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Make Perfect French Toast with our simple tips and tricks.
French Toast is an easy and delicious breakfast. It’s simply sliced bread that has been soaked in an egg and milk mixture, then fried in a pan.
But today, we’re sharing a few of our secrets that will absolutely transform this brunch favorite into Perfect French Toast!
Tips and Tricks to make Perfect French Toast
Choose the right bread. Selecting the perfect bread for your French Toast really does make a difference! You want a bread that is light and fluffy but still firm, so it has the structure to absorb the egg mixture.
We recommend using French Brioche – a bread that is almost a cross between bread and pastry. It has eggs, milk and butter in the dough which gives it that perfect light, fluffy and firm texture we want for our French toast – plus it’s delicious! Brioche is typically available in the bakery section of your supermarket.
Buy unsliced bread. If possible, we suggest buying unsliced brioche so you can cut the bread as thick as you’d like.
We like a thicker (but not too thick) Perfect French Toast, so we cut our loaf into one-inch slices. One inch is, in our opinion, a perfect thickness because it allows a good amount of egg mixture to absorb into the bread, but it’s not so thick that the inside of the slice is undercooked once the outside is golden brown.
Allow the bread slices to dry overnight. Similar to the idea of using stale bread for French Toast, we set our slices of brioche out overnight on a rack so that the bread slices dried out just slightly. This allowed the bread to more easily absorb the egg and milk mixture.
Eggs to Milk ratio is import. Perfect French Toast has the perfect amount of eggs to milk in the dipping mixture. If you have too much egg, the mixture won’t fully absorb and you’ll end up with fried eggs around the edge of your French Toast. And, if you use too much milk, your French Toast will wind up soggy. Our recipe below gives you the perfect proportions to use for one loaf/eight slices of brioche.
Flavor the egg and milk mixture. We added granulated sugar, a touch of salt (to help enhance the sweetness), vanilla and seasonings including cinnamon and nutmeg to our egg and milk mixture. This way, the flavors infuse the bread as they soak.
Don’t over-soak your French Toast. Another reason your French Toast comes out soggy may be because you’ve over-soaked the bread. We recommend a 90-second soak on each side – then remove the slices to a platter to rest until you are ready to start frying.
Fry in butter. This decadent breakfast is even more delicious when you fry your French Toast in butter! Melt the butter on a flat griddle until it starts to foam, then place your soaked slices on the griddle. This high heat and the butter will instantly start to caramelize the bread – creating that gorgeous golden crust. Ninety seconds of frying on each side was the perfect length of time for our one-inch thick brioche slices.
Serve your Perfect French Toast immediately – with melted butter, warm maple syrup, or a sprinkle of confectioner’s sugar. Enjoy!
You may enjoy these other breakfast ideas:
- Southwestern Breakfast Muffins
- Easy Brunch Egg Cups (& Make-Your-Own Brunch Bar Ideas)
- Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole
- How to Cook Bacon in The Oven
- Salmon Hash with Poached Eggs
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Perfect French Toast
Ingredients
1 loaf of unsliced French Brioche, approximately 1 pound in weight
6 large eggs
4 teaspoons granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Few grinds nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
4 tablespoons butter, plus more to serve with each portion
1 cup of warmed maple syrup
Instructions
Slice a small sliver off each end of the bread then cut the loaf in half. Cut each half in half, then each piece in half to yield eight slices, about one inch thick.
Place a rack over a sheet tray and lay out the slices and let sit overnight uncovered to dry out the bread.
In a medium bowl, vigorously beat eggs then whisk in sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and milk. Cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.
When ready to serve, whisk once more then pour the egg mixture into a casserole dish. We used a 9X13 so we could dip four at a time.
Place four slices into the egg mixture and time 90 seconds. Flip and time 90 seconds more. Remove to a clean tray. Repeat for last four pieces of bread.
Heat one large or two medium griddle pans over medium heat and melt two tablespoons of butter per pan, or all four if using one large griddle.
Once the butter is frothy and starting to brown slightly, place all of the soaked bread onto the melted butter and time 90 seconds. Flip and cook 90 seconds more.
Remove to a serving platter and serve with softened butter and heated maple syrup. Serve two slices per person.
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Best French Toast ever Thanks
You’re welcome Patrick – thank you!
Soaking each side of the bread for 90 seconds oversaturates the bread and makes it soggy even after cooking.
I shouldn’t be soggy, Yvonne – but if you didn’t use 1-inch slices of brioche as we called for in the recipe, you might see different results. A less dense bread could soak up too much egg mixture.
The slices were one inch or thicker. I used French bread loaf, I don’t know if it was “brioche.” Don’t know if that made a difference.
Hi Yvonne – French bread is a much lighter and less dense loaf of bread than brioche. Brioche is a dense bread made with egg in the dough so it withstands a good soak of the mixture.
I have a quick tip. Instead of drying the bread overnight, try using the low setting on your toaster to quickly dry out the bread. Especially if you forgot about the overnight method and need your French toast fix right away.
Thanks Barb! Great suggestion!
This is a GREAT Recipe! Is adaptable to you likeness (i.e. if you want more/less eggs or sugar or cinnamon – no problem!) Even with my time crunch it was DELICIOUS!
Only had half a loaf days OLD Brioche Bread and was debating what to do with it. Found your recipe on Pinrest.
I added 2 less eggs and for the sugar I added half sugar cane/half light brown sugar and since I decided to make it last minute I mixed all ingredients, then soaked the slices in the batter and put them on 9×13 for about an 1.5hr in refrigerator (the left over mix/batter, I added when I was cooking the French Toast) Had to go to the supermarket to buy Bananas & Heavy Cream and Vanilla Ice Cream. I was in the mood for Bananas Foster French Toast.
Next time I make this French Toast recipe- I will make sure I plan ahead so that let all the ingredients meld together! But Honestly, This recipe turn out AMAZING!
Thank you for Sharing!
You’re very welcome Nidia!
Family loved this I went ahead followed it directly was amazing I made sausage links sunny side up egg and bacon and make a sandwich with the French toast my 4 year old ate almost two sandwiches!!!! Will be using this way more often!
Thanks Carl!
I just made this French toast for Thanksgiving breakfast and it is fantastic. My family loved it. Thank you for such a great recipe I will be making it again , for Christmas breakfast.
You’re very welcome Connie! So glad you enjoyed it (as much as we do!) and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season!
Hi. Can mix up the egg mixture two days in advanced?
Hi Diane – I wouldn’t…once you’ve broken open the egg shell, it’s easy for bacteria to be introduced. I’d personally mix the egg mixture no more than the night before and ideally, the morning you plan to cook it.
This is very good, but I used Hawaiian Round Loaf bread! Delish!
I’m sure that bread added even more sweetness Betty!