One of the first foods I learned to cook is French toast. Don’t ask me why, but our school’s cooking classes started by teaching us how to make French toast. Of course, over the next several weekends, I wanted to make French toast over and over again, proud of the new skills I learned, but also just enjoying the French toast!
French toast isn’t just a relatively simple recipe to make (as long as you choose your bread wisely, more on that later), it’s also a great way to use up left-overs. And, since you only use a few ingredients, it’s perfectly suited for extensive experimentation!
Eggs: Of course, you’ll need eggs for French toast! Three eggs bind the batter together and give it a rich texture. Sugar: A tablespoon of white sugar lends welcome sweetness to this decadent breakfast recipe. Vanilla: A teaspoon of vanilla extract adds complexity and takes the flavor up a notch.
The best ‘batter’ to dip your French toast in.
Now that you’ve chosen your bread, it’s time to choose a batter to dip your bread into before frying it off! This is where a whole next level of experimentation can set in. Let’s look at what we need in the batter.
First of all, we need that liquid. The liquid will help soften the bread and create that richer texture. Next, we need something to help set that liquid. If you’d just dunk bread in water and fried it, you wouldn’t create that nice crunchy layer, likely, you’ll just end up with soggy bread. Last but not least, we can add some extra flavor by adding some spices, sweetness, extra brown color.
The simplest liquid you can use is water, as long as you add something to bind it during cooking. However, water doesn’t add much else, no flavor and no texture either.
Most French toast therefore uses dairy milk. Milk adds the moisture, but it also adds some fat (unless you use skimmed milk) as well as some sugar (lactose) and proteins. The sugar and proteins will react when heated in the pan, in a reaction called the Maillard reaction. Upon reacting they create a lot of delicious flavors and aromas. The proteins can also contribute a little to texture, but the role is quite minor.
Technically, you can make French toast with other types of ‘milk’ as well. Nut milks and oat milk for instance both add both moisture, as well as fats, proteins, some sugars and flavor. They’ll all give a slightly different flavor, but can all serve their purpose in French toast.
Next up, the ingredient that binds it all together and firms the liquid up upon heating. Most French toast recipes will use eggs to do this. Eggs are great at it. The proteins in eggs solidify upon heating, firming up the liquids in the bread. What’s more, egg adds fats for richness and they are don’t ‘hide’ flavors. Make sure to whisk the egg very well before adding it with the other liquids or you’ll see pieces of cooked egg on the outside of your French toast that haven’t been absorbed well.
Instead of eggs, you can use other ‘binders’ as well. A commonly used method is to use corn starch. You can easily whisk corn starch through your liquid (though start by adding only a little liquid so it doesn’t clump up). Corn starch absorbs and holds onto liquid when it’s heated, making it great for binding liquid (as we do when making eggless ice cream or cake as well!). The disadvantage of corn starch can be that it also ‘hides’ flavors, so don’t overdo it.
This is where you can go all out! The extra’s don’t contribute as much to the core structure of your French toast, so you can experiment more freely.
You can add extra sugar to the liquid. The extra sugar will caramelize and participate in the Maillard reaction, contributing not just sweetness but a lot more flavors. You can add any type of sugar, granulated, icing, brown sugar or panela.
Next up are the spices. Cinnamon is a very popular combination with French toast (my personal favorite for a sweet version). Vanilla is a close second, although personally, it’s not my favorite. Nutmeg, maybe even some chili for a hit of spice or allspice and cloves are great as part of the spice blend to remind a lot of us of the autumn season.
What is the best bread for French Toast
The use of stale bread requires us to take a closer look at the bread used for French toast. Whereas historically it’s likely been developed to use up old stale bread, nowadays, most recipes use fresh bread. Both work, of course, but there’s a lot of choices to make when choosing your bread for French toast.
When choosing your bread, keep in mind its function in French toast. It it what forms the overall structure of your French toast. Of course, bread also adds flavor, some more than others. Last but not least, bread contains sugars and proteins. These will react with the batter when it’s being fried, creating various delicious aromas and flavors.
Freshly baked, still warm, moist bread, even though it’s delicious, is not necessarily your best choice for French toast. This bread isn’t as good in absorbing and holding onto liquid. It’s best if your bread isn’t fresh out of the oven.
