Challah French Toast with Fresh Berry Sauce

Love love French toast and yet I never make it. Not sure why. Until now that is. It was a big big hit even with my picky younger daughter. 

Recipe adapted from Gourmet 2001 and Epicurious.

Ingredients:

1 load of challah bread sliced into 1/2 inch slices, ends disguarded 
3 large eggs
1 cup of milk ( I used 1 %)
1 tablespoon brown sugar or 1 teaspoon white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
about a half a stick of butter
Garnish: confection sugar for dusting --I did not have so I omitted it.

For Berry Sauce:
2-3 cups of berries fresh or frozen
Sugar to taste

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whist together eggs, milk, sugar and salt.  Pour into a large baking pan. Soak for 4 minutes, flip over and soak for another 4 minutes.

In the meantime, wash berries, and them to a pan and simmer. You want the berries to be soft and dissolve into a thick sauce. Add sugar to taste. I mashed a bit with a potato masher as well. If you want your sauce smooth, you can puree it but I did not bother.

Once your challah is soaked, you are ready to cook it. Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter into a heavy skillet over high heat until foam subsides. Cook 4 soaked slices at a time till golden brown, about a minute per side, might be a bit longer for the first batch and shorted for next batches. Add more butter as needed for each batch. Transfer to a clean shallow baking pan with a clean spatula. Bake in the oven for about 5 minutes till center cooked through.

Serve with berry sauce. I also added fresh berries. If you have confection sugar, dust all over. I did not have it so I omitted that.