French toast: everything you need to know to make it at home

Appetizing French toast is one of the most favorite breakfast dishes in metropolitan restaurants. Margarita Bistro serves one of the best dishes for the taste of Afisha Daily. Chef Leonid Golubev shared with the editors all the secrets of the dish - we suggest that you do not deny yourself the pleasure and be sure to cook it. It's not difficult at all.

Chef at Margarita Bistro

What is French toast?

Do you remember how, as a child, my mother prepared sweet croutons for breakfast from stale bread soaked in an egg-milk consistency? Congratulations, you now understand what French toast is! Obviously, the manufacturing options may vary, but the essence is truly the same. The history of the dish is prosaic: this is how bread was “rescued.”

French toast is one of the most popular breakfast dishes, along with eggs Benedict, not only in France, but also in other countries. You can prepare both sweet and neutral-tasting toast, which will go perfectly with, for example, salmon and cream cheese. And the sweet one can be served with a scoop of ice cream or chocolate spread, you will get a beautiful dessert.

What kind of bread is suitable?

In European countries, they often eat brioche - a rich bun, very soft and airy, with a sweetish creamy taste. Thanks to its porous structure, it perfectly absorbs the egg mixture, and the toast itself comes out crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. But in Moscow, brioche is rarely found, mainly in small artisan bakeries. You literally can’t find it in regular stores, but that’s not a failure. You can remember your childhood and take an ordinary snow-white sliced loaf or, even better, toast square bread.

The amount of sugar that needs to be added to the egg mixture also depends on the bread: for example, brioche makes great sweet toast because it itself is sweet.

What is better - fresh bread or stale bread?

You can make toast from any type of bread—newly baked, or even slightly stale. Naturally, in restaurants they usually use the freshest, but at home this is not necessary. It’s important to keep one thing in mind: the fresher your bread, the faster it absorbs liquid. Accordingly, it will be enough to dip such a piece into the egg mixture for almost a few seconds, and the older one will have to be kept longer.

Thick or narrow?

It's a matter of your taste. I cook differently all the time, depending on the bread and my mood. It is better to cut brioche thicker - 1.5-2 centimeters, and toast bread, on the contrary, thinner - 0.5-1 centimeter. The same principle applies here as with the freshness of bread: the thicker the slice, the longer we keep it in consistency. Thin toasts are the crispiest, while fluffy toasts are softer on the inside.

What is needed besides bread and eggs?

Apart from them, the basic ingredients are milk, sugar, salt and oil for frying. For the creamiest toast, I recommend swapping some of the milk for heavy cream in a ratio of about 70 to 30. The amount of sugar can be varied depending on preference and whether the topping is sweet or not. By the way, if you use brown sugar rather than snow-white sugar, you will get the most golden brown crust. You don't have to add it at all. Butter is usually used, but vegetable oil is also suitable, or better yet, their composition.

You can experiment with the base given to us. The traditional version will harmoniously complement vanilla, and cinnamon or a pinch of nutmeg will add spice. You can replace some of the milk or cream with espresso, then a colorful coffee note will appear. You can also drink tea: for example, brew buckwheat tea with milk and add it to the egg mixture - the color of milk cookies will appear in the taste. Also try swapping cow's milk for coconut milk.

French toast recipes

Not many people understand that our beloved croutons are true French toast (recipes are presented in the article). The only difference is that a European breakfast is served with different toppings - additives. Previously, this method was simply used to refresh stale baked goods, but over time, toast became an independent dish. Recipes for this dish have been known since the 1st century BC! French toast is called in Russia and France. In other countries they are called differently, for example, Italian, Roman or monastic.

A real tasty breakfast or snack can be prepared in just a couple of minutes. Even a child can cope with this. The article contains recipes for breakfast toast with photos. You can also find a few useful tips that will help you create crispy and appetizing French toast.

Traditional French toast

The amount of ingredients is for two servings. You can eat any kind of bread, depending on your preferences. Black, snow-white, greyish, buns, baguette, or with various additives. It is believed that stale baked goods taste better.

Ingredients

Bread, loaf or buns - 6 slices.
Egg – 3 pcs.
Salt is on the tip of a knife.
Sugar (optional) – 1 tsp.
Milk – 2 tablespoons per 1 testicle.
Butter or vegetable oil - 3 tablespoons.

Additives - to taste.

A very important point is that the topping is added only after roasting. Any products can be used as a supplement:

jams, preserves or marmalade;
condensed milk, chocolate spread, syrup;
cinnamon, nuts, honey;
fruit and whipped cream;
curd mass or cheese,
boiled, sausage, bacon, sausages, ham.

It is better to fry the meat additives in advance - this will give a unique taste to the French toast.

Manufacturing procedure

We will need a deep bowl for beating eggs, a whisk or a fork, a spatula and a large flat serving plate.

