Family Breakfast: French Toast made with Sourdough Buttermilk Cinnamon Brioche

My 6 year old son loves to have family breakfast, and I try to do it at least twice a month.  Most of the time I make waffles or pancakes because those are my son's favorites but every once in awhile I will change it up.  I LOVE good French toast, and when I say "good," I mean it has to be GOOD.  I am very picky when it comes to French Toast.  It has to be made with the right kind of bread, it has to be thick and chewy, not soggy, and it can't be dry.   I make my French toast with homemade brioche (or sometimes I splurge and get the cinnamon burst loaf from Great Harvest).  Today I decided to experiment and made a sourdough buttermilk cinnamon brioche.  It was AH-MAZING!  So here's the recipe!  

Sourdough Buttermilk Cinnamon Brioche

This recipe makes one loaf but you can easily double it to make two.

• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup FED sourdough starter
• 1/2 stick butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, loose (not packed)
• 1/2 tbsp. cinnamon
• 3 cups bread flour
• 2 1/2 tsp. yeast

Place ingredients in your bread machine in the EXACT ORDER LISTED and set to dough cycle.  Once the bread machine has finished (mine takes 1 hour and 30 minutes) preheat your oven to 350 and grease a loaf pan generously with butter.   Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and form into a ball.  Using the heel of your hand, press the dough ball into a rectangle and roll up tightly to prevent air bubble from forming.  Tuck in ends to form a loaf shape.  Place in your loaf pan and cover with a clean kitchen towel.  Allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.  Once doubled in size, bake 45 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 191-210 degrees and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.  Remove the loaf immediately from the loaf pan and brush melted  butter over the top (this keeps the crust from hardening).  Enjoy!

French Toast

• 1 cup whole milk or buttermilk ( I LOVE Buttermilk)
• 1/2 cup cream
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 tbsp. melted butter
• 1 tbsp. vanilla
• 1 loaf good bread, sliced about 1/4 inch thick

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, place bread on a baking sheet and toast in the oven about 5 minutes on each side.  While bread is toasting, whisk together the remaining ingredients. Heat a griddle on medium high heat (or you can do this in a nonstick skillet).  Working in batches, dip the bread in the egg mixture and soak 10-20 seconds per side.  You want to get the bread nice and coated in the mixture but you don't want it to be soggy.  Place the coated bread on the griddle and cook until golden brown on one side, about 10 minutes then flip and cook on the other side until golden brown.  Remove from the griddle back onto the baking sheet and place back in the oven.