French toast for the novice

[Fat Guy]

I think today was possibly the first time I've ever made French toast. I don't think it came out all that well. Eggy, soggy, not flavorful.

Can I get a quick tutorial on the basic method? I've searched older topics that cover French toast but they're generally a lot more ambitious than what I'm looking to learn right now. I just want the basics on how to make French toast that isn't lousy.

[avaserfi]

Some idea of what you did might help. What type of bread did you use, how did you soak it and what was the composition of your custard?

I make a custard that is scaled so that the weight of egg is 40% of the weight of the milk (you can see my whole process here). I dip and soak a rich buttery brioche (1.25cm/0.5inch thick slices) for thirty seconds per side, then fry in butter and if necessary finish in the oven.

If possible, you can use a chamber vacuum sealer to increase the thickness of the bread without getting a soggy crust and to infuse even more custard into the bread making for a richer, creamer center. I prefer doing this, but it isn't always possible.

Below is a 6.4cm/2.5inches round that is 3.8cm/1.5inches tall. I wouldn't suggest such a tall piece without a chamber vacuum sealer because the custard won't make it to the center.

[slkinsey]

There are a lot of different ways to make it and a lot of different aesthetics for the end product. By far the best FT I've ever had is at Landmarc. They take very thick (like 4 inches thick) slices of the ubiquitous NYC restaurant pane pugliese, soak in cream and eggs (most likely with some flavorings and some sugar added), and then cook. I have to imagine that their version spends some amount of time in the oven rather than spending all of its time on the stove. It turns out like bread pudding surrounded by a crust. The egg custard part of their FT is fairly loose, but the overall impression isn't soggy due to the inherent firmness of the bread they use.

The basic technique is pretty easy. Make the (uncooked) custard base of eggs and dairy. Add sugar (or maple syrup or whatever) if you want a sweeter result. Add other flavorings if you like (a touch of vanilla, or a grating of nutmeg or a pinch of cinnamon wouldn't go amiss). Saturate some slices of bread in the custard base and fry in plenty of butter to your desired level of doneness. For very thick slices and a larger crowd, some time in a low oven after the outer crusts have been established may be a good idea.

I personally prefer to use a very sturdy, peasant-y bread in thick slices because I'd like for the custard to have some moistness without having the FT seem soggy. But other people like to use very tender bread like challah. If you use a soft, tender bread you either had better like a wet result ("soggy" in my estimation) or you will have to cook the FT enough to cook out most of that moisture, which I think makes the FT a bit tough. Others may prefer sourdough, which I think is nice when you can get a sturdy one. Classically, this would be made with stale or day-old bread (hence "pain perdu" -- making something from the "lost bread"). Most important, if you want it to be flavorful above and beyond "eggy," is for the bread to be flavorful. Otherwise, you'll need to add flavorings to your custard base.

[Fat Guy]

Some idea of what you did might help. What type of bread did you use, how did you soak it and what was the composition of your custard?

I used brioche, about 3/4" thick slices. I soaked in a shallow pool of equal parts egg and milk for about 30 seconds per side. I cooked in a pan in butter at approximately pancake temperature.

[HungryC]

Basic homemade pain perdu starts with stale french bread---I'm talking about the airy south Louisiana version that's like a bahn mi roll--sliced thickly and dipped into a milky egg wash, then quickly cooked in a little butter. I like it fairly dry on the inside, so I don't soak, I just give it a quick dip. Fresh nutmeg grated into the egg wash is good, as is a little vanilla extract. I serve it sprinkled with chopped pecans and drizzled with Steen's cane syrup.

[kathryn]

Best French Toast I've had in NYC is either at Five Points or City Bakery.

I've made the Five Points one (bourbon and vanilla bean) at home using Balthazar brioche, sliced thickly.

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2008/06/sunday_brunch_bourbon_vanilla_french_toast.html

Note that it calls for both whole milk AND heavy cream, as well as scraping a fresh vanilla bean, and adding 1/4 c. bourbon.

What kind of milk were you using? French Toast with skim or 2% milk never seems to turn out as well.

Edited September 6, 2011 by kathryn (log)

[Panaderia Canadiense]

If you found your FT to be soggy, the first thing to do is to reduce the soaking time - try 15 seconds each side for starters. That way you'll get absorption of the custard mix but not so much that when you cook the toasts it will remain blah and gooey in the middle.

