French Toast

Perfect Quick-and-Easy French Toast!

      My sister and her five-year-old son have been staying with me this week, so I wanted to be the fun uncle and asked ahead of time what foods he loves most. His list included Cheerios, chicken feet (he’s got a bold palate for a little kid!), and French toast. That last one was perfect because, coincidentally, I had just been discussing with Kenji how Serious Eats needed a solid, foolproof French toast recipe. This meant I could impress my nephew with homemade French toast every morning while also fine-tuning a great recipe for work, win-win!

When I explained my plan to my sister, testing multiple batches each day to perfect a basic French toast, she seemed unimpressed. “Isn’t it just eggs, milk, and bread? I never measure when I make it,” she said. She had a point. French toast is simple enough that you can throw together a few ingredients and still end up with something tasty. But when you look at different recipes, the variations are all over the place, some use more eggs, others less; some add sugar, while others don’t; some call for milk, others prefer cream. Each approach leads to a different result, and I wanted to find the ideal balance.

Before diving into the details, let’s set the scope: The goal here is to perfect a straightforward, everyday French toast that anyone can make with ingredients they likely already have. This isn’t about creating a fancy, over-the-top version that demands a special grocery run, that’s a project for another time.

Ingredients :

• Eight (1/2-inch thick) slices white bread
• 6 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons sugar, plus more for sprinkling
• Pinch kosher salt
• Pinch ground cinnamon
• Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups whole milk
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter for the pan, plus more for serving
• Maple syrup, for serving

Instructions :

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C) and place a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet. If your bread is particularly fresh and moist, arrange the slices in a single layer on the rack and bake for about 10 minutes, flipping once, until they’re lightly toasted.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla until well combined. Pour in the milk and whisk one more time until smooth.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a large non-stick or cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Swirl the pan until the butter is melted and the foaming subsides, about 5 minutes. Dip two slices of bread into the egg mixture, turning to coat both sides thoroughly. Place the soaked bread in the skillet and cook for about 3 minutes, occasionally swirling the pan, until the bottom is golden brown. Sprinkle a little sugar on the top side before flipping, then cook for another 3 minutes until evenly browned.
4. Transfer the cooked French toast to the wire rack in the oven to keep warm while you repeat the process with the remaining slices. Serve warm with butter and maple syrup.

Egg-to-Milk Ratio 

      One of the first questions that comes up when making French toast is: What’s the right ratio of eggs to milk? After scanning a variety of recipes, I found that most fall somewhere between two and four eggs per cup of milk. To make this test more fun for my nephew, I imagined explaining it as a fairy tale:

After settling into the comfiest bed for a nap, Goldilocks wandered over to the breakfast table, where she found three plates of freshly made French toast. She took a bite from Baby Bear’s plate, made with two eggs per cup of milk, and wrinkled her nose. “Too soggy and wet!” she complained.

Then she sampled Papa Bear’s French toast, which had four eggs per cup of milk. “Too dense and eggy,” she grumbled.

Finally, she tried Mama Bear’s version, with three eggs per cup of milk. Her eyes lit up. “This one’s perfect! Custardy and moist, but still light and fluffy,” she declared, before curling back up in the comfy bed for another nap.

(Of course, in the real ending, the bears come home, see their breakfast has been stolen, and decide that if Goldilocks can eat their food, they might as well return the favor. The lesson? Never mess with a bear’s French toast.)

To Sugar or Not to Sugar?

      One interesting debate in French toast recipes is whether or not to add sugar to the batter. Some include it, while others leave it out entirely. To settle the question, I tested three versions: one with no sugar, one with a tablespoon of sugar per cup of milk, and one with two tablespoons per cup. I fully expected this to be another Goldilocks moment, where the middle option would strike the perfect balance, pleasantly sweet without being over the top.

