The perfect French toast should be soft and creamy on the inside and golden and crispy on the outside. Most often served as an indulgent weekend brunch, the dish is a great way to use up leftovers – all you need are eggs, milk and bread.
What is the difference between French toast and eggy bread?
In the UK, French toast is often called ‘eggy bread’. As the name suggests, eggy bread is more, well, eggy than American-style French toast. Many British recipes for eggy bread use as little as a tablespoon of milk for two eggs. It’s frequently savoury or, if sweet, served simply with a dusting of sugar.
What sort of bread should you use to make French toast?
You can make French toast with pretty much any bread you like – wholemeal bread, crusty baguette, brioche. It’s up to you. We wouldn’t recommend making it with very fresh bread or very thinly sliced sandwich bread, as those are both slightly too tender and can fall apart, but apart from that most breads will work.
It’s also important to use bread that you like the taste of. Very cheap white sandwich bread isn’t ideal partly because it’s prone to falling apart, but also because it doesn’t have much flavour. Earthy and complex wholemeal bread is delicious with savoury French toast, while fluffy brioche or white sandwich bread go well with sweeter flavours. To really go all out, you can make the bread yourself – like in our recipe for caramelised French toast with homemade brioche and ice cream – or even use leftover babka or croissants.
How to make sweet or savoury French toast
Serves 1
Metric
Imperial
- 1 egg
- 4 tbsp of whole milk
- 1/4 tsp table salt, for savoury French toast, or 1/8 tsp for sweet
- 15g of sugar, for sweet French toast
- 10g of butter
- 2 slices of bread, sliced 2 cm thick
Method
Whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and sugar (if using) in a wide, shallow bowl
Add the butter to a frying pan, and heat the pan on medium until the butter is gently foaming
While the pan is heating up, add the slices of bread into the egg mixture. Press them down gently to help them absorb the mixture. Once one side is fully saturated, flip them over and repeat for the other side. Exactly how long you need to soak the bread for will depend on the type of bread you’re using, and how thick and stale it is. You want it to be soaked all the way through and slightly softened, but not so soft it’s falling apart
Swirl the butter around the pan and add your slices of bread. Let them cook for a couple of minutes, then check the bottom with a spatula. If they’re looking speckled and golden brown, flip them over and cook on the other side. If not, turn the heat up slightly and let them cook a bit longer. For us, this took 3 minutes for the first side and 2 minutes 30 seconds for the second side
Serve the French toast with toppings of your choice – sweet French toast topped butter and maple syrup is an American classic. It also pairs well with berries, condensed milk or even a scoop of ice cream. Savoury French toast goes with anything you’d enjoy on eggs – cheddar, ketchup or fried mushrooms
Can you freeze leftover French toast?
French toast freezes well – freeze on an oven tray lined with baking paper until solid, and then transfer to a ziplock bag. To heat up the French toast, let thaw either overnight in the fridge or at room temperature and then heat up in the oven.
What should you serve with French toast?
French toast can be as decadent or as restrained as you’d like. We have recipes that keep it super simple, with just some berries or roast plums, as well as recipes that go all-out and are topped with a homemade sabayon or even snails.
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