French Toast Recipe

By
Danilo Alfaro
Danlio Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro has published more than 800 recipes and tutorials focused on making complicated culinary techniques approachable to home cooks.
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Updated on 05/23/22
French toast with blueberries and strawberries
Brian Macdonald/Photodisc/Getty Images
Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 20 mins
Total: 35 mins
Servings: 4 servings
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
299 Calories
13g Fat
33g Carbs
12g Protein
Show Full Nutrition Label Hide Full Nutrition Label
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories 299
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 13g 16%
Saturated Fat 6g 28%
Cholesterol 201mg 67%
Sodium 376mg 16%
Total Carbohydrate 33g 12%
Dietary Fiber 2g 6%
Total Sugars 6g
Protein 12g
Vitamin C 0mg 0%
Calcium 119mg 9%
Iron 3mg 17%
Potassium 151mg 3%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

The way French toast originated is that it was a way to use up day-old bread. Because back then (like medieval times basically) it was customary to bake fresh bread every single day, so if you had any leftover from the day before, you had to figure out what to do with it.

And significantly, the mindset was that you would rather invent a whole new recipe than ever throw away food—so as a result, we have French toast.

But it also turns out that slightly stale bread is actually the best for making French toast because stale bread absorbs more of the egg mixture than fresh bread will. If the only bread you have just popped out of the oven, you could try toasting it very slightly first.

But the reality is that today, most of us buy our bread at the store, which means a brand new loaf of bread was probably baked yesterday anyway (or even earlier), and I bet you don't use up a whole loaf in a single day in any case. So no matter what, you're ready to make French toast.

This easy French toast recipe can be modified and enhanced by adding cinnamon, nutmeg, or orange zest. For grown-up French toast, add a splash of rum or brandy to the custard mixture.

Ingredients

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

  2. Preheat oven to 200 F.​

  3. Beat the eggs thoroughly.

  4. Whisk in the sugar, half-and-half, and vanilla.​

  5. Pour the egg mixture into a shallow glass dish. An inch deep should be fine.​

  6. Heat your griddle to medium-low and melt the butter on it.​

  7. Soak a couple of slices of bread (but only as many your griddle can accommodate at once) in the eggs while you count to 10. Flip them over and repeat.​

  8. Carefully remove the soaked slices from the eggs, letting the excess liquid drain back into the dish, and transfer the bread to the griddle.

  9. Flip when the bottoms are golden brown.

  10. When the other sides are also golden brown, remove from the griddle and place on a foil-lined baking sheet and place in your preheated oven to keep warm while you cook the remaining French toast.

  11. Serve French toast right away and enjoy.