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French toast– it’s a Sunday morning favorite in our house and after years of tinkering with egg to milk to sugar ratios, I am finally sharing “the one”. I like my french toast thick with a good texture; crunchy on the outside and tender, but not soggy on the inside. The bread that soaks up the custard makes a big difference as well.
The best bread I have found is challah or brioche. If you are a regular reader, you might have already figured that I use my Homemade Challah. It bakes up big, with a buttery, sweet flavor and a crumb that soaks up the custard just right. I add some vanilla, brown sugar, and a touch of ground cinnamon for sweetness and spice. Since we are a family of five, I fry up a large batch and refrigerate or freeze any leftovers for a quick weekday breakfast that warms up nicely in the toaster. If you do not want a large batch, you can certainly halve the recipe.
I like to use a cast-iron skillet to fry up the soaked bread slices. It makes for a golden, crunchy crust. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve with a good drizzle of real maple syrup.
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French Toast
Ingredients
- 12 large slices of day-old challah, homemade or good quality
- 6 extra-large eggs
- 1 ½ cups whole milk
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
- Butter for frying
- Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Accompaniments
- Powdered Sugar
- Maple syrup
Instructions
- In a shallow bowl or baking pan, whisk together the eggs. Add the milk, vanilla, cinnamon, brown sugar, and salt and whisk until well blended. Turn the bread slices, two at a time, in the egg mixture until thoroughly saturated, but not falling apart, about 20 seconds per side. Heat a large skillet (I like to use a cast-iron) over medium to medium-low heat and add 1 tablespoon of butter. When foaming subsides, add the soaked bread slices and cook until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes. Turn the bread and continue to cook until the second side is golden brown, another 3-4 minutes. Serve immediately or keep warm in a 200ºF oven while you finish the remaining bread slices. Dust with powdered sugar and serve with maple syrup. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is almost exactly my formula for french toast – I use homemade challah too. I had never thought to use vanilla, though. Will have to try that next week.
Hi! i chanced upon your blog when i was saw your gingerbread latte on foodgawker. yours is the kind of blog i'd enjoy reading. from what i see, the kind of recipes you post are what i'd like to try. 🙂 have you enabled subscribing thru rss feeds so i can place you on my google reader? 🙂 cheers! – gio
Hey Nicole, your French Toast is a Recipe Guessing Game on Knapkins. Think your friends can win? https://knapkins.com/guess_games/967?source=blog
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Challah makes for wonderful french toast! Yum.
"the one" reminds me of Matrix and soulmate. I bet this would taste good… A little precision and you've got a perfect french toast! nothing could have been better!
I came upon your blog from the kitchn link to your eggnog cheesecake bars, but oh my god was I jonesing for some french toast this morning. Challa makes amazing french toast! I saw a recipe that uses a tbs of Gran Marinier in the egg/milk mix, and it also adds a nice touch.
This Jew is happy to see that your challa is paired with bacon 😉