♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Today on "America's Test Kitchen," we're making breakfast in cast iron.

Becky makes Julia a simple cheese quiche, Adam shares his must-have holiday-breakfast kitchen tools, Lisa shares tips on how to treat your cast-iron skillet, and Keith makes Bridget French toast casserole.

It's all coming up right here on "America's Test Kitchen."

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♪♪ -Quiche is traditionally baked in either a tart pan or a pie plate, but, today, Becky is going to use a cast-iron skillet.

-Yeah, I love cast iron.

It's going to look so homey and attractive coming to the table.

And we're just going to do a really classic simple cheese quiche with a nice buttery, crisp, and flaky crust.

-Nice and simple.

-That's it.

So let's start by making the pie dough.

-Okay.

-I'm adding 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour, a tablespoon of sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

So we'll just give that a couple of pulses to mix that together.

[ Mixer pulsing ] Now I'm adding 8 tablespoons of butter that I cut into half-inch pieces.

I'm going to process this for 30 seconds.

[ Mixer whirs ] Okay, that's what we want.

You can see the butter and the flour came together into a mass there.

And this is kind of a weird step for pie dough, right?

-It sure is.

But what we're doing is we're waterproofing some of that flour.

And that's important because flour can only form gluten when it's hydrated.

So if water can't get to this flour, we'll have less gluten, and we'll have a more tender dough.

-Right.

-Okay, so now I'm going to carefully reach in here and break this up into about two-inch pieces.

-It's almost like cookie dough.

-I know.

It's kind of fun to play with.

-[ Chuckles ] -Just break this apart.

Doesn't have to be perfect.

Now I have a final 1/2 cup of flour that I'm adding here, and I just want to pulse this four or five times.

We want the pieces to be all less than one inch, though most of them are going to be quite a bit smaller than one inch.

So let's do about four pulses.

[ Mixer pulsing ] -It's kind of like two doughs in one.

You have that cookie-like dough, and then you've broken it up and you surround it with fresh flour.

-That's right.

That fat paste is going to bake up nice and tender, and then the rest of the dough that's going to be water, flour, and butter is going to be really flaky.

So you've got, like, the best of both worlds.

-Nice, a flaky dough that's easy to roll out.

-Now I'm going to add 2 tablespoons of grated butter that I had in the freezer.

We're going to be making an all-butter dough.

We don't want it to melt on us here... -Mm-hmm.

-...so I'm just going to toss that with our other ingredients.

Now I have some ice water here.

I'm going to sprinkle over 2 tablespoons.

-Right, so those shredded pieces of butter will stay intact in the dough.

And when you roll it out, it'll make nice, fine schmears.

That's what makes the pastry flaky.

-I can taste it already.

-[ Chuckles ] So here's two more tablespoons.

And you want to use ice water here.

You want to keep that butter nice and cold.

I'm just going to start pushing this together.

It's going to be kind of a shaggy mass.

It's not going to look like your typical pie dough... -Mnh-mnh.

-...at this point.

That's okay.

Okay, so that's pretty good.

That's what we want.

I'm going to take some plastic wrap.

Alright, let's put the dough onto plastic.

Alright, so we're just going to kind of gather it together into a mass here.

-Mm, good-looking pie dough.

-Oh, it looks great.

I just want to make a nice, smooth five-inch disk here.

And it's important to let the dough rest.

You want that flour to have a chance to hydrate.

Alright, this looks great.

I'm going to put it in the fridge for at least two hours.

Alright, the dough has been out of the fridge for 10 minutes.

Yep, that's perfect.

-Mm.

Nice.

-Just want to take the chill off before we roll it.

-Yeah, it makes it easier to roll out.

-Yep.

So I'm just putting a little flour down.

We're going to roll this out so it's 12 inches.

-You look pretty good.

-Oh, thank you.

-I bet that's 12 inches.

-Alright, let's take a -- take a peek-see.

Oh, wow.

-Yep.

Yeah.

You're good.

-Alright, I'm good.

Alright, let's put this into a cast-iron skillet.

This is a 10-incher.

I lightly greased this just 'cause we don't want our dough to stick, and I'm rolling the dough over my pin here to help me get it into the pan.

Now we'll just kind of fit it in here.

You just want to ease the dough into all those corners.

-Nicely done.

-Alright, and now I'm just going to tuck this under so that any little bits are rolled under and flush with the edge of the pan here.

Okay, so now I'm going to go around again, and I'm going to flute the edges so we have a nice, pretty side.