I normally use about 1/2 to 3/4" slices and give them 10-15 seconds each side (not that I count anymore; FT is one of my very fave breakfasts and I've been making it for ages) in a custard bath that's more heavily weighted towards heavy cream than egg (the 40% mentioned above sounds about right) with fresh-grated nutmeg and ishpingo (cinnamon flowers) in the bath.

[avaserfi]

Some idea of what you did might help. What type of bread did you use, how did you soak it and what was the composition of your custard?

I used brioche, about 3/4" thick slices. I soaked in a shallow pool of equal parts egg and milk for about 30 seconds per side. I cooked in a pan in butter at approximately pancake temperature.

I like to fry my toast at a higher temperature - pancakes around 350F or so, french toast closer to 400-450F. I like a very crispy crust and custardy center. I would also reduce soak time some as it sounds like you might not like the custard center as much as me.

[Jaymes]

My grandmother was married to a conductor on the Kansas &Topeka railroad and, years ago, she taught me how to make it the way they did in the KT railroad dining car.

I wouldn't say it's the be-all and end-all of French toast, but this is what I do.

Buy a loaf of some sort of rustic white bread - French or Italian or whatever, but with a good crumb. Slice it into rounds about 1" thick. Leave them out overnight to get stale (if you don't have time, then just use whatever you've got; this morning, I just made some with a new loaf of Roman Meal sandwich bread. There's the "best choice," and then there's "what I have" - both work fine). Beat about 1 egg per slice of bread (if you don't want the center custardy, and don't plan a long soak, then use about 1 egg per two slices of bread). Add about 1 or 2 Tbls cream, 1 tsp or so sugar per egg, a healthy shake or two of cinnamon, a dash of salt, and a few drops of vanilla, and beat this up pretty well, to be sure the sugar and cinnamon are incorporated. As it sits, the cinnamon will float to the top, the sugar to the bottom, so be sure it's well-stirred before you drop in your bread. Let your bread soak as long as you have the patience to wait (we like it crispy on the outside; custardy on the inside; if you don't, then just do a quick dip). Get a skillet or grill hot and add a nice pat of butter. Put the French toast onto the skillet, and add pats of butter as required to keep things bubbling nicely. You can sprinkle an extra dash of cinnamon onto the top (the wet part) of the toast as it cooks, and even a pinch of additional sugar if you'd like. Adding sugar to the custard helps make the outside of the French toast crispy.

Especially if you're serving French toast to a housefull, which I do about once a week, you can then put your toast into a warm (about 250 oven). That way, you can serve everybody hot French toast at the same time, and the oven helps to crisp it up.

I do add extra sugar to the custard when I'm serving small children because the rest of the family likes to add powdered sugar or maple syrup or cajeta or a sprinkle of chocolate chips to the French toast as they're eating it, and that's pretty messy for little kids. If I add extra sugar to their custard, they'll eat it without wanting the additional sweetener on top.

We serve this with some sort of fresh fruit and bacon or sausage. It's probably our number-one favorite breakfast and I cannot even begin to count how many times I've made this through the years.

At Christmastime, my father (and now I) make it with eggnog or rompope. The rum/bourbon/brandy in eggnog makes the French toast particularly festive. You can also add a dash of an orange or cherry flavor liqueur, or Calvados or anything, really. My father also would occasionally plump raisins in sherry or brandy or something, and add them to the custard (although my children are not fans of this). And I've also many times made it with melted vanilla ice cream, or dulce de leche.

I'm sure there are fancier versions, but if you want a good, serviceable, all-purpose recipe you can make week after week after week until death, I'd suggest you try this one.

Edited September 6, 2011 by Jaymes (log)

[rotuts]

a Tbs of dark rum in any mixture improves it immensely as does a dusting of powdered sugar.

warm true maple syrup cant hurt either. grade D if you can find it. winning the lottery will help you with the D.

