Over the years I’ve found that my family really enjoys French toast. It’s pretty rare that I make it, so it’s considered a meal for special occasions. We buy a special loaf of brioche, fresh bananas and strawberries, sometimes strawberry syrup, and whip up a batch to share.

French toast, like pancakes and waffles, is terrific for adding all kinds of toppings. In that way, each person can customize their dining experience to add savory or sweet, fresh or processed, or just plain if that’s your thing. I prefer to make them with lots of fresh fruit. My kids of course love to add syrup, powdered sugar, and whipped cream. It’s a sometimes food, so I guess that’s okay.

While making French toast is a pretty easy meal to make, there are lots of ways to make them. As I have discovered, some ways are MUCH better than others. For that reason, I’m excited to share my recipe with you.

Let’s take a look at how to make tasty French toast that you can share.

The Custard

Custard is just a term for a mixture of eggs and milk, often with sugar. It can be cooked into a pudding, a filling (such eclairs), or as a topping. In the case of French toast, it’s a batter for coating bread.

Back in the day, I used to just whisk some eggs with water to make a wash, dip whatever white bread I had on hand, and would basically have fried egg stuck to bread, which wasn’t very appetizing. Needless to say, I didn’t make French toast very often.

Over time, I came across some recipes that suggested using milk instead of water, and using a blender instead of a whisk. I found that was transformational. The eggs broke up so much more evenly and the milk made it more creamy, and better incorporated with the eggs. Adding a little all purpose flour gave the custard more thickness and stretched it further. I also added a pinch of salt and some vanilla for even more flavor.

The Bread

I thought that French toast could be done with just any bread I had on hand. Which, technically is true, but not if you want everyone to really love it. Enter brioche. I don’t even remember where I found that tip, but I’m sure it was a Google search for best bread for French Toast or something similar.

I’ve seen recipes call for sourdough, egg bread, country bread, and French bread. But the idea of having a sweet bread like brioche made perfect sense. Another sweet bread that’s supposed to be good is challah, which I plan to experiment with soon. For a healthier spin, I’ve also made with Arnold’s Healthy Nut bread which came out really well.

Making French Toast

When making my version of French toast, I dredge my bread on both sides in the egg/milk custard, careful not to soak it, let the excess drip off, then place a up to 6 pieces on my griddle at a time.

I don’t usually add butter to the griddle. But recently started doing that with my pancakes and it really adds some rich flavor, so I tried it with French toast as well. Just a little pat of butter melting across your cooking surface will be great. When it starts foaming, that’s when the bread goes on the griddle (If you’d prefer to go without butter, sprinkle some drops of water on the griddle. If the water starts to sizzle right away, your pan is ready). The griddle needs to be hot. I set mine between 350-375F. When using a skillet, I set the temp to medium and adjust the temp based on how quickly the toast is browning.

On the first batch, I like to cook them for a couple of minutes and then check to see how brown they have gotten on the edges. Then I may peak under with a spatula to see how much longer it needs to cook. When it reaches the desired color, give it a flip. I like mine golden brown or a little darker.

Try to flip the bread just once, letting the custard cook without messing with it. About another 30 seconds to a minute later and your French toast is ready to be removed from the heat. Make room for more!

I like to use a tortilla warmer to stock the finished toast. But often my family is so ready to taste this dish that they are there ready to load their plate and add the yummy toppings.

Plating

To serve, I like to cut the bread into triangle halves, then overlap them onto each other. To feed a larger number of guests