Fried bread in a frying pan or, in other words, croutons is a great quick breakfast. This dish can be prepared either simply with salt or sugar, or with the addition of various seasonings or other more satisfying ingredients.
Not every housewife has a lot of time in the morning to cook too complicated breakfasts for herself and her family, so the only salvation for them are “quick” culinary recipes for all kinds of dishes that are prepared in just 5-10 minutes. So fried bread with milk and eggs is just such a dish.
Bread with milk and eggs in a pan: the nuances of cooking
It would seem that it is difficult to prepare croutons: I cut white bread, dipped the pieces in a milk-egg mixture and fried in a skillet with vegetable oil added to it. But in fact, in order for the food to turn out delicious, not to fall apart during frying and not burn, you must follow several rules:
- to prepare croutons, use slightly stale bread. The fact is that a fresh bakery product very quickly absorbs milk, it is very problematic to fry a loaf that is too saturated with a dairy product, since it falls apart when heated;
- so that the croutons are well baked and not burnt, it is best to fry them in a thick-bottomed pan, for example, a cast-iron pan. If such kitchen utensils are not available, then in this case you can use an ordinary frying pan with a non-stick coating, but the croutons themselves should be made thinner - up to one centimeter;
- fry the dish only on well-heated dishes. If you neglect this rule, then when laying out the croutons, the composition in which the croutons were dipped will spread over the pan.
Bread in milk with an egg in a pan: a classic recipe
Classic croutons with milk and eggs are the easiest croutons to prepare, because loaves are prepared only with the addition of salt, without sugar. The amount of this seasoning may vary depending on taste, but it is still advisable to use no more than ¼ teaspoon of salt per 100 ml of milk and two eggs.
Ingredients:
- loaf (it is better to take a product that has lain for a day or two);
- two eggs;
- 100 ml of fat milk;
- a pinch of salt;
- vegetable oil for frying.
Step-by-step cooking recipe:
Cut the loaf into one centimeter thick slices. Break eggs into a bowl, pour in milk, add salt and shake everything. Whipping too hard is unnecessary, the formation of foam in the composition is not necessary, you just need to dissolve the salt.
Put the pan on fire, add a little vegetable oil to it and heat it. Take one piece of loaf, dip it on all sides in the egg and milk mixture and place it in a hot skillet. Do the same for the remaining sliced bread.
Fry the croutons on both sides until golden brown. Cover the pan with a lid during frying so that the egg and milk mixture soaked in the bread is completely baked.
Important: the final calorie content of the dishes depends on the amount of oil used. For example, if you cook croutons without oil at all, then the dish will turn out to be more dietary - about 220-230 calories per 100 grams of product, if with butter - from 300 kcal and more.
Sweet bread in milk with egg and sugar in a pan
Children like this version of croutons very much. Although the dish is not healthy, but still occasionally you can treat little family members with this dish. The only thing to consider is that it is better to cook croutons for children in a dry frying pan with a non-stick coating, the dish will turn out to be no less successful and more useful.
Ingredients:
- 5-6 pieces of mustard loaf;
- a tablespoon of sugar;
- two eggs;
- 30 ml of vegetable oil;
- 100 ml of milk;
- a pinch of cinnamon - optional.
Step-by-step cooking recipe:
Lightly dry the portioned pieces of bread in the oven (to prevent them from getting soaked in the process of rolling in the egg and milk mass). In a wide bowl, combine the cold milk and eggs until smooth (the food must be cold so that the sugar does not dissolve longer). Once the ingredients are mixed, add sugar and cinnamon to the mixture, stir quickly and start cooking right away.
Pour butter into a hot frying pan, roll the bread in the milk and egg mass and fry the croutons over high heat for two minutes on each side.
Before serving, you can additionally sprinkle the dessert with sugar or sweet powder, pour with honey, condensed milk or jam, but this is not necessary, because the dessert is very tasty without them.
Tip: if the dish is prepared for children, then you can first cut out various figures from the bread using cuttings for cookies / gingerbread and use them as a basis for frying.
Bread with milk, egg and cheese in a pan
These croutons can be substituted for breakfast sandwiches. In addition, you can take the food with you to work or put your children in a briefcase for a snack between lessons. The food is equally tasty both hot and cold.
Depending on your preferences, the cheese in the recipe can be replaced with other products, for example, tomatoes, cut into thin slices, or ham.
Ingredients for four servings:
- four eggs;
- eight slices of toast bread;
- two tablespoons of vegetable oil;
- 80 grams of any hard cheese;
- a pinch of salt.
Step-by-step cooking recipe:
In a bowl, combine eggs with milk and salt. Saturate all slices of bread with the mixture and fry them in a hot skillet on one side until golden brown.
Cut the cheese into four equal parts (consumption - 20 grams per toast). Place four slices of bread in front of you, toasted side up, place a slice of cheese on each and cover the remaining four slices with the uncooked side on the outside.
Fry the sandwiches on both sides, be sure to press the blanks with a spatula to the pan during heat treatment (this little trick will allow the cheese inside the structures to completely melt).
Addition: for making croutons, it is better to take either a sliced loaf or toast loafs, but if such products are not available, you can simply cut a regular loaf into thin slices. The bread should be cut in advance (10-12 hours before the start of frying) so that the slices have time to dry out slightly. For example, you can cut a loaf in the evening, and in the morning start performing your culinary masterpiece.
You can fry croutons in any oil, but it should be borne in mind that a dish cooked in butter has a more interesting taste, and the bread itself turns out to be rosy and crunchy. With vegetable oil, croutons are not so tasty, but less high in calories. The fact is that when frying, vegetable oil is not so strongly absorbed into the bread, which is why the dish turns out to be less fatty.
You can add a certain taste to croutons by adding various spices and seasonings to the milk-egg mixture, for example, nutmeg, cinnamon. Or you can just use vanilla, chocolate, caramel or other milk as ordinary milk, it will give the dish a special taste and aroma.
The amount of milk in recipes can be adjusted, that is, added to your liking. Just by experimenting, remember that the more dairy product is used when making croutons, the more tender they will be. However, I would like to note that it is undesirable to use a large amount of milk when frying fresh bread, because fresh baked goods rather quickly absorb liquids, which is why the croutons can simply "crawl" during frying and turn into porridge.
