A Hall Family tradition that’s been forgotten for way too many years is an incredibly delicious food called “Loss Bread”. I have no idea where the name came from - all I know is I absolutely loved the stuff when my dad made it when I was young. I know his parents made it, and their parents made it. There might be an interesting legend in there somewhere, but all I know so far is A) it’s the best breakfast food EVER, B) it’s been in my family for generations and C) how to make it. We made it Christmas morning for the masses.
Short description: start with the concept of french toast (batter-dipped bread), but it tastes 30 million times better. Oh, and you don’t need syrup, powdered sugar, fruit or anything with it.
I don’t know if it’s a family secret or not, so I won’t post the exact recipe here. Maybe my mom or dad will comment here on whether to keep it close, but I’ll describe it some.
First of all, there are no exact measurements anyway. There’s a set list of ingredients, but in all honesty, most everything is just a guideline and you keep adding various amounts of stuff until it tastes right.
You make a batter (aka “Calf Slobber”) out of eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. You’re drooling already, I can tell.
Get a frying pan ready with some Crisco. Use a pan big enough to hold 2 or 3 pieces. Get it up to medium heat or so.
Then you take a piece of bread (Mrs. Bairds “LARGE” is best - you want it thick) and drop it in the batter for a few seconds. Be sure to get both sides. Don’t leave it in too long.
Plop that sucker in the pan and fry it up. Get it halfway or 3/4 way brown and then flip it over.
Repeat with as much bread as you can eat. Keep adding Crisco small bits at a time along the inside of the pan. Don’t use too much Crisco.
End result: it doesn’t taste like bread; it doesn’t taste like eggs; it doesn’t taste like milk. It tastes like heaven with a dash of vanilla.
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