Classic French Toast (2024)

FAQs

What is the original French toast? ›

According to a collection of recipes from the early 5th century AD, the dish we now know as French toast existed as early as the age of the Roman Empire. In their style of French toast, called Pan Dulcis, Romans would soak bread in a milk and egg mixture, then fry it in oil or butter.

A staple food in France, French toast is named “Pain perdu” which translates literally to lost bread, reflecting the use of stale bread so it doesn't get “lost”. These slices of breads dunked in an eggy mixture and toasted in a pan are comforting, sweet and tender – and a breeze to make at home.

À votre santé (“to your health,” plural/formal) is used commonly as a generic toast. If you're only drinking with one other person and it's someone you know well, you'd probably use the singular informal version, À ta santé.

A basic rule of thumb is about 1/4 cup of milk and one egg per two-slice serving—and if you want to avoid that "scrambled" taste, use only the yolks of some or all of the eggs.

Leaving the bread in the egg mixture for too long is another route to soggy French toast.

French Toast is a delicious breakfast entree that is loved by many. With this in mind, french toast can be very calorie dense with high amounts of added sugar and fat. But, it can be tweaked to reduce the sugar and fat content while adding some fiber to your breakfast - yay!

You can leave it longer if you want. Just cover it and refrigerate it (it's fine in the fridge overnight). To bake the French toast, cover it and slide it into your oven for 30 minutes. Uncover it and then bake another 10 minutes until the bread looks puffed and golden brown on top.

A creamy custard is the key to incredible French toast, so skip the watery skim milk and go for whole milk or half-and-half. Straight heavy cream turns French toast into dessert, so lean that way if you're looking for decadence.

Alternative names and variants include eggy bread, Bombay toast, gypsy toast, and poor knights (of Windsor). When French toast is served as a sweet dish, sugar, vanilla, or cinnamon are also commonly added before pan-frying, and then it may be topped with sugar (often powdered sugar), butter, fruit, or syrup.

"French toast is a classic toast made up of bread soaked in beaten eggs, milk, cream, butter and then pan fried. It has two versions - sweet and savoury. Sweet version includes sugar, fruits and syrup and the savoury version has salt and sauces. The savoury version is called the Bombay toast.

What is French toast called in England? ›

The British call french toast “eggy bread," “gypsy bread" or “french-fried bread." And sometimes they serve it with ketchup.

French toast, Roman style

In it, sliced bread was soaked in eggs and several spices plus sugar and salt. In an interesting twist, there is a version of French toast in a 1660 cookbook called "The Accomplisht Cook" that calls for no eggs at all, but instead to soak bread in wine, sugar, and orange juice.

The usual French name is pain perdu (French: [pɛ̃ pɛʁdy] 'lost bread', reflecting its use of stale or otherwise "lost" bread. It may also be called pain doré 'golden bread' in Canada. There are fifteenth-century English recipes for pain perdu. An Austrian and Bavarian term is pafese or pofese.

What is the difference between torrijas and French toast? Torrijas are similar to French toast, but boozier, with sherry in the soaking milk. Unlike the process for making French toast, for torrijas, the bread is soaked in milk and eggs separately before it is fried.

For a solid French toast, aim for sturdy bread with a uniform texture and a soft crust. Hearty sandwich bread, brioche, challah, and shokupan (Japanese milk bread) are all great choices. Avoid rustic loaves with thick crusts or large holes in the interior.