French Friday’s with Dorie
Baked up like breakfast
Dorie says it is dessert
Editor mistake?
Why should I argue?
So what if it can be both?
(I’ll vote for breakfast.)
So is this dish French?
It does have their toast in it.
the French know their toast!
Coupétade
(Full recipe from “Around My French Table” can be found here.)
Its one of those things that was good but now that I know what it is all about I’d do it all differently. Like high school. This recipe (which can be found at this link) seemed good on paper if not terribly special. I figured it would be a good enough place to start seeing as I had no experience with any baked french toast dishes before. (Despite this recipe being found in the dessert section I never once considered it that. I resisted any experimentation (orange zest? a splash of cognac? something?) opting instead to play it straight. (I used apricots, cherries, and a throw of pistachios.)
I’ve made plenty of bread puddings but the extra step of cooking the challah into french toast before baking changed it up unexpectedly so the tops of the slices cooked a lot differently than I had expected. (I used the same sesame loaf challah from the local bakery that was the perfect base for my Stuff on Toast last week. Well not the same loaf but one exactly like it.) I overlapped the slices in the dish for no other reason that I wanted to use it all. The exposed parts of the slices were a bit darker, more chewy, and probably a lot more carmel-y than coupétades are supposed to be — but it tasted quite good anyway.
It tasted like breakfast. But then why shouldn’t it, it was.
ya know, I was thinking hazelnuts or something would be nice with it. Love your addition of pistachios! 🙂
Yep that extra step of frying the bread really brought it up a notch for me too. Loved this!
Call it what you will
Toast by any other name
Is still for breakfast
Dessert? I don’t think
that was correct course for this.
Breakfast, I agree.
The French love their toast
I like to eat a good meal.
Here, the two cross paths.
Toast is for breakfast
Plain toast it could not be.
Make the coupetade.
First pan fried then baked…
French toast no matter the name
Will always be sweet
Amazeballs.
For me, this recipe was too much effort for baked French toast (the whole point of baked custard-based dishes is that you throw them together the night before and bake them off in the morning). And it didn’t match up as a bread pudding. Still, it offered an interesting way to use up some extra brioche.
Loved reading this while eating my hard boiled egg whites this morning. I’m going to have one of your bourbon cocktails now to brighten my mood. Yep, that should do it. Looks wonderful. May have to try this for Father’s Day brunch. Lovely photo.
I think your shingle arrangement was perfect. Yeah, this wouldn’t have passed as dessert in my house, either. Beautiful food styling!
I think pre cooking the bread did not allow it to turn into a pudding. The ratio of bread to custard was too great and it made it breakfast not dessert. My theory?
I have a mountain of brioche in the freezer, problem solved!
LOL – I wish I’d done high school differently but there’s no way I’m going back. Love the contrast between the toasty top parts and the custardy lower half of your coupetade. A splash of booze would be good!
I had to chuckle
at your high school reference,
rebooting one’s youth.
So much easier
to reboot a recipe,
whatever the meal.
I love french toast and I love bread pudding, so I had high hopes for this one. But I actually thought that the french toast crust prevented the custard from soaking fully into the bread pudding. Seemed like a good idea in theory, but I didn’t love it.
Trevor, If I could go back…I’d do HS differently : )
I agree…this just seemed like more of a brunch/breakfast dish to me. The texture was different because of pre cooking the bread…my bread seemed custardy. So delicious! I served it as a dessert the first night, my husband was very happy with it! Yours looks perfectly lovely with the sprinkling of powdered sugar over it…breakfast or dessert! Great photos!
I glanced at your opening photo, Trevor, and it had New Orleans written all over it. If Galatoire’s served Sunday brunch, your Coupétade would be on the menu. Probably is on the menu at Commander’s Palace. This seemed very French to me, right from the gitgo. Like you, this recipe is all about breakfast (a little difficult to get it all put together in the early AM) but especially brunch. Warm. With syrup (love real Maple syrup). Your idea about a bit of a crunch is a good one. Yes, I’d do a few things differently (in high school as well as in this recipe) also but, like many of Dorie’s recipes, I learned something through making it.
High school is best erased for me. On the other hand, I enjoyed this recipe. Pistachios sound like a decadent twist. Next time, you need to add a splash of liqueur.
Trevor, such a fabulous serving dish – I am sure that it must be Le Creuset – and although I made those mini version, I also really enjoy the way the Coupétade looks when it is served the way you did it – maple syrup and some fresh pistachios are a nice touch! Fabulous photography!
French Toast or Bread Pudd…
It is all the same to me.
But you, friend are why I see…
XOGREG
Shoot. Let me re-do (rree–ddoo) that:
French toast or bread pudd…
It is all the same to me.
But you friend, know why…
XXOOGGRREEGG
I agree with the others- that photo was stunning and for anyone who loves breakfast (others I do not know….) you had many a mouth watering. Wish I had thought to offer this with syrup- duh. After adding all the sugar to cook with and then the dusted sugar on top, I was just not thinking of more sweetness but it would have been FAB. We will be enjoying that on it next time. And I did what you did a la layering. Agreed the suntanned crispy parts added a nice balance…..
Well hello Trevor, nice to meet you doll. Adore your site design and am swooning over the fonts… Looks like we have some friends in common, bet we will meet soon.
I must have misunderstood how the bread was supposed to be put in the pan. I put mine in flat in a couple of layers. I did love the flavors in this and yes the top layer of mine was chewy, too.
I really like the caramelized look. I thought for a second that you had added chocolate! I agree, this was good but I’d do it differently next time. (I totally missed that Dorie recommends using home made brioche. Thanks for pointing it out. I’m so glad there are people who read more carefully than I do.)
Looks very good to me- another FFWD dish I haven’t made yet-they are starting to get backed up;-)