French Toast
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My husband taught me his recipe for French Toast when we were still dating, and I’ve perfected it over the years. The cinnamon flavor may be my favorite part of about this comforting breakfast meal.
Cooking Level
FOUNDATIONAL | Beginner | Intermediate | Advanced
French Toast
Ingredients
- 4 - 6 thick slices of airy bread such as Challah or Brioche*
- 4 eggs
- 1 c milk
- 1 t vanilla
- 1 t ground cinnamon, plus more for dusting bread**
- 1/8 t nutmeg (preferably fresh-ground, but pre-ground is fine)
- 1 T sugar
- Large pinch (~1/4 t) salt
- 4 T butter or oil
Instructions
- Heat oven to 150 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a shallow bowl or a pie pan, beat the 4 eggs, 1 c milk, and 1 t vanilla together. Add the 1 t cinnamon, 1/8 t nutmeg, 1 T sugar, and large pinch of salt and whisk until sugar is dissolved and spices are incorporated into the egg mixture.
- Add 2 slices of bread to the egg mixture and let sit for 1-2 minutes, then flip and repeat with the other side.
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat; add 1 T butter or oil until hot.
- Just before adding the first two slices of battered bread to the pan, sprinkle one side of each slice with cinnamon. Put the bread cinnamon-side down in the pan, and sprinkle the other side with cinnamon.**
- Cook for 3-4 minutes until golden brown, then flip and repeat with the other side. Meanwhile, have the next two pieces of bread ready in the egg mixture. When the French toast is done, place on a plate in the preheated oven to keep warm.
- Continue until all 4-6 pieces of bread have been cooked, adding more butter or oil to the pan as necessary to avoid burning.
- Serve warm, and top with heated maple syrup, fresh berries, or dust with powdered sugar.
* Most breads will do (except the obvious cheesy, herbed, or garlic breads). Sandwich bread, French bread, Italian breads and Sourdough all work. The staler the bread is, the better. If your bread seems too soft for French Toast, stick it in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for about 15 minutes or so. This will dry out the bread and help it to absorb the batter without falling apart.
** If you’re not as big a fan of cinnamon as I am, feel free to skip this step!
One of my fondest memories of this recipe is when my husband Chris and I were travelling to Salt Lake City for a convention. We stayed in a place with a small kitchen to save on eating out, and we were told about a grocery store called Harmon’s which was within walking distance. We were absolutely blown away by the quality of ingredients at this store, but by far our favorites were the self-serve syrup and vanilla (you could fill small bottles with as much as you wanted) and the most amazing Challah bread from their bakery. It was so airy and fresh, and it was topped with these coarse sugar crystals that gave it an extra bit of sweetness. I still think that’s the best French Toast I’ve ever had. I’ll have to get back there some day and maybe I’ll even try to recreate that bread!
As a side note, I made a separate post on what I like to call the “Christmas” spices and this includes cinnamon and nutmeg. Check it out if you’d like to know where I get my ingredients and what I use them for!