[Katie Meadow]

Personally I like a mix of approx 2 eggs to 3/4c milk, with a dash of vanilla or other extract. My experience is that the type of bread you use has a major impact on soaking time, so that is one of the variables that matters. I like to cut my bread about 3/4 inch to 1 inch thick. My current favorite bread to use is a sweet rustic batard-like bread. For some reason I find it crisps up on the exterior more readily than challah. The more you soak the bread, and the higher the heat, the more chance of sogginess I think. I saute my slices over a medium to medium-low flame in a modest amount of butter. For some reason I find that challah is prone to curling, thus creating areas that don't brown well. I don't seem to have that problem with a sweet batard, but I have no idea what really causes some breads to stay flat and get evenly crispy and other breads not.

Using this type of bread I would say I get about 6 slices of french toast from the amount of custard above. Perhaps the sweet batards I buy don't require as much liquid for absorption as some other breads might.

[Jaymes]

Regarding bread...

Just want to add that one of my granddaughters is gluten-intolerant. Her favorite breakfast is Hootie's (my grandma name) French toast. If you can make that awful gluten-free "bread" taste good, you're really doing something.

So I'll recommend that to anyone else out there dealing with the same issue.

[Lisa Shock]

I agree with the stale bread as a beginning. I usually use a challah loaf that is stale enough to have visibly shrunk. With stale bread, the custard gets absorbed well and you won't have an eggy mass on the outside of the bread. I fry in beurre noisette.

[Kouign Aman]

50/50 egg, milk.

A grating of orange peel & 1-2 T orange juice, and possibly some vanilla.

This is the Emeril for Kids and the Cooking for Dummies approach

Or - simpler, and better, a 'glug' of Grand Marnier.

my approach. My mom uses brandy instead.

Soak bread. I use some cheap costco brand of whole wheat, but it works with any kind of bread.

Its like cooking steak, you can adapt by learning how the bread feels when you poke it. If there's a fountain, its going to be custardy when its done. That's how we like it. If you dont, then reduce soaking time. Experiment. You can try a bunch of different soak/cook times in one breakfast, since each piece cooked can be cut into strips for serving, allowing the chef to sample.

Move soaked bread to warm pan with melted butter in it. Cook slowly ("med" to "med low" on my stove), til brown, flip & cook til done. Keep warm in pile on warm plate in low oven, ala pancakes. Best to use more than one pan and get it done fast, once you have a method you like, because it doesnt hold all the well, especially if you like the bread a bit dry in the middle.

[andiesenji]

I haven't made regular French Toast for many years. I much prefer my "mock" French Toast which turns out lovely every time and there is much less mess.

You can tweak the recipe to suit your own taste. It can be savory instead of sweet and it is a cinch that even the most inept cook can produce a lovely result.

The surface is just crusty enough and the interior is like custard.

For this batch I baked brioche rolls, cut the tops off, cubed the bottoms and soaked in the milk/egg mix and then added the tops and pressed them down so they would soak up the eggy mix.

Top sprinkled with granulated maple sugar which will caramelize after it's turned.

Edited September 6, 2011 by andiesenji (log)

[Chris Hennes]

Andie, that sounds fantastic. The one part I don't follow is how this method reduces the mess of French Toast: it seems like it would be about the same, no?

[DanM]

I typically wizz 2 tbsp of milk per egg in a blender. Bourbon is optional, but typically skipped due to the toddler. For bread, I use stale challah sliced 3/4" to 1" thick. I give it 20-30" perside. I sprinkle of cake spice mix or nutmeg goes on after the soaking. The eggy bread is fried in a fair amount of butter.

[Jaymes]

I haven't made regular French Toast for many years. I much prefer my "mock" French Toast which turns out lovely every time and there is much less mess.

You can tweak the recipe to suit your own taste. It can be savory instead of sweet and it is a cinch that even the most inept cook can produce a lovely result.

The surface is just crusty enough and the interior is like custard.

For this batch I baked brioche rolls, cut the tops off, cubed the bottoms and soaked in the milk/egg mix and then added the tops and pressed them down so they would soak up the eggy mix.

Top sprinkled with granulated maple sugar which will caramelize after it's turned.

Wow. I really admire you for starting off by baking your own bread. Impressive.

But I'll second the addition of a sprinkle of maple sugar. I do that sometimes as well. Or piloncillo, or other rough, raw sugars.

But I, too, am unsure as to how it "reduces the mess."

