How to Make A Fried Egg in Toast
What's in a Name?
When we first were married, my husband taught me how to make this very basic dish of an egg cooked in the hole cut out of bread. It was one of his favorites, and he called it "Toad in the Hole". After a little research, I found that there is also a British dish called Toad in the Hole which actually contains sausages and Yorkshire pudding. Some people call this dish "Egg in the Basket" which seems to be another common name, but there seems to be a variety of names for this simple dish. Basically, this is a nice way to vary a common breakfast of fried eggs and toast and present it in a different way.
How to Make Toad in the Hole/Egg in a Basket
This has to be one of the easiest dishes to make! All you need is bread, butter, eggs, a knife and a skillet. It is best to use cooking spray or oil to grease the pan. When I make Egg in a Basket this is what I use:
2 eggs
2 slices of bread
butter to taste
cooking spray
Heat a skillet. Butter the bread. Cut a hole out of the center of the bread with a knife or cookie cutter. Place the buttered bread slices and cut-out pieces in the pan. Crack egg and pour egg into hole in slice of bread. Fry 1-3 minutes until desired consistency, flip and fry another minute or two depending on preference. You are done! You can of course repeat the process for more servings or do 4 eggs and bread slices at a time if your pan is large enough.
What do you call a fried egg in bread?
Try a Little Creativity
On Valentine's Day, I got the inspiration to try to cut out the bread slices in the shapes of hearts to be a little romantic. When the bread was flipped, the fried egg in the center had the shape of a heart. The cut out pieces also were hearts. It is a very simple way to add an extra touch of thoughtfulness to Valentine's Day!
On my husband's 40th birthday breakfast, I decided to try cutting the bread in the shape of the letters 4 and 0. I thought this added a little bit of fun to this basic dish. I figured you can never make too much effort to spice up that 40th birthday!
I just free-handed the cut-outs but you could use a cookie cutter for more precision. The possibilities for thematic Toad in the Hole are limitless!
Just a note, be sure to turn the pieces of bread such that the letters/numbers/shapes will be in the right direction after frying! I have had to do some creative retouching of some of my Toad in the Hole projects due to letters/numbers being reversed incorrectly!
