Finally! I have this one figured out. I am not much for following recipes exactly (except for with baked goods). In the case of french toast, I always saw my mother crack an egg, whisk in a little milk, sprinkle with cinnamon, soak the bread and fry it up. A drizzle of syrup and I was a happy kid.
As an adult, I had not found such yummy success. First, my bread was dry in the middle. Then, I soaked it so long it was falling apart. Then, there was too much egg so it was too egg-coated. Since I don’t handle cooking failure well, I aborted french toast in my kitchen all together and made pancakes my weekend breakfast treat.
In a recent discussion with my friend, I mentioned my french toast woes. She quickly spouted off her recipe and proportions. I hadn’t thought of a little sugar and a touch of vanilla. And, it turns out, I DO need to measure out the milk. I used Buttermilk white bread from the plain old grocery store and followed the below recipe. SUCCESS! My husband agreed that it was, by far, the best french toast to come out of my kitchen.
French Toast, welcome back to our weekend routine!
Basic French Toast
2 eggs
1/2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
6 pieces of bread
Butter for pan frying
Whisk together all of the ingredients (eggs through cinnamon) in a shallow dish. Dip bread in for about 5 seconds on each side. Heat butter in a skillet. Cook the soaked bread on each side until light brown. Serve with maple syrup and/or powdered sugar.
PRINT RECIPE
October 8th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Have you ever seen the “Toast” episode of Good Eats? Alton Brown recommends leaving the bread out the night before to get a little stale so it soaks up more of the custard (which is really what the egg/milk mix is). And I’ve heard that challah makes the BEST french toast ever… but I’m not sweet breakfast girl, myself, so I’m just passing along things I’ve heard. Glad you’ve found a method you like!
October 8th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Mmm, French toast. I’ve been using a recipe that has one less egg, 1/4 cup more milk and… 1/3 of a cup of flour. Makes for a very interesting result.
And i agree drying or toasting the bread ahead of time makes a big improvement as well. 10 minutes in a preheating oven does a pretty good job.
October 8th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Just like my Mother used to make… YUMM !
I’ve been looking for a recipe like this, thank you !
Oooh, can’t wait to have it this weekend with heated maple syrup :)
October 8th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Congratulations! I love french toast, it was the first “real” cooking I ever mastered.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:53 am
French toast reminds me of my childhood. I used to eat 3 or 4 pieces at the counter, in front of the stove, watching my mom cook. I love this recipe and can’t wait to perfect it!
October 10th, 2008 at 9:18 am
This is almost identical to my grandmother’s recipe! It never seems to taste *quite* the same when I make it, though. I don’t think she ever toasted the bread — great idea. :)
October 10th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Another testament to the French being geniuses. Sometimes simplicity is all you need!!!
October 12th, 2008 at 9:31 am
I can taste the toast through my computer! awesome photo!
October 12th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Looks fabulous! Then again, anything with powdered sugar on top looks fabulous :)
October 13th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
hi…i am totally enjoying your blog…but can not figure out how to access older posts…give me a clue plesae…so i can enjoy more…thanks be well.
October 17th, 2008 at 9:38 am
[...] Basic French Toast [...]
October 21st, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Have you ever tried making this with raisin challah bread? It’s a very egg-y bread…and leaving it out the night before (as suggested here already) is the way to go.