[suzilightning]

fg-

it is like toast dope. everyone has their own favorite recipe.

for my friend joyce she dips the stale bread in a batter then shallow fries it.

i made french toast for john this morning before he left for business travel. it was nothing more than beaten egg that had potato bread quickly soaked then fried in a pan that is only used to make french toast and pancakes that had been heated over medium high heat and coated with light olive oil. it browns up beautifully and he likes it with real maple syrup.

alton brown has a great recipe, too.

figure out what you want then go for it

[andiesenji]

Andie, that sounds fantastic. The one part I don't follow is how this method reduces the mess of French Toast: it seems like it would be about the same, no?

There is NO dipping of bread into the eggy mixture. The egg and milk is already in the bread pudding.

The sliced pudding is grilled or fried in butter (browned butter is a lovely option).

You can use any bread pudding recipe and bake it in a loaf pan, you don't have to use my recipe.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Half milk/half egg sounds like too much milk, especially with a soft bread like brioche loaf, though it might work for something drier and heavier. That would explain the sogginess. I don't measure it, but I'm probably using more like 1 part milk to 4 parts egg. The bread should be a bit dry.

[andiesenji]

When I don't have brioche and don't plan on baking, I buy a package of King's Hawaiian Sweet Rolls, cut them into pieces and bake them in a very low oven until just beginning to crisp then soak in the egg/milk mixture.

I make the bread pudding using about 1/3 less sugar because of the sweetness of the Hawaiian bread.

If I am making a savory "toast," I buy the large onion rolls, cut them up and etc., etc., etc.

After cooking on the griddle, these savory, eggy slabs are perfect for topping with various sauces, cheesy, dill, avocado, creamed asparagus and make a great starter.

Edited September 7, 2011 by andiesenji (log)

[threestars]

That looks great andie! I love French Toast and I haven't eaten any for years. That one you posted seems like a pretty good way to start it. Hoping to try it out soon.

[Jaymes]

When I don't have brioche and don't plan on baking, I buy a package of King's Hawaiian Sweet Rolls, cut them into pieces and bake them in a very low oven until just beginning to crisp then soak in the egg/milk mixture.

I make the bread pudding using about 1/3 less sugar because of the sweetness of the Hawaiian bread.

If I am making a savory "toast," I buy the large onion rolls, cut them up and etc., etc., etc.

After cooking on the griddle, these savory, eggy slabs are perfect for topping with various sauces, cheesy, dill, avocado, creamed asparagus and make a great starter.

Wonderful ideas. You're a treasure, Andie.

I don't really have the time or energy for baking anymore. But even I can pick up a package of King's Hawaiian Rolls. And I plan to do just that this very afternoon.

Thanks.

[andiesenji]

Jaymes, I have been posting about this for several years.

  andiesenji

Posted 08 January 2005 - 10:45 PM

First of all I would invite you for brunch. In preparation I would make some fresh duck sausage which is excellent for breakfast or brunch.

I would have prepared ahead of time one of my special bread puddings in a large, deep loaf pan.

This would be sliced in 3/4 inch thick slices and placed on a griddle on top of browned butter.

Prior to turning it to cook the top side, I would brush it with cream and sprinkle with granulated maple sugar which, after turning it over, would form a carmelized crispy crust on top of the "mock" French toast. This way it needs no syrup to make it soggy. The center is like custard under the carmelized maple sugar crust.

Since this is something I originated I do consider it a "signature" dish.

With fresh fruits in season, this is a simple, yet satisfying morning meal.

And again in other topics.

I used to make a bunch of these "pudding loaves" when I was still volunteering at fund raisers. Some of the local organizations have "pancake breakfasts" and at one event they wanted something a bit more upscale because some celebrities were going to attend.

Regular French toast is much too messy to prepare for loads of people standing in line to be served so I suggested we add this to the menu, which I originally developed when I was catering, back in the late '80s, so I had plenty of experience in cooking it for crowds.

I baked 20 pudding loaves in the extra-long disposable loaf pans (made it easier to slice as I could slice right through the pan sides (used an electric knife) and the resulting "French toast" was a big hit. We sold out and made a lot of money for charity.

It's been so long since I first developed this that I am not sure what exactly prompted me but I think I got the idea when I was preparing grits for a similar process.

Edited September 7, 2011 by andiesenji (log)