Then there’s stale bread. Stale bread is slightly drier as a whole then fresh bread, though not necessarily by much. More importantly, it’s become more crumbly and chewy due to the restructuring (retrogradation) of starch over time. Stale bread is better at absorbing moisture, but the main benefit really is that the extra moisture and heat revive the stale bread, greatly improving its quality.
Lastly, there’s the dry bread, for these seeking French toast perfection. According to several tests online, your bread can absorb even more liquids if you dry the bread in the oven first. The extra liquid within can make it even more creamy.
If you’re talking just how much of an upgrade French toast is to your slice of bread, stale easily wins from fresh bread. Up to you whether that’s actually important!
French toast is all about bread absorbing liquids before frying it. In order for bread to soak up any of these liquids it needs to have a close knit structure that can absorb the moisture. If your bread has a lot of very big holes, that’s not going to help it absorbing that moisture. The layers of actual bread might become too thin for it to hold onto a considerable amount, both during soaking & subsequent frying.
Some holes aren’t an issue though, but if you’re into optimizing your French toast, limit those holes.
The two main factors that go into deciding your optimal slice thickness are: your own personal preference & ease of frying.
Let’s look at the latter first. When you soak bread in liquid it can become very soggy and fragile, especially if you don’t just dip the bread but soak it in for a while. Part of the bread literally starts to dissolve in the liquid and the overall structure weakens considerably. Bread is a foam, that holds its shape thanks to the starchy structure within. Once this starch absorbs moisture, it loses it’s strength. (Note, if you’re using stale or dried bread, your bread can handle a lot more moisture before becoming too soggy.)
A sturdy crust can help to keep it all together, as can a quick dip instead of soak in the batter. But, you can also decide to use a thicker slice. For a thicker slice, it takes longer for the whole slice to soak through. Also, a thicker slice has an easier time holding onto its structure. A thinner structure is simply not as good in holding onto itself.
When it comes to personal preference there are a few things to consider. First of all, how the French toast is cooked. When you’re cooking French toast you’re creating two different layers: one, a crispy outside layer, second, a soft custardy center. The thicker the slice, the more of that custardy center you will get. If you prefer the crispier outside layer over the center, you’d probably want to go for a thin slice, and the other way around if you prefer the center.
Second to consider is your ratio of toppings to French toast. If you like to dust your French toast with powdered sugar for instance, you’ll need considerably more on a thick slice than on a thin one to get the same ratio of sugar to toast!
Last but not least: there’s the type of bread you’re going to use: white, whole wheat, with seeds or nuts, or just plain. Almost all of them work and again, it’s mostly about what you’re after in your French toast.
Do you want a rich, almost creamy delicacy? In that case, an enriched bread that is made with butter and/or eggs would be a good choice (e.g. a challah or brioche).
Are you looking for some extra crunchy and texture in your French toast? Try using a bread with some nuts throughout or some seeds. Remember that French toast doesn’t have to be sweet! It can be savory as well.
Do you want more flavor than just sugar and eggs, than a whole wheat bread, with a stronger flavor than its white counterpart would be a good option.
And of course, if you just want to use whatever bread it is you have left, that will likely work as well!
I’ve never had such fluffy and delicious french toast! this is better than cake
FAQ
Why is egg used in French toast?
Is French toast Eggy?
French toast recipes can vary depending on how you make your custard or what kind of bread you use. You can make challah French toast, croissant French toast, panettone French toast, pumpkin French toast — the list goes on. While French toast is a beloved staple at the breakfast or brunch table, it’s true that sometimes it can come out a bit eggy.
What is the best way to cook eggs?
The best way to prepare eggs are shorter and lower-heat cooking methods, as they cause less cholesterol oxidation and help retain most of the egg’s nutrients. For this reason, poached and boiled (either hard or soft) eggs may be the healthiest to eat. Also, these cooking methods, don’t add any unnecessary calories, like oil.
Why is French toast soggy?
The egg is also what allows French toast to firm up, Food Crumbles points out, which means that diluting it with milk will result in soggy bread. Using too much milk is clearly a bad idea for French toast, however, leaving it out entirely doesn’t bode well either.
What is French toast?
French toast, in its essence, is all about using up old, stale bread—the French don’t call it pain perdu (“lost bread”) for nothing.