Lemon Ricotta French Toast

Fluffy brioche, filled with lemon ricotta, soaked in custard and cooked until golden brown, this lemon ricotta french toast is the perfect brunch dish.

What is the trick to making the best french toast?

There’s a few keys to making great french toast including the right kind of bread, ideally a fluffy unsliced brioche. Additionally the custard egg bath needs to have enough milk so that the toast doesn’t taste like scrambled eggs. The bread should be well soaked but with fluffy bread it can’t sit forever in the custard or it will start to fall apart. I prefer french toast cooked in butter for the best crisp and flavor.

What is the best bread to use for french toast?

I love using any sort of fluffy brioche bread for french toast. Usually I recommend a challah bread but when stuffing french toast I find it’s better to use a taller sandwich loaf so there is more room for the filling. Whole Foods has a great brioche loaf in their bakery section.

Does ricotta need to be blended first?

No. I usually blend ricotta first just to ensure a smoother texture but some ricotta can become quite liquidy when blended so unless you know yours will stay thick, I recommend not blending it and just mixing it with the other filling ingredients.

Tips for making Lemon Ricotta French Toast

• While fresh bread will always be delicious, the magic of french toast is that you can use day old or even two day old bread.
• For the filling, be sure to use whole milk ricotta.
• Cut the slices of bread nice and thick but when cutting the slit be sure not to cut through the other three sides.
• Don’t skimp on the filling, you want quite a bit of it in the bread because it will somewhat melt into the bread as it cooks.
• Be careful not to soak the bread for too long or it will fall apart before making it into the pan.
• Keep the pan heat relatively low. Because the slices are actually sandwiches and therefore quite thick, they take a little longer to cook than normal. If the heat is too high, the bread will burn before the inside is cooked through.
• Stuffed french toast will always taste best day of but it actually reheats well if stored in an airtight container in the fridge!
• Ideally top it with a dusting of powdered sugar and if you feel like it, a berry compote or more lemon ricotta.

Additional Breakfast Recipes to try!

• Raspberry Almond Coffee Cake
• Dutch Baby
• Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread

Lemon Ricotta French Toast Ingredients

• Brioche Loaf Bread: I love using brioche bread for french toast and recommend using a taller sandwich loaf style to get the most filling to bread ratio.
• Ricotta: Whole Milk Ricotta is best for the filling of french toast, only blend it if you know for sure that it won’t become overly runny.
• Granulated White Sugar: I use just a couple of tablespoons of sugar for the filling.
• Vanilla Extract: Vanilla adds flavor and enhances the flavor of the filling and the egg custard.
• Lemon Zest: The zest of one lemon added into the filling brightens the ricotta creaminess.
• Eggs: I use one standard large egg per two stuffed french toasts.
• Milk: Any milk will work to whisk with the egg but I usually use 2% cows milk.
• Butter: I prefer salted butter for cooking the french toast but again any butter will work

How to make a Stuffed French Toast?

Lemon Ricotta Filling

• To make the ricotta filling, you can either blend it or not. I like to blend it but it’s not really necessary since it will be melting and a lot of ricotta when blended becomes quite liquidy. So unless you’re really worried about the texture, don’t bother blending it. Only blend it if you know for sure that it won’t become overly runny.
• Add the ricotta into a bowl along with the zest of one lemon, 25 grams of granulated sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. 

Assemble

• Slice the brioche loaf into 2″ thick slices.
• Use the knife to cut a slit in the bottom of each slice that creates a pocket inside of the bread.
• Basically you want to cut the slice into two but don’t cut through the two sides and top of the slice.
•  Fill each slice with the ricotta mixture and kind of massage it into the slice so that it gets every where and doesn’t run out. Place all of the slices on a parchment lined baking sheet and place them in the freezer.

Cook

• In a baking dish, whisk together 4 eggs with 4 big splashes of milk and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. 
• Heat a cast iron skillet (any pan will work but cast iron will give the best crisp), over medium low heat with a decent amount of butter – it kind of depends on how big your pan is but basically you want a bubbling coating of butter in the pan but it doesn’t need to be even 1/8″ thick in the pan.
• While the pan heats up and the butter melts, soak both sides of the first three slices of stuffed french toast from the freezer in the custard mixture.
• Place the soaked slices in the warm pan. They should sizzle slightly when you put them in, if they don’t increase the heat slightly, if the are wildly sizzling, turn the heat down. Let them cook until golden brown and then flip to cook the second side. 
• Cook again until golden brown. Keep them warm on a baking sheet in the oven set to 200 F. Then repeat with the remaining slices. 
• Ideally dust the slices with powdered sugar or top with cooked down raspberries and blackberries.

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