5 tips for perfect French toast
Whether you make them with simple casino white bread, baguette or brioche: French toast is always the best way to use up stale bread. At least, if you make it the right way: no one is waiting for a soggy slice, of course. With these five tips, your French toast will always turn out perfectly.
1. The drier, the better
Whichever type of bread you use, make sure it isn’t sliced too thinly. You don’t want the bread to fall apart before it even reaches the pan. And the drier the bread, the better it functions as a sponge for the batter. Using yesterday’s bread? Dry it out in a preheated oven (120°C) for about 10 minutes, or leave the slices to dry at room temperature for about 1 hour; after that, you’re ready to go.
2. The right proportions
Until recently, I was rather casual when it came to the right proportions. These days, I very dutifully use a digital kitchen scale and advocate a strict weighing policy. If you’re not looking for sandwiches that taste like scrambled eggs, use the right proportions for the basic batter. That means: 1 egg yolk (approx. 20 g) per 100 ml whole milk and 1 level tbsp sugar (approx. 12 g). This is enough for 2 slices of casino white bread; you can easily calculate how much you need to feed the whole family.
3. The flavorings
You probably grew up eating French toast with cinnamon. If you ask me, it’s one of the best combinations imaginable. Although: to turn it into a custard-like mixture, scrape the seeds from ½ a vanilla pod and briefly whisk them into the batter. Or go for lemon and orange blossom as a counterpart to that enormous scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Just as delicious. If you’re not as old-fashioned as I am, go for French toast with bacon or French toast with Parmesan instead of sugar and cinnamon.
4. The right cooking time
The cooking time depends on the thickness of the bread you use. Fry thick slices for about 4 minutes on each side, and for thin slices – the standard sandwich bread – allow about 2 minutes per side. Naturally, French toast is at its best when generously fried in butter, but if you want to play it safe, go fifty-fifty with butter and vegetable oil. Ghee is also perfect for frying, but you do have to enjoy its rich flavor.
5. Toppings, toppings!
I already mentioned that enormous scoop of vanilla ice cream on top (definitely do it), but if you like, you can really go all out with the toppings. Fruit such as strawberries, blueberries and raspberries works well with whipped cream and ice cream. And how about chocolate, pecans, caramel, syrup or a combination of them? You get the idea; the toppings will be just fine, as long as the French toast is fried perfectly.
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