Here’s the truth about French toast: it tastes better when you follow a recipe. I (Kate) know, it sounds like my saying that strikes at the very soul of French toast. For about thirty years, I thought so, too. And during all those years, I disliked French toast. Then I followed a good recipe. And then we developed an even better one.
There’s more, but you might find it too controversial to tolerate. We don’t like French toast that tastes like dessert. French toast is a breakfast food. In fact, we don’t make it, ever, with brioche or challah. Most of the time we don’t even use French bread. Instead, we use wheat. Yes, wheat. You know what happens when you follow an easy recipe and make your French toast with a hearty, nutritious bread? You feel good. Head to toe.
French Toast
Serves 5 to 6
3 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
Large pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
1 to 2 tablespoons butter
10 to 12 slices sandwich bread
Break the eggs into a Pyrex pie dish. Whisk the eggs to break up the yolks. Add the milk, sugar, vanilla, salt, and nutmeg and whisk (with a whisk or fork) to blend.
Melt a tablespoon or so of butter in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. When the butter is melted and the pan is hot (a lot of the butter’s little bubbles will have popped), dip the bread on each side (we don’t like it to soak, we just put it in on one side for 5 to 8 seconds—8 seconds for denser bread), then flip it onto the other, then place it on the hot pan. Cook until the first side has some browning, around 90 seconds for us, then turn over to complete cooking on the other side, 60 to 90 seconds for us.
Especially when made with whole wheat bread, French toast can stand up to strongly-flavored syrups such as grade B maple syrup or sour cherry. Sprinkle with a little powdered sugar to make it pretty. My (Kate’s) beloved and forgiven grandma wouldn’t let me have both powdered sugar and syrup on French toast because she worried both together would make me too large to find a marriage partner. I learned that you need a LOT of powdered sugar to compensate for no syrup, and I encourage you to have both. #privilegesofadulthood