So I'm just taking my pointer finger and my thumb, and then, with my other pointer finger, just going around the edge.

-Aww, that looks really sweet.

-Oh, that's going to be so cute.

-Mm-hmm.

-[ Chuckles ] Alright, I'm going to cover this up with plastic wrap, and we're going to pop this in the freezer for 30 minutes.

We want that butter to get nice and firm before we bake it.

So in it goes.

Alright, our pie shell was in the freezer for 30 minutes... -Mm-hmm.

-...and now we're going to blind-bake it.

That's a parbaking step that'll get it nice and crispy on the bottom.

-Right, 'cause I hate a quiche with a soggy bottom.

-No soggy bottoms allowed -- ever.

So I have a double layer of aluminum foil.

I'm just going to fit that in here.

Press it up against the sides of the pie.

Then we have some pie weights.

I'm just working that into the edges.

This is going to prevent the dough from bubbling up and puffing while it bakes.

-Great.

-So we're going to put this in a 375-degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

We want the dough to dry out and turn a pale color.

Alright, it's been 25 minutes.

Let's get our pie shell out.

So I'm going to take these pie weights out.

Would you mind turning down the oven to 350 for me?

-You bet.

-Thank you.

Alright, you can see that it's not fully cooked, but it is nice and dry, and it's a pale color, so that's exactly what we want.

-Okay.

-So now we're going to make a really classic, very simple custard filling for the quiche.

So I have 2 cups of half-and-half.

I'm adding five large eggs and just 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.

Just going to whip that up.

Alright, that looks good.

The last thing to add is a cup of shredded cheddar.

-Mmm.

-Alright, so it would be a little dicey for me to add the filling right now and then carry that liquidy pan over to the oven... -Mm-hmm.

-...so let's fill it at the oven.

If you wouldn't mind carrying this over for me... -Sure thing.

-...I'll take the pan.

Okay.

We'll bake this for 30 minutes until a paring knife that we insert comes out clean.

-Okay.

See you in a bit.

-Okay, it's been 30 minutes.

-Mmm.

-Looks good.

-Looks terrific.

Oh-ho, look at that.

-Alright, it looks great.

I just want to make absolutely sure that it's done.

So I'm going to take a paring knife and just dip it in about an inch from the edge there.

And that comes out nice and clean.

-Perfect.

-Okay, so now we'll let this cool for an hour, and then we'll come back and enjoy it.

-Yay.

-Alright, it's quiche time.

-[ Chuckling ] Alright.

-[ Chuckles ] It's been an hour.

It's been cooling.

-Mm.

So I'm just going to give it a little garnish here.

I have a tablespoon of fresh chives to go on top.

-Mmm.

Not only do they look pretty, but I love their delicate onion flavor.

-Me, too.

-Perfect with cheddar and egg.

-That said, you could use parsley.

You could also use -- tarragon would be nice on here.

-Ooh, tarragon would be lovely.

-Cut ourselves some nice wedges.

Shall we?

-It'd just be so cool if you cut the wedges and you were able to just drop this skillet right onto a table for a fun brunch.

-Oh, I know.

people would love it.

-Yeah.

Oh-ho-ho.

-Alright, for you.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-Oh, this looks good.

-It does.

-Going right for the center.

-Mm-hmm.

-Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

-Mmm.

-The quiche filling is so smooth and creamy, a little bit of cheddar flavor... -Mm-hmm.

-...but I love how simple it is.

-Me, too.

And then you've got that buttery crust.

-Yeah.

-I mean, come on.

-It is a perfect combination.

-It's tender.

It's flaky.

-Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

-Goes beautifully with this custard filling.

-Sure does.

Mmm.

That's a good quiche.

-Mm-hmm.

-Becky, thank you for showing me how to make this.

-You're welcome.

-So if you want to make quiche in a cast-iron skillet, start by parbaking the crust, use whole eggs and half-and-half in the filling, and add the filling to the pan at the oven.

From "America's Test Kitchen," a really cool recipe for cast-iron cheese quiche.

-Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

-Mm-hmm.

♪♪ For most of the year, breakfast is nothing more than a quick bite before you head out the door and start your day, but during the holidays, you have the chance to slow down and enjoy things like fresh-squeezed orange juice.

So, today, Adam's here with some pieces of equipment to help make that holiday breakfast feel special.

-Is there a better start to the day than fresh squeezed O.J.?

Or maybe grapefruit juice?

You're going to want an electric citrus juicer for that.

