Baked in Birmingham

I Ain’t No Challah Back Girl…Oh Wait, Yes I Am.

(Ode to Gwen Stefani…)

Last week I had the privilege of doing a photo shoot at Big Sky Bread Co. here in Birmingham for the magazine. We’re doing a feature on them in June/July 09 issue, and it’s going to be fantastic. Patti and Jeff, the owners, and Elaine, their PR gal, were so awesome in every way, and I loved hanging out with them for a couple days. Their company is such a great asset to the Magic City, and I know that they will only continue to grow and become more successful. Even in tough times like these, it’s not just the amazing bread, cookies, granola, and muffins that keep their customers coming back for more, more, more, it’s also the Southern hospitality that’s baked into every loaf. That’s what it’s all about!

Anyway, I digress, what I really want to share with you is their amazing challah bread (pronounced “HA-llah,” with a bit of a flemmy throat at the beginning). They gifted me with a loaf, that I very eagerly and gratefully accepted, that they had just baked  that morning, and I knew from the moment it was in my hands that it was destined to become warm, gooey French toast the next morning.  I don’t want to brag, but I make GREAT French toast. Here’s how:

Some thick slices of Big Sky challah bread (only baked on Fridays by the way)

A couple cups of milk

5 eggs

tablespoon of pure vanilla extract (maybe a bit less…just eyeball it)

good heapin’ amount in cinnamon

Get your cast iron skillet really hot (on medium, but just let it sit and get completely to temperature), and totally dunk the challah bread in the mixture. Slap it down in the skillet (don’t gingerly lay it down…you won’t get that good crusty-type stuff around the edges). From there, just fry it till you see fit. Cover it in syrup and DO NOT forget the powdered sugar (I almost did!).