Classic French Toast
Classic French Toast
Thanks goodness humanity has been dunking bread in milk or milk and eggs for centuries. Without this skill, which I am sure has evolved for eons, we would not have the classic French toast. I believe we are genetically predisposed to dipping and dunking and because of this twist in our DNA French toast was born. YEAH! We also seem predisposed to calling things French. I am not sure why. Even the French don’t call French toast, French toast. They don’t even call it Toast a’la Francaise. But, I digress. Could there be anything better than custard baked into thick slices of bread and topped with maple syrup?
Classic French Toast – The Bread
At the foundation of French toast is, of course, the toast. Choosing the bread is important, but there is no need to get in a tizzy about it. Sure, a good brioche or egg bread makes for a very fine French toast. The people who think about these things a lot will use day old or stale bread and dither about how it holds more custard, but I can never tell the difference. Some talking heads say that regular bread just won’t do, but I say whatever! If I have sandwich bread and a hankering for French toast, then sandwich bread it is. It works! Raisin bread works, too! Love those raisins!
Classic French Toast – The Dunk
The dunk in custard mix is, of course, what sets French toast apart from regular old toast. A rich mixture of cream or milk and eggs is easy to whip up. Cream of course will make a great custard mix, but I have made a very tasty classic French toast with skim milk, too. I like to pinch a few calories now and again and this is an easy way to do that. Of course, soy or almond milk work, too. I like to add brown sugar for a dash of molasses flavor and vanilla to help cover the egg flavor. That egg flavor isn’t so bad, but I think it is better covered with something that has very nice flavor and vanilla, along with cinnamon and nutmeg, does the trick.
Not So Classic French Toast Dunks
There is more you can do beyond vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. You could pull a trick like I do with bread pudding and use chinese 5 spice! It is good! You could also flavor the custard with cocoa, lemon zest and/or lemon curd, or even stem ginger syrup!
Classic French Toast- An Extra Touch
If you want to go the extra mile, before cooking sprinkle the tops of the dipped toast with a little sugar and start by cooking with the sugared side down. The sugar gets nice and crispy for a sweet added touch. When the first side is done cooking, sprinkle the uncooked side with sugar, then flip.
And the frying? In butter, of course. Even if I am using skim milk in the custard, I use butter. Why? It’s butter. That is really the only reason! The cooking does not take long. Simply flip when it is golden brown – 5-6 minutes. You can alway pop it into a preheated (150F) oven to keep it warm while all the slices are cooking.
And, yes for a classic French toast, warm maple syrup is a must. Strawberry jam is nice, too, but maple syrup is tough to beat. A sprinkle of powdered sugar never hurt either.
The video below shows you all the steps to make a classic French toast. The recipe follows.
- 8 1 inch thick slices of brioche or other bread. Thick slices are better but not compulsory.
- 1 cup of milk
- 4 eggs
- 3 tbsp of light brown sugar
- 1 tsp of vanilla
- 1 tsp of cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp of nutmeg
- sugar
- butter
- Preheat the oven to 150F.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the milk, eggs, brown sugar, vanilla and spices. Whisk them well making sure the eggs are well beaten and incorporated.
- Pour the milk mixture into a shallow pan, such as a 9x12 in pan.
- Check to see how many slices of bread the frying pan can comfortably hold. Dip that number of slices into the milk mixture, flipping the slices after about 10 seconds. Try not to over soak the bread.
- After flipping the bread, sprinkle a bit of sugar over the tops of each slice.
- In the frying pan, melt 1 tbsp of butter over medium heat. When the butter stops foaming, add the bread slices sugared side down. Cook 5-6 minutes until golden brown and the sugar gets crisp. Sprinkle the toast again with sugar and flip cooking another 5-6 minutes. Remove the cooked French toast to a baking tray and keep warm in the oven. Repeat cooking until all the slices are dipped, sugared and cooked.
- Serve with warm maple syrup and butter.
- French toast would also make a fine dessert!
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Do you make a classic French toast? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook.
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