The frying pan is placed on fire. It is better to choose dishes for frying with a thick bottom.
Break the eggs into a separate cup, add salt (and/or sugar) and beat well with a whisk. There is no need to use a mixer for these purposes unless you are cooking for 10 people.
Add milk and beat again. If there is no milk in the house, you can add water.
Pieces of bread are perfectly dipped in an egg mixture on both sides so that they are soaked. Here it is important to find a middle ground - so that the toast does not remain dry and at the same time does not get soggy.
Place on a hot frying pan. The oil must be perfectly heated.
Fry the bread on both sides until golden brown and place on a plate.
Add the topping while the toast is still hot.

French toast "Berry dessert"

The most tender and unique dish can be prepared using cream, yogurt and berries. Snow-white bread, buns or loaves are suitable as a base. It will take a little longer to prepare, but in return you will get a tasty and necessary breakfast.

Ingredients

We will need several of the widest list of products:

Bread – 8 slices.
Testicle – 4 pcs.
Milk – 1/3 cup.
Cream (fat content to taste) – 1/3 cup.
Sweet powder – 100 gr.
Butter – 2 tablespoons.
Yogurt – 1 glass.
Frozen or fresh berries - 1.5 cups.
Cinnamon – 1 teaspoon.

Manufacturing procedure

We will need a deep bowl for beating eggs, a whisk or a fork, a saucer for cinnamon, a small saucepan, a spatula and a large flat serving plate.

Pour half a glass of water and a quarter of sugar into a small saucepan.
Turn on low heat and heat while stirring constantly.
Once the powder dissolves, the syrup must be brought to a boil.
Keep it in this state for about 5 minutes, then add the berries and stir thoroughly. The stove can be turned off.
Separately combine a quarter of the sweet powder with cinnamon.
In a deep bowl, beat the egg and milk with a whisk or fork.
Turn on the heat and heat the oil in a frying pan.
Dip the bread slices into the beaten egg and let soak slightly.
Transfer the toast to a heated frying pan and fry on both sides.
Place on a wide serving plate and immediately sprinkle with a mixture of sweet powder and cinnamon.

Drizzle berry syrup on top. Before serving, top French toast with yogurt.

A few secrets

French toast should be toasted at a higher than medium temperature. At the highest heat, the outside of the bread may burn, but the inside may remain raw. The crust should form quickly, and the bread should be one hundred percent fried. Raw eggs pose a health hazard.

Black or stale bread is soaked a little longer. A snow-white bun or baguette is only dipped in an egg.

Toasts can be cut into any shape: square, triangular, round or heart-shaped. To obtain a stable and homogeneous foam, the eggs must be removed from the refrigerator in advance - 10-15 minutes before production.

Use a flat, wide plate to place the fried bread. It is better not to stack toasts on top of each other - the crispy crust will disappear.

French toast, traditional travel recipe

French toast (French le pain perdu, English french toast) is a traditional dish of bread, which is soaked in the consistency of eggs and milk, and then fried in butter. But the geography of French toast is so wide and exciting that as the traditional French recipe travels around the planet, you can fully learn the ways of the wandering of French civilization around the world, the migration of its culinary tastes and preferences.

In French Quebec (Canada), for example, French toast is called golden bread - “le pain doré” and is usually served with maple syrup. There are other, no less colorful names for this dish - bread with eggs, Bombay toast, German toast, gypsy toast, “poor knights of Windsor” and torrija.

French toast recipe history

The earliest memory of French toast is found in a collection of Latin recipes that were collected in the 4th century, at that time they were called “aliter dulcia” (another sweet dish). The image contains information that the bread needs to be soaked in milk, but nothing is said about the eggs.

In medieval Europe, French toast had a thousand different names - “suppe dorate”, “soupys yn dorye”, “tostées dorées” and “payn purdyeu”, they were served with meat, cheese, game, etc.

Ancient recipes in Germany of the fourteenth century preserved the mention that such a dish was affordable for not very rich people from the magnanimous classes. In German it sounds like “Arme Ritter” (poor knights), hinting that its production does not require huge financial costs.

As for the real French name for French toast, it sounds like “le pain perdu”, which translated from French means “lost bread”, i.e. one that has already dried out has lost its freshness and needs to be “reanimated” with milk and eggs, fried in butter. It is curious that the French often use the word “perdu” when talking about painful expenses.

In some regions of France - for example, in Périgord, this dish is called “gilded” (dorée) or “dodin” (dodines), in the north of the country - “fallen bread” (pain crotté) or “metal bread” (pain ferré) .

In Austrian and Bavarian cuisine there are also special definitions for French toast - they call such toast “pafese” or “pofese”, the origin of the name is connected with “zuppa pavese”, i.e. soup from Pavia (35 km from Milan), Italy.

In Hungary, an even more intricate term was invented for French toast - bundáskenyér (Hungarian bundáskenyér), “shaggy bread”.

Since France has several European countries in its neighborhood, each of them has also learned to prepare French toast, naming it in its own way. For example, the Dutch coined the term “gewonnen brood” (reconstituted bread), the British commonly use the name “poor knights of Windsor”, seemingly hinting that one should not confuse bread fried in butter with real English pudding .

In the United States, French toast has recently become particularly popular as part of prestigious organic diets. But they kept the original title, offering it a slightly British charm - French toast.

In Switzerland, where quite a lot of French people live, this dish is called “golden crust” (croûte dorée). In Portugal, French toast was made a common Christmas dish and they gave it an original name - “rabanadas”.

