Perhaps it’s simply me, however pancakes really feel like an any-weekend meals, whereas French toast feels extra special day. Maybe it’s the truth that I grew up with the idea that French toast required planning and couldn’t be made on a whim: Not solely did the bread want some time to soak, it additionally needed to be stale earlier than soaking. Because of this, I don’t make French toast too typically.
However with visions of vacation mornings in my head — twinkly heat lights, the odor of cinnamon wafting from someplace — it appeared excessive time to revisit French toast and to check whether or not my assumption was really justified. Does French toast need to be a pre-planned affair, or are you able to simply whip it up on the fly?
To see whether or not dried versus recent bread, or long-soak versus fast, actually issues, I examined three fashionable French toast recipes from across the web, utilizing challah for every one. What I used to be searching for was moist, eggy-flavored bread that tasted good even with out being coated with butter and maple syrup. Right here’s what I discovered.
Lauren Allen, Tastes Higher from Scratch
This recipe, which claims the highest spot in Google’s search outcomes for “French toast recipe,” challenged my assumption that French toast requires planning. It claims that although it’s “good” to make use of stale bread, it’s not essential. And it requires no soaking in any respect — simply rapidly dipping the bread within the milk-and-egg combination, to which Allen provides flour. She claims this ends in “further fluffy” French toast; I can attest it makes the combination thicker and extra like a batter.
Allen’s recipe was definitely the best of those I attempted. It’s good to have the ability to suppose, I need French toast and have it completed inside just some minutes. That being mentioned, the top outcomes revealed the draw back of the expedited course of. The within of the bread didn’t appear to suck up any of the soaking combination; its inside seemed mainly indistinguishable from an everyday slice of challah. And whereas Allen claims the flour provides fluffiness, my completed French toast claimed in any other case. General, this French toast felt extra like calmly griddled, sweetened bread — considerably dry even after the addition of maple syrup.
I feel the success of this recipe is dependent upon what you’re searching for from French toast. I’m positive some individuals aren’t searching for a gentle, moist French toast, and I’d say this recipe is for them. However for my very own tastes, I knew I may do higher.
Daniel Gritzer, Severe Eats
Severe Eats editorial director Daniel Gritzer brings his publication’s signature rigorous testing to this “excellent” French toast recipe. Like Allen’s recipe, Gritzer’s is supposed to be comparatively fast: one thing you’ll be able to whip up with out a lot forethought. He extends his course of barely, nonetheless, by drying the bread within the oven, which takes about 10 minutes at a low temperature. That’s nonetheless quicker, after all, than ready for bread to go stale. Gritzer requires taking this dried bread and soaking it for a couple of minutes within the milk-and-egg combination. Earlier than flipping every slice of French toast, you sprinkle on some sugar.
I discovered that the dried bread positively sucked up the egg bathtub, which I may really feel the moment I lifted the slices to switch them to the pan. The inside of every slice was gentle, squishy, and calmly eggy in taste, whereas the sprinkle of sugar gave the outside just a little little bit of a crust. In comparison with Allen’s take, this French toast appeared probably the most remodeled from the preliminary slice of challah. It learn just a little extra moist, which, once more, aligned with my private desire.
Holly Nilsson, Spend with Pennies
Holly Nilsson’s French toast recipe feels engineered for a vacation morning, once you’ve already spent the day before today cooking a feast and nonetheless have a crowd of individuals to feed. What makes it so interesting is that you just do all of the work the night time earlier than. Nilsson’s recipe calls for putting oven-dried bread on a baking sheet on which you’ve already combined melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. You then pour a milk and egg combination over the bread, cowl it, and put the entire thing within the fridge in a single day. Within the morning, all it’s important to do is put the baking sheet within the oven.
I positively appreciated the convenience of this recipe, particularly contemplating it means that you can have a number of slices of French toast completed directly, as an alternative of leaving individuals ready when you prepare dinner them in batches in a pan. This recipe makes use of probably the most eggs of the bunch, calling for a whole dozen eggs per loaf of bread (for context, Allen’s recipe makes use of 4), however has a comparatively low quantity of milk by comparability (1½ cups; Allen’s requires ⅔ cup). The bread soaks fairly properly, however texturally, I discovered the consequence on the midpoint between Gritzer’s and Allen’s — neither dry nor moist. The combination of butter and melted sugar added a deep, barely caramelized taste that made every slice pleasing even earlier than I added maple syrup.
The Winner: Severe Eats
For my style in French toast, Gritzer’s recipe was the clear winner. The marginally dried, soaked bread had the custardy, tender texture I’m after, however the caramelized sugar crust despatched it over the sting — textural variation! Each this recipe and Nilsson’s proved to me that it’s nonetheless price utilizing oven-dried or stale bread and giving it a while to soak. A really fast model of French toast, like Allen’s, is feasible, positive, however I feel the outcomes present what you lose within the course of. As a lot as I favored Gritzer’s recipe, I’d in all probability attain for Nilsson’s if I actually needed to feed a crowd.
French toast photographs by Bettina Makalintal