Pancake Coated French Toast

In case you haven't noticed, I love to start my weekends off deliciously with a scrumptious (usually carb-o-rific) breakfast.  I love experimenting with my breakfasts and trying new things each week.  The only thing I don't love about it is deciding what to make.  I have too many choices.  Pancakes, waffles, French toast, scones, muffins...how does a girl decide?

Fortunately, many moons ago I read an post on Tasty Kitchen about French toast made by dipping bread into pancake batter.  I saved that little gem, knowing that it was perfect for someone indecisive like me.  While I usually make pretty boring French toast when I have some sandwich bread I need to get rid of, I found myself last weekend with some leftover French bread I needed to use.  And I decided to make a more adventurous French toast.  Then I remembered this fantastic combination of French toast and pancakes.  Two of my favorites in one fantastic meal!  I knew this was going to be great!

And, of course, it was great.  This is my own version of the original recipe I had saved.  I got up Sunday morning excited to make this pancake covered French toast.  I busted out my giant binder of internet recipes, flipped to my French toast section (yes, I have a French toast section), and could not for the life of me find what I was looking for.  It was a bummer.

But I would not be stopped.  My tummy was rumbling and it would not be satisfied until I had pancake coated French toast!  I pulled myself up by my bootstraps and carried on.  After all, we are talking about bread dipped in pancake batter.  How hard could it be?  

So I quickly whipped up a batch of my standard pancake batter.  I just prepared it in a pie plate instead of a bowl.  As usual, I used whole wheat flour and applesauce instead of oil.  And I dipped the bread in said batter.  Because the batter was thicker than normal, I just put a piece of toast in the pie plate and spooned some batter on top to make sure it was well coated.  Then I put it on a hot skillet and cooked and flipped as usual.  Easy! 

I had high hopes for this breakfast Frankenstein, but it far exceeded my expectations.  This is amazing!  This is quite possibly my new favorite breakfast.  Each piece was nice and thick, like the world's fluffiest pancake.  And I love a fluffy pancake.  I also loved that the outside pancake part was a different texture than the soft inside.  It almost reminded me of a doughnut with its crispy exterior and fluffy interior.  I just can't stress enough how awesome these were.  I'm sad that they're all gone!

So next time you find yourself making the dough decision between French toast and pancakes, make your life a lot easier and just have both.  You'll be glad you did!

Pancake Coated French Toast
Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 cup skim milk
2 Tbsp unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice
8 slices French bread, cut about 1-inch thick
Directions:
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
In a pie plate or shallow dish, beat eggs, milk, and applesauce.  Add flour mixture and stir together just until combined.
Dip bread into pancake batter.  Coat both sides.  Place on preheated skillet.  Bake a few minutes until bottom side is golden brown.  Flip and cook other side.
Serve warm!

Serves 4.