Turns out, the fairy tale doesn’t hold up here. The clear winner? The version with the most sugar. When paired with syrup, the sweeter French toast blended seamlessly, while the less sugary versions created a stark contrast that just felt off. We even swapped granulated sugar for an equal amount of maple syrup in the batter, but it didn’t noticeably change the flavor or texture.

So, if you’re worrying about sugar content, don’t. The takeaway here is simple: sweeter is better.

Milk vs. Cream

      Technically, this experiment goes a bit beyond the basic recipe since we’re sticking to common pantry staples. While milk is a kitchen essential for most, cream isn’t something everyone keeps on hand. Still, given its role in the batter, I figured it was worth testing.

I tried batches with 2% milk, whole milk, and heavy cream. The difference between 2% and whole milk was barely noticeable, but cream, unsurprisingly, had a noticeable impact. It created a thicker, more indulgent batter that led to a richer French toast. However, all that extra fat also left a lingering greasiness that I personally didn’t love. Some might not mind (or even prefer it), so it really comes down to individual taste.

The key takeaway? Milk works perfectly fine, and using it shouldn’t feel like a downgrade. (As for skim milk, I didn’t bother testing it, French toast isn’t supposed to be a health-conscious choice, and frankly, I can’t stand skim milk.)

The Bread: Fresh, Stale, or Oven Dried?

      At its core, French toast is all about giving new life to old, stale bread, hence the French name pain perdu, or “lost bread.” Many recipes exist for transforming dry bread into something delicious (just think of dishes that rely on breadcrumbs), and in my experience, the best results often come from oven-dried rather than naturally stale bread. The oven removes moisture while preserving fresh flavor, resulting in the ideal texture: crisp and toasty on the outside, soft but not mushy on the inside.

Interestingly, the best way to prepare the bread depends on the type. Soft, white sandwich bread benefits the most from oven-drying. When fresh, it tends to be too delicate, breaking apart after soaking and turning out wet and pulpy when cooked. Stale bread holds up better, but oven-dried slices perform best, they stay intact, absorb just the right amount of batter, and cook up perfectly moist without getting soggy.

On the other hand, crusty artisan loaves work best when used fresh or just slightly stale. When fully stale or oven-dried, they struggle to absorb the batter, no matter how long they soak. The crust, in particular, can stay overly tough and chewy. If you’re working with very stale, crusty bread, trimming the crust or soaking it overnight can help achieve better results.

Mixing the Batter

       At its core, French toast is all about giving new life to old, stale bread, hence the French name pain perdu, or “lost bread.” Many recipes exist for transforming dry bread into something delicious (just think of dishes that rely on breadcrumbs), and in my experience, the best results often come from oven-dried rather than naturally stale bread. The oven removes moisture while preserving fresh flavor, resulting in the ideal texture: crisp and toasty on the outside, soft but not mushy on the inside.

Interestingly, the best way to prepare the bread depends on the type. Soft, white sandwich bread benefits the most from oven-drying. When fresh, it tends to be too delicate, breaking apart after soaking and turning out wet and pulpy when cooked. Stale bread holds up better, but oven-dried slices perform best, they stay intact, absorb just the right amount of batter, and cook up perfectly moist without getting soggy.

On the other hand, crusty artisan loaves work best when used fresh or just slightly stale. When fully stale or oven-dried, they struggle to absorb the batter, no matter how long they soak. The crust, in particular, can stay overly tough and chewy. If you’re working with very stale, crusty bread, trimming the crust or soaking it overnight can help achieve better results.

Finishing Touches 

      The final experiment was to see if adding a sprinkle of sugar to the soaked bread would have a noticeable effect. As expected, it did, the sugar caramelized beautifully, creating a crisp, crackly crust. A simple trick with a delicious payoff!

Flavorings 

   Wondering about flavorings? This is where things get tricky, mainly because the possibilities are endless. But if you’re sticking to a simple, pantry-friendly recipe, a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg with a splash of vanilla is a solid choice. From there, the sky’s the limit!