan and heat over medium for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid is gone.
To make the French toast, whisk milk and eggs together in a shallow dish and dip the bread slices in the egg mixture, two to three pieces at a time. Allow to soak for a few minutes, then heat ½ tablespoon butter over medium heat in a large nonstick skillet. Place soaked bread in the pan and fry until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes. Repeat with remaining bread and butter. Spoon compote over French toast and drizzle with clementine maple syrup. Makes 5 servings.
Nutrition: 478 calories, 11.2g fat, 3.0g fiber, 13.6g protein per serving
Cost: $1.57 per serving
French toast is my favorite breakfast treat. LOVE this recipe!
I’ve been dreaming of French toast all week! This looks so good. I love that you made your own challah bread.
Your challah is beautiful. I love baking bread – you’ll get bitten by the yeast bug soon enough.
Sounds like a lovely winter version of a classic brunch dish! Your challah came out great, and french toast is the perfect use for it :).
Oh I have heard of that cookbook — and I’ve wondered how it is! Glad to know that you like it. It’s certainly really beautiful!
What a gorgeous challah… and I think that the best part of baking great bread is the next-morning French Toast!
So delicious! I love the idea of Clementine Syrup with this French Toast, excellent!
I am such a fan of challah french toast – yours looks divine. The citrus syrup and addition of pomegranate seeds (which I just learned to extract recently!) totally freshen up this dish. YUM.
This looks awesome! I love the twist on a simple classic. This also might bring me back to my Challah obsession!
I just got that book too. It’s gorgeous. The challah and resulting French toast look amazing!
This French toast is dressed to kill! And that loaf looks beautiful! I’m so impressed with your skillz!
It all looks fantastic, Kerstin! I love the combination of fruit in this dish.
I adore making my own challah and brioche. It’s too bad the calorie count isn’t lower because I would love to make it all the time! It’s always funny to me to make fresh beautiful loves for french toast or bread pudding since I know those dishes were originally conceived to be smart about using leftovers, but I do the same thing as well!
GORGEOUS challah!! and love the french toast topper
MMMMMMMMMMMMMM,..what a delightful brunch recipe!
I so much love these beautifully combined flavours!
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I love French toast with Challah…love the idea of pomegranate and cranberry compote…yummie!
wonderful-looking french toast!
Challah!!!! Yum….that is the best bread to make french toast with!
Your challah bread is gorgeous, Kerstin….but to turn it into a hyped up, dollied up french toast? It’s the Marilyn Monroe of breads! 😀
Oh man! I think I am going to have to have a splurge day one day soon! This sounds delicious!
I adore clementines too, this is such a great use of them and congrats on the challah, it’s pretty!
oh my darlin’, oh my darlin’, oh my darlin’ clementine!
nice work, kerstin–challah makes the BEST french toast.
Your challah is a beautiful sight! As is the french toast – the topping is something special. It’s all sorts of delicious!
This looks delicious!
do clementines really have a good zest? never used them before.
i love the challah bread here. great combo Kerstin. want to come over sunday morning? lol
I’m obsessed with clementines. This seems like a good way to use them.
Yum! I love clementines and pomegrante seeds so this recipe is screaming my name!
Mmmm….French toast on Challah is the only way to make French toast IMO!
This would be a lovely way to start the day. Your challah is just beautiful and would be perfect for the French toast. I hope you are having a great day. Blessings…Mary
This post reminds me that I haven’t had French toast in far too long! And your braided loaf does look identical to the one in the book. Awesome job!
Your french toast looks beautiful and your challah turned out perfectly!
Thanks everyone!
Branny – Yep, I’m already trying to decide what to make next
Kelly – I think I need to make another loaf just for bread pudding!
Dawn – Yes, I’ve used it in a few recipes already and really like it!
This book is indeed glorious. And you’ve just inspired me to try this challah recipe cuz yours turned out incredible!
I am so impressed with your challah!!! It looks so beautiful! My lab has been obsessed with clementines this winter – we have them at every lab meeting now and eat them the rest of the week. I love your winter fruits in this French toast. I can’t imagine a better French toast than one made with homemade challah!
I was just gifted 10 boxes of clementines. I had planned french toast for dinner tonight. I googled and found this post! PERFECT post!