You want your citrus juicer to give you the most juice possible for the least effort.

-And this is handsome.

-Look at that one.

Why don't you try juicing an orange on that one?

-Alright.

Oh, goodness.

That's fun.

Look at all that juice from one half.

-This is our top citrus juicer.

It's like the Rolls-Royce of citrus juicers.

It's the Breville stainless-steel juicer.

It's $200.

-Alright.

-But could it be any easier to use?

I don't think so.

Could it get more juice out of a half an orange?

No way.

-And I wouldn't mind seeing this every day on my counter.

-It's very handsome.

However, if you want to spend a little less, like 1/10 the price, we have a best buy.

This is the Dash Go Dual Citrus Juicer.

-Mm-hmm.

-It's 20 bucks.

It's easy to use.

It's got two reamers.

One is for oranges and grapefruits, one is for lemons and limes.

It's a little smaller, and it's a good sharpness.

It gets just the right amount of juice out of there.

It doesn't section the fruit or anything like that.

Go ahead and give it a try if you want.

-Alright.

[ Juicer whirring ] Ooh, that is easy.

-Yeah.

-I mean, you really -- 'cause you're using your hand, but you can really feel the reamer doing its job.

Ooh, I like it.

I like how it catches in the bottom.

-Yeah.

Right into its own little pitcher.

-Yep.

-Along with your O.J., the second-best way to start a day is waffles.

-I'm in.

-Especially Belgian waffles with those deep pockets for extra maple syrup.

We've tested a lot of Belgian waffle makers around here, and it's remarkable how many of them make kind of lousy waffles.

-Yeah, I've witnessed this.

-You know, we're looking for waffles that are evenly browned and crisp and custardy inside.

We tested the timing and the temperature.

We found that the best waffles cooked between 3 and 4.5 minutes, and in terms of temperature, between 400 and 435 degrees.

-That's pretty high.

And if a waffle maker misses those marks, the waffles suffer for it.

But waffles from our favorite waffle maker, which is the Cuisinart Double Belgian Waffle Maker for about 100 bucks, never suffer.

They're perfect every time.

-It's a double.

-Make two for one.

-[ Chuckles ] I love that.

Now, what if you're a pancake person?

-You're going to need a double burner griddle... -Mm.

-...'cause you want to cook a bunch at once.

-Mm-hmm.

-Couple of things to keep in mind.

One is real estate.

You want to get as many pancakes on here at once.

We go for at least 160 square inches of real estate.

In terms of the dimensions, width is a little more important than length, we found.

-Huh.

-We like to have at least 9 1/4 inches of width.

This one is actually 10 inches, so you can fit two rows of four pancakes.

It's got nice, sturdy handles that stick up.

It's anodized aluminum, but the bottom is stainless steel.

-Nice.

-So it is induction-compatible.

If there are no sidewalls on a griddle, it can leak down onto the stove.

It can even like hit a gas burner and cause a flare-up, so you want little sidewalls like this.

These are one inch.

That's perfect.

This is the Cuisinart Chef's Classic Nonstick Double Burner Griddle.

It's about $70, and you can cook pancakes and bacon all day on this thing.

-[ Chuckles ] Good advice.

Thanks, Adam.

For more information on how to make your holiday breakfast special, check out our website.

♪♪ -Taking care of a cast-iron pan is not the big deal everybody makes it out to be.

First, always remember you can't mess up cast iron.

You can always fix whatever happens.

It's going to last forever.

Cast iron that's enameled, meaning that it has a colorful surface, just wash and scrub as usual.

No big deal.

Black, plain, uncoated cast iron is a little different.

Still no big deal.

It doesn't take much.

After every use, you're just going to rinse and scrub the pan under hot tap water.

You can use our favorite scrub brush from O-Cedar.

This long handle keeps your hands out of the hot water.

I often hold the pan with a potholder and scrub it while it's still quite warm, but don't put cold water in a hot pan.

And you really don't need soap.

If you want to use a little, it's okay.

Just never really soap it up and never soak it or you're going to get rust.

Pat the pan dry and then put it back on the burner on medium heat to fully dry it.

Then add about 1/4 teaspoon of any vegetable oil.

Really, that little.

Just wipe it in with paper towels.

You can hold them with tongs if the pan is hot, and then just change towels and keep wiping inside and out till it looks like you wiped it all right back off.

You just want to keep heating briefly till the pan is fully warmed for a few more minutes.

It might smoke, but that's fine.

