Jam Jelly Doughnut French Toast

1. French toast is always best made with stale bread because that way, the egg mixture does not soak into the bread (which makes it soggy on the inside).

2. So the "doughnut" holds its shape and doesn't flop when you pick it up, it is best to use either thick slice sandwich bread or a block loaf you can cut into 1.5cm/0.6" slices. Also using stale bread helps keep it's shape.

3. If you don't have stale bread on hand, just pop it in the toaster and lightly toast it. That will take the moisture out and make it like it is stale bread.

4. I usually use a large tinned tomato can (empty and washed) to press rounds out of the bread. It's the perfect size for the bread I use. But the day I made this the loaf was smaller than usual so I had to cut it using a knife instead.

5. You won't use all the sugar. But if you use less it is difficult to get an even coat.

6. You need to use caster sugar which is a finely grained sugar. If you use normal sugar then the granules will be too large and won't stick to the french toast. The alternative to coating with sugar is to dust it with icing sugar. But you will need to wait until the french toast cools before doing this otherwise the icing sugar will just get absorbed.

7. You can make these ahead about 4 hours, making them perfect for entertaining. They do not keep much longer than this because they start to sweat. I tried rolling them in sugar again but it didn't stick. Dusting with icing sugar also doesn't work because the sweat just absorbs it.

8.Nutrition takes into account that though the recipe calls for 3 tbsp of sugar, only 1 1/2 tbsp (at most) actually sticks to the french toast.