Housewives from Mexico, remembering the real roots of toast, respectfully call them “Pan Francés,” which translated from the original language means “French bread.”

French toast in Spain

Torrija (Spanish: Torrija) is a common Spanish recipe for toast, which is usually prepared here for Lent and Holy Week. The bread is soaked in milk or wine with honey and spices, then dipped in beaten eggs and fried in olive oil. The toasts are crispy on the outside and soft and tender on the inside. To add more flavor, torrija is often sprinkled with cinnamon, creating an extra flavorful touch to the dish.

French toast in Turkey

We've heard about French fried bread in Turkey too. It is served for breakfast under the name “Kızartma Ekmek”, “fried bread”, but the recipe used to prepare the toast does not contain milk, only eggs, which obviously contradicts the unique French recipe. Another difference between Turkish toast is that it is fried in vegetable oil, while in France they are cooked to a crispy golden crust only in butter. To make it even tastier, Turkish breakfasts with toast are usually accompanied by various jams.

French toast in exotic countries

Those travelers who have been to the Maldives probably had the opportunity to try the local version of a traditional French dish. In the Maldives archipelago it is known under the name “roast paan”, which practically means “fried bread”. It is usually prepared by dipping pieces of bread into a mixture of eggs and condensed milk and then frying it.

French toast in Hong Kong is a common treat in Chinese restaurants (cha chaan teng), served with butter and golden sweet syrup or honey. There are also toasts in Hong Kong that are completely suitable for a hearty lunch - they use a different type of interior: dried meat (rusong), coconut jam (kaya) - a mixture of coconuts, eggs and sugar, ham or beef.

French toast in New Orleans, USA (United States of America is a country in North America)

The Creole cuisine of New Orleans also left its own mark on the authentic French dish. Toast here is called in the French manner - le pain perdu and is served for breakfast. As an addition, use egg-based custard pastry cream, sweet syrup made from cane sugar, honey, and fruit syrups. The top of the crispy pieces is generously sprinkled with sweet powder.

French toast in Brazil

French toast came to Brazil thanks to the Portuguese, who sailed to conquer uncharted lands back in the Middle Ages. The usual Brazilian name for the delicacy is rabanada. It is made from slices of French bread cut diagonally. The bread is soaked in the consistency of milk and eggs, then fried well and flavored with cinnamon and sugar.

For Brazilians, rabanada has become a common Christmas dessert, which was brought to the shores of South America by their distant Portuguese forefathers.

How to make French toast

As for modern French cuisine, the chefs of almost all recognizable restaurants have done a great job of enriching the taste of French toast with a wide variety of accompanying ingredients. They are seasoned with cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, fruit syrups, honey, butter and healthy seeds, flambéed, supplemented with frozen fruit, and consumed as an element of unique desserts. From time to time, before frying, the bread is soaked in wine, rose water or orange juice; in general, French toast can undergo this procedure even after production.

But the first most basic step of making French toast remains the same: cut the bread into slices, dip it in a mixture of milk and eggs and fry on both sides in butter until golden crisp.

French toast in the oven

Ingredients

Toast bread (stale) – 8 slices

Ground cinnamon – 1 tsp.

Vanilla sugar – 10 g

Chicken egg – 3 pcs.

Salt – 1 pinch

Butter – 2-3 tbsp.

Vegetable oil – 1 tbsp.

Honey - for serving (optional)

236 kcal
40 min.
40 min.

Photo of the finished dish

Video recipe: French toast in the oven

Step-by-step recipe with photos and videos

Oven-baked, fragrant, sweet French toast is a beautiful option for a hearty and savory breakfast that can be prepared without much hassle. Having preserved all the most delicious things that are in traditional French toast - a tender, creamy crumb, a subtle aroma of spices and an appetizing, slightly crispy golden crust, we will exclude only the most boring and painful part of their making - frying the toast in a frying pan. Instead, we’ll just send all the toasts into the oven at once, where they will be perfectly fried and deliciously browned without any outside help. Delicious and simple. What else is needed for a comfortable breakfast?!

To make French toast in the oven, prepare the ingredients according to the list.

Line a baking tray with baking paper and grease with vegetable oil. Use oiled baking paper or silicone-coated non-stick paper for baking, as toast will stick to regular paper.

Mix 2 tbsp. sugar and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and use the mixture to sprinkle on toast.

Cut any slice of stale toast bread into 3 pieces.

Combine eggs, milk and vanilla sugar. Add a pinch of salt and mix the ingredients until smooth.

Dip the pieces of bread into the egg-milk mixture on both sides and place on prepared baking paper.

Brush the pieces of bread with melted butter.

Sprinkle with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon and place the toast in an oven preheated to 175 degrees.

Bake the toast for 13-15 minutes on one side. Then turn over, grease with butter and sprinkle the other side of the pieces of bread with sugar and cinnamon, place them back in the oven and bake for another 15 minutes, until golden brown.

Transfer the toast to a plate, garnish with berries, syrup or honey if desired, and serve.

You see, the French toast in the oven turned out quite delicious. Bon appetit!