Then just shut off the heat and let the pan cool in place.

That's it.

Your pan's going to get better and better.

But what if you have really stuck-on food or a lot of rust?

Easy.

You're just going to add vegetable oil to about 1/4 inch deep on the pan, heat it up on medium, take it off the heat, add a handful of kosher salt, and use those tongs and paper towels to scrub.

It's kind of like an exfoliant and a moisturizer.

And then just rinse and repeat as needed.

And that's it.

Happy cooking.

♪♪ -To paraphrase, loosely, one of my very favorite John Cleese characters, "Aside from irrigation, education, sanitation, wine, roads.

what have the Romans ever done for us?"

I'm going to add French toast to that list, because the very first French toast, or a precursor of it, was found in ancient Rome, 5 A.D. That's a long time ago.

But Keith's here with a more modern recipe that includes some ancient technology.

-Yeah, we're going to actually use a cast-iron skillet, and we're going to make a French toast casserole.

-Ooh.

-So if you've ever had that occasion where you have to be the first at the table to get that first slice of French toast out of the skillet, well, we're not going to have to worry about that today, 'cause a French toast casserole is going to go on the table all at once, and everybody can have their French toast at the same time.

-I'm not going to be stuck behind a stove?

-No, exactly.

Just one time, and that's it.

-Love it.

-So, like I said, cast-iron skillet is going to be great for this.

We're actually not going to cook on the stovetop.

We're going to cook this in the oven on a cast-iron skillet.

-Yes?

-But that's going to be great because the butter and the sugar in this is going to create a crisp crust, which you get from regular French toast out of a pan.

So I'm going to start with 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter that's been softened.

I'm just going to smear this on to our 12-inch cast-iron skillet.

-Great.

So this is our baking pan.

-Yeah this is our baking pan.

Essentially, it's a casserole pan.

So a cast-iron skillet's going to have better heat retention than, like, a ceramic casserole dish.

So that's going to allow us to get a little bit more of a crisp crust there, which is exactly what you want when you have French toast.

Okay, so we have a nice coating of butter here, and that is going to loosen in the oven and help with browning... -Great.

-...which is going to be fantastic.

So, next up, we're going to make a sugar-and-spice mixture.

And the sugar and spice along with the butter is where we're going to get our crust.

So I have 6 tablespoons of light brown sugar in here.

I'm going to add 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon... -Mmm.

-...1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg, and just a pinch of salt.

And I'm just going to work this with my hands.

It's easier to mix this with your fingers, I think, than a fork.

And then you can kind of break up those chunks of brown sugar and get a nice, even coating.

That looks pretty good.

-Lovely.

-So now I'm going to start to assemble this.

First things first, I'm going to take 2 tablespoons of this mixture.

I'm going to sprinkle that over our butter-coated cast-iron skillet.

And this is going to melt in the oven and give us a little bit of a crust here.

Perfect.

Okay.

-Okay.

Now, for our bread, I have 10 slices of potato sandwich bread here.

Now, this has a little bit more flavor than a white sandwich bread.

It's still going to be nice and plush and have that nice custardy interior.

It's a little firmer, though, so it will hold up under that custard.

-Great.

-So I'm going to take this, and I'm going to cut these diagonally.

We found that cutting them on the diagonal is a little easier to get into the skillet in a uniform manner.

-Now, potato bread is as if white bread and brioche had a baby.

-[ Chuckling ] That's -- That-- That's a good description.

So I'm just going to take this and start to layer this over our brown sugar mixture.

It's like a game of "Tetris."

-A beautiful little game of "Tetris."

-You're going to have a little bit of peeking in there.

-Sure.

-That's okay.

And you can also push these together a little bit.

It's okay if they are snug in there.

We have our first layer of bread down.

Now I'm going to take a little bit of melted butter here.

I'm going to start with 1 1/2 half tablespoons.

It's going to add a little bit of richness to this.

-Mm.

-That's one.

The half.

We have 2 more tablespoons of our sugar-and-spice mixture.

Again, this is all about creating some texture in these layers.

Okay, last layer of potato bread.

So a lot of recipes for French toast casserole will treat this like a bread pudding.

They'll dry out the bread.

They'll put a lot of custard in here.

This is going to be more like French toast coming from the skillet.

-Mm.

-It's not going to be quite as rich and decadent as a bread-pudding-like casserole.

But it's still going to be very, very delicious.

-It's going to feel more like breakfast than a dessert.

-That's right.

Beautiful.

