An Easy Recipe for Baked French Toast with Apples - California Grown (2024)

FAQs

What is one common mistake when preparing French toast? ›

If the pan isn't hot enough when you put your first slice in, the custard spreads out, forming a "foot" on the bottom of the French toast. When the pan is hot enough, the batter won't have time to seep; the custard will start cooking as soon as it hits the pan. Give the pan a light coating of neutral oil and butter.

How can you cook French toast so that it doesn't get soggy from the egg mixture but still gets soaked through in order to be soft inside? You need to slice your bread the day before and leave it out to dry overnight. That way, it soaks up the egg while maintaining its shape. Much better final texture.

Your perfect companion for making French toast is a non-stick frying pan. CRISTEL® has an exceptional selection of non-stick frying pans with removable handles that are great for both pan-frying and also oven-cooking.

Whatever you decide on, the ratio of liquid to egg will still be about ¼ cup liquid to one egg, and one egg per two slices of bread. So, if you want to make four slices of French toast, you would need four slices of bread, two eggs, and ½ cup milk. How's that for an easy recipe?

1. Not choosing the right bread. The heart and soul of French toast really is the bread — use something sub-par and the final result is going to be sub-par. The best bread is spongy and sturdy so that it will be able to soak up the custard without completely falling apart.

Butter gives French toast a deep richness and comforting quality, which are what we crave on mornings we sizzle this breakfast staple. To prevent burning or smoking, use a combination of butter and oil in the pan to cook the toast.

Ideally, the bread should be slightly stale. A drier bread will soak up all the custard. Bread can be left out with the wrapper open the day before cooking. If you find yourself in a pinch, dry your bread slices in a 275°F oven for 10 minutes before soaking them in the custard.

The best breads for French toast are brioche, sourdough, French bread, or challah. These varieties are dense and sturdy enough to handle total saturation in the wet, milky, egg custard without falling apart. However, in a pinch, any thick-sliced white bread will do.

Ideally it's best if you can soak the bread in the french toast batter overnight however, if this cannot be done I suggest leaving it soak for a minimum of 30 minutes to 1 hour. As we want that custard like middle, cut very thick slices of bread.

As you cook the French toast, bits of that nutty brown-butter flavor slowly develop — much slower than they would if you cooked with just butter alone — so the the French toast has time to cook evenly without burning. A neutral oil, like canola, is the way to go since it won't disrupt the flavor of the butter.

Why is restaurant French toast so much better? ›

Restaurant French toast is generally a superior product because of time. Letting it soak in the custard for up to five minutes allows more delicious dairy to be absorbed. This step is where having stale bread is essential. Using soft fresh bread will take on too much custard and become a mushy mess.

Choose the Right Bread: Use thick slices of day-old bread, such as brioche, challah, or French bread, for your French toast. Stale bread absorbs the egg mixture better without becoming too soggy. Dry the Bread: If your bread is fresh, lightly toast the slices in a toaster or oven before dipping them in the egg mixture.

If you are watching your weight and health then you should know that French toast contains quite a high amount of saturated fat. This could be attributed to the eggs and milk that are among the ingredients of French toast. Saturated fat is one of the types of fats that you should avoid on a regular basis.

Nail the Egg-to-Milk Ratio

Eggs and milk are the essential components of the custard base that gives French toast its tender richness—but get their ratio off and you'll wind up with undercooked slices that have an unpleasantly savory "scrambled eggs" flavor.

The first is using fresh bread, which soaks up too much of the egg mixture and doesn't cook through, remaining eggy and soggy in the middle. Leaving the bread in the egg mixture for too long is another route to soggy French toast.

"If you use fresh bread, it will soak up the [custard] so quickly that you run the risk of your French toast falling apart," explains Traci Weintraub, founder and head chef at Gracefully Fed. Alternatively, "slightly stale bread tends to hold up better in the liquid mixture," she says.