Over a glass of mimosa with friends at a favorite brunch spot you order your French toast, that perennial favorite on many a restaurant’s weekend menu. And so it arrives at the table along with a little jug of warm maple syrup and perhaps a dollop of fresh whipped cream. Maybe a few berries are sprinkled about the plate too. You may have eaten French toast before, perhaps many times. But still you anticipate that first bite of bread cooked to a perfect golden brown, and the silky smooth texture of the custard within. What’s not to love?

Recipes for French toast abound in cook books, magazines and on recipe web sites; as ever, some better than others. Some presentations are so over the top with add-ons that the custardy bread is almost incidental. A bit like ordering an outrageous drink at Starbucks where you wouldn’t miss the coffee if they left it out. It gives the French name for this dish, Pain Perdu or, Lost Bread a whole new meaning! Gussying it up a little is fine but we shouldn’t loose sight of the simple origins of the dish whose purpose was simply to use up old bread.

I have seen recipes which would have you take a slice of supermarket bread and dip it briefly in a beaten egg before frying it. I am reminded of that scene in Kramer vs Kramer (now I’m really aging myself!) where Dustin Hoffman’s character, Ted Kramer, newly separated from Meryl Streep, is making French toast for his son. He beats the egg in a measuring jug and finding the slice of bread wouldn’t fit, he folds it in two to stuff it in the jug. A later scene shows him with much more confidence, beating the egg in a shallow dish so the bread would lay flat. A brilliant piece of screen writing in my opinion but it was still terrible French toast.

This is my (not so unique) take on French Toast.

So what makes good French toast? That’s pretty subjective but for me it is a thick slice of good bread saturated with a custard mixture and cooked to GB&D (shorthand for Golden Brown and Delicious) on the outside with a luscious creamy custard on the inside. The egg/milk mixture is pretty much a no brainer; I use a ratio of 1 egg to 1/4 cup (60 ml) of milk. How much of the custard mixture you make will depend on how much French toast you are making and how absorbent the bread is.

You can flavor the custard mixture too, adding a little vanilla extract or almond essence. When I made this the other day I had an orange in the fruit bowl so I grated its zest into the custard. A splash of Grand Marnier or other appropriately flavored liqueur would be nice too. Maybe not if you are feeding children though!

French toast is not so much about the frugal habits of past generations any more; witness its appearance on high end restaurant menus. It lends itself to the wide variety of bread products available today and while you can make French toast with almost any kind of bread, some work better than others.

In my opinion it needs to be a good quality bread, sturdy enough to hold up to a long soak in the custard. Your average supermarket bread simply won’t do and since you want to cut it fairly thick, at least 3/4″ (2 cm), most pre-sliced breads are out.

My preferred bread is Pain de Mie, a basic enriched sandwich bread. I make bread a lot so I often have some left over that I use for French toast. You can buy a loaf of bread at any good bakery these days though. Just pick one that has a nice close crumb – no large holes for this – and is sturdy enough to hold up. I have used brioche but the texture of that bread is quite soft and if left too long in the custard it tends to fall apart. I like sourdough bread. I like to make it and I like to eat it. However, in my opinion it does not make good French toast! The nature of the crumb is such that it does not absorb the custard well and the crust, while crunchy and delicious in fresh sourdough becomes tough and chewy in French toast. Others will disagree and say SD bread makes excellent French toast. Each to their own!

(Edit: When I argue sourdough bread is not best suited to French toast I am talking about the so called Country or Rustic loaves of bread. You know, those round boules with the dark mahogany colored crust and open crumb bakers proudly display on Pinterest or Instagram. It was remiss of me to neglect mentioning other sourdoughs. I made an excellent SD sandwich bread with about 25% whole wheat flour. it made great French toast.)

The dish can trace its origins as far back as Ancient Rome and was a way to use up older, slightly stale bread. And indeed, day old bread is the way to go here. Fresh, moist bread won’t soak up as much custard as older, dryer bread. If fresh bread is all you have and you don’t want to wait until tomorrow for your French toast you can dry out your slices a bit in the oven. Not till it is “toast” toast mind, just until it dries out a little.

The process is pretty straightforward:

You are going to cut your 1 or 2 day old bread into thick, 3/4″ (20mm) thick slices.

Next you’ll gather your custard ingredients in multiples of 1 egg per 1/4cup (60ml) milk, along with 1/4 Tsp of vanilla extract and a tiny pinch of salt. Whisk them all together in a bowl till well combined and no stringy bits of egg white remain.

You will lay your bread slices in any dish you have that will hold them in a single layer and pour the custard over. You will want to soak the bread until it is evenly and thoroughly saturated, turning the slices a few times to make sure. (You can do this ahead of time, like the night before, cover and refrigerate until you are ready to cook.)
While the bread is soaking, pre-heat your oven to 350? (180°C)

Once the bread is properly saturated with the custard mixture you will melt a knob of butter in an oven safe, non-sick skillet over medium heat.

When the butter stops foaming you are going to add the bread and cook gently for 2-3 minutes until the bottom is nicely golden brown. Depending on the heat output of your burner and how high you have the fire it may take a minute or two more to get the right color on the bread. With your spatula lift a corner of the bread and take a peek to see how it is progressing.

Flip the slices over. 1st side GB&D.

As soon as the first side is done put the pan into the oven to bake 12-15 minutes. The time given is just a guide line; look for the bread to puff up a little to know when it is done.

That half cup of milk and 2 eggs was enough to saturate my 2 slices of bread with nothing remaining in the dish. A little trial and error will soon let you know how much custard to make for your bread with no waste.

It’s been about 15 minutes in the oven. It is not very clear in this photo but the center has souffléd a little to let me know the custard is fully but not over cooked.

et Voilà! Some maple syrup, whipped cream and blueberries, with a light dusting of powdered sugar. Enjoy!
(A pat of butter and a drizzle of syrup is perfectly good on its own too.)

The process is pretty straightforward; you lay your bread slices in a single layer in whatever you have that will fir them. Pour the custard mixture over the bread and leave it to soak, turning the slices a few times to make sure they are evenly saturated. While the bread is soaking, heat your oven to 325

Author: kaysdad

I am a self confessed foodie and food science geek (some might even say a food snob. I wouldn't disagree). I have been interested in food all my life but, circumstances being what they were, I began to practice my craft somewhat later in life. I love to pass on the knowledge I have gained over the years to anybody willing to learn. At the same time I am always open to learning new things, and not just about food...