Okay, so repeat this one more time.

1 1/2 tablespoons of butter.

I'm going to have a little bit of butter left over, a tablespoon, and we're going to brush that when it comes out of the oven later.

I have 2 more tablespoons of this sugar-and-spice mixture.

Great.

Now let's look at our custard.

So pretty simple here.

We're going to have four whole eggs.

And I'm just going to mix these up really quickly to start the mixing process.

So now I'm going to start to break these up a little bit.

And I'm going to add 1 2/3 cup of whole milk.

Okay, so I'm just going to start to pour this over.

And there's not so much custard here.

So I find it important to really try to get an even coating now.

Make sure we get it into those holes to let it sink down to the bottom.

-Right, because you're not adding so much that this is going to be swimming in custard.

-Right.

It's not going to float up.

You'll see that, by the time we get that, most of the custard will be absorbed by the bread.

Okay, one last addition.

I have 3 tablespoons of sliced almonds that I've toasted.

I love the texture on top of French toast, and this is going to provide a lot of texture and crunch.

Okay, and now we have more sugar and spice.

We're going to use the rest of this up.

I'm just going to sprinkle the remaining bits of this over the top.

-That looks incredible.

-Fantastic.

-Yeah.

-So now it's time to bake.

So I'm going to put this into a 350-degree oven on the middle rack, and we're going to bake this for 30 minutes, rotating it halfway through, after 15 minutes.

It's going to puff up slightly, going to get golden brown.

We'll start to see some bubbling around the edges.

It's been 30 minutes.

We can check on our French toast.

-Oh, it smells like breakfast.

-Oh, that's great.

You see how it's puffed up a little bit?

-Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho.

-Ah, looks fantastic.

-You're right.

It's almost souffléed a little bit.

-Yeah, that will kind of sink down as it cools, but that's okay.

It's going to be tasty.

So I have this tablespoon of butter that we had left from assembly.

I'm just going to take this and just kind of dab it over the top.

If you try to brush it, it starts to pull up the almonds a little bit.

So just a little dab here and there.

Okay, so a little hot right now.

So we're going to wait 15 minutes.

Before I do that, I'm just going to slide this handle on and make sure that we are warned that that's a hot handle, because even after 15 minutes, we'll come back, and that's going to be screaming hot.

-Right.

-So we'll let this cool for 15 minutes, then we can eat it.

-Perfect.

-Casserole has rested for 15 minutes, and it's ready to go.

One last embellishment.

I'm just going to take some confectioners' sugar that I put into a fine mesh strainer.

-[ Chuckles ] -If there wasn't enough sugar in this... -It's so good.

-...add a little bit more.

-It's beautiful.

Well, it just dresses it up, makes it very special.

And I love that we're serving it out of the cast-iron skillet.

-Yeah, and that's another thing about a cast-iron skillet is it retains the heat, right?

So you can serve this, and you have warm French toast throughout your whole breakfast.

-You mean the cook actually gets to eat warm food?

-Exactly.

[ Chuckles ] -How about that?

-So I'm just going to take a spoonful here.

I want to make sure I get a nice edge piece for you here.

-Oh, lovely.

-That's where the texture is.

-Yes.

Beautiful almonds.

-The edge piece is the best, I think.

-[ Chuckles ] But look at this beautiful crust.

-This is the side, and this is the bottom of that from the buttered skillet and the sugar.

That's gorgeous.

Mmm.

-Not too sweet.

Just a perfect level of sweetness.

Not too rich, either.

-I was going to say it's not too custardy.

-It's definitely not a bread pudding.

It's French toast.

-Yeah, it's like French toast coming from a traditional skillet or a griddle.

-Perfectly spiced.

I'm digging the almonds.

-I think that's the key, having the almonds on there.

It makes it just a little bit different from the normal French toast.

-This is a home-run breakfast.

-I'm glad you liked it.

-Might even have it for dinner.

Thanks, Keith.

-You're welcome.

-Why don't you make yourself a French toast casserole?

And it starts by sprinkling brown sugar and spices on the bottom of a buttered skillet, layer potato bread with more sugar and butter, and top with almonds before baking.

So, from "America's Test Kitchen," the fabulous way to breakfast, it's cast-iron French toast casserole.

You can get this great recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with product reviews and select episodes.

And those are all on our website, americastestkitchen.com/tv.

Mm-mm-mm.

-Let us help you with dinner tonight.

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"America's Test Kitchen" is brought to you by the following.

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