French Toast with Orange Yogurt from ‘NOPI’

Every week, Yahoo Food spotlights a cookbook that stands out from all the rest. This week’s cookbook is NOPI: The Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully (Ten Speed Press). Read more about Yahoo Food’s Cookbook of the Week here.

Photograph by Jonathan Lovekin

By Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully

French Toast with Orange Yogurt
Serves 6

Having sold the Super French Toast that appeared in Yotam’s Plenty More as pretty much the definitive word on the matter, we momentarily questioned the inclusion of another French toast recipe here. It’s such a brunch favorite of our NOPI regulars, though, that we weren’t allowed to leave it out.

For the orange yogurt:
? cup Greek yogurt
finely grated zest of ? orange
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar

For the mixed berries:
10 1/2 ounces mixed frozen berries
1/3 cup superfine sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Star anise sugar
8 whole star anise, blitzed in a spice grinder into a fine powder
¼ cup superfine sugar

For the French toast:
5 eggs
¾ cup whole milk
14 ounces brioche loaf, ends trimmed, cut into six (1 1/4-inch) slices
1/3 cup unsalted butter, fridge-cold, cut into ¾-inch dice

Fold together all the ingredients for the orange yogurt in a small mixing bowl and keep in the fridge, covered, until required.

Place the berries in a medium saucepan with the sugar and lemon juice. Place over high heat and cook for 6 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the sugar has dissolved and the compote is shiny and thick. Remove from the heat and set aside for an hour to come to room temperature; the compote will thicken slightly.

Mix together the star anise and sugar, then spread out on a small plate—ready for the toast to get dusted—and set aside.

Place the eggs in a medium bowl and whisk well, until pale, light, and fluffy. Continue to whisk as you slowly pour in the milk, then transfer to a dish that is large enough to fit the 6 slices of brioche in a single layer—use two dishes if you need to. Add the brioche slices and set aside for 5 minutes, turning them once or twice. It will seem like a lot of liquid for the bread to absorb, but it will do; just be careful when you are turning it, as it gets very soft.

Preheat the oven to 465°F/240°C (425°F/220°C convection).

Place a large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat with 4 teaspoons of butter. When the butter starts to foam, lay 3 pieces of brioche in the pan and fry for 1 to 2 minutes. Flip the slices over, add 4 teaspoons more butter to the pan, and continue to fry for another 1 1/2 minutes, until golden. Remove the slices from the pan and set aside on a baking sheet while you wipe the pan with some paper towels and repeat with the remaining brioche and butter. Once all the brioche is on the baking sheet, transfer to the oven and bake for a final 4 minutes, until the toast has puffed up and is golden brown. Remove from the oven and dip each slice in the star anise sugar one at a time, flipping so that both sides get coated.

Serve at once, with the berry compote alongside and the orange yogurt spooned on top.

Reprinted with permission from NOPI: The Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully (Ten Speed Press).

NOPI: The Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully. (Photo:Jonathan Lovekin)

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