Portuguese Sweet Bread French Toast

There is a wonderful kind of sweet yeast bread available here- massa sovada. It's a round, sweet, eggy and fluffy loaf, similar to King's Hawaiian Bread you can buy in the States. (Actually, King's Hawaiian bread was inspired by Portuguese sweet bread.)

One of the first things we bought when we arrived here last year was a loaf of massa sovada. We had it toasted and buttered for breakfast. That was some good stuff! Once, when talking to a Portuguese friend, I said "I just love massa sovada- I bet it makes great French toast!" He just laughed like I was joking, and said "You're so funny!"- after all, this was Portuguese bread, not French! He thought I was trying to make a joke. Sometimes, the language barrier makes joking difficult. :) I tried to explain what I meant, but it was too late- he was too busy laughing at the idea of "french" toast. (The whole thing was pretty funny).

I've made french toast out of this wonderful bread many times, but finally took pictures this morning when we had it again. The texture of the bread makes it wonderful for french toast. I bought a loaf last night, so that by this morning, it was a tiny bit dry- perfect!

I just prepared this french toast like normal, run-of-the-mill french toast, and I estimated on things, so bear with me. We had it with yummy Vermont maple syrup, and local butter.

Portuguese Sweet Bread French Toast
by What a Dish!

1 round loaf (roughly 1 pound) Portuguese sweet bread or Hawaiian bread, cut into slices

4-6 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla sugar
vanilla extract, to taste
almond extract, to taste, optional

dash cinnamon

butter or cooking spray, for greasing griddle

Butter and powdered sugar, or syrup, for serving

1.  Preheat a large skillet, or counter-top griddle to medium-high heat and spread with butter, or spray with cooking spray. In a large, shallow bowl, beat the eggs, milk, vanilla sugar, and cinnamon together. Dip the slices of bread into the egg mixture, wetting both sides, and places on skillet or griddle. Cook on one side a few minutes, until browned enough, and flip and cook the other side. Serve with butter and powdered sugar, or syrup.

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