Bacon French Toast Roll Ups

1. You must use fresh bread for this recipe, not stale bread (which I normally preach for french toast recipes). The reason is that fresh bread compresses better when you flatten it with a rolling pin (stale bread springs back) and also sticks to itself a bit when you roll it up, helping to seal the seam. If you use even slightly stale bread, it is more effort to keep these rolled up (see next note). This recipe doesn't work at all with stale bread because it isn't pliable enough to roll up (the bread just flakes and falls apart).

This recipe is not suitable for artisan breads like sourdough, or hard Italian breads like ciabatta. It only works with soft sandwich bread.

2. I have made these with slightly stale bread before. As noted above, it is harder because they don't stay rolled up as well, they unravel. To get around this, I doubled the egg mixture. Before rolling up the bread, I very quickly dipped each slice of bread in the egg mixture, then rolled it up. Then after rolling it up, I dipped it in the egg mixture again, as per the recipe. The reason for the double egg dip is that it adds moisture back into the bread and makes it pliable enough to stay rolled up as well as to seal the seam.

3. This recipe requires streaky bacon because the shape of it is suitable for rolling up. Streaky bacon is the bacon which has strips of fat running through it. Middle bacon is the most common in Australia, though you can buy streaky bacon at the supermarket deli nowadays. Middle bacon consists of the loin at one end (which is also sold separately as Shortcut bacon) as well as the streaky fatty part. In America, I understand that streaky bacon is the most common.

4. The surface area of these roll ups required to be coated with egg mixture is considerably less than traditional french toast. So 1 egg should be enough for 6 roll ups. However, I buy large eggs. If you have small eggs, I recommend doubling the egg mixture.

5. Nutrition excludes Nachos Cheese Dip.