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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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I’m eager to try this recipe – it sounds delicious. I have a question about leaving the bread out overnight. What if I can’t leave the bread out overnight because there would likely be ants? (I want to make this while staying at a friend’s cabin)
Hi Linda – The bread is left out so it dries out a little…stale bread will soak up the liquid more easily. You could either do this ahead of time (before you travel to the cabin) or you could lay the slices out on a baking sheet, then it in the oven on a very low temp just long enough to dry it (but not long enough to toast it). Hope those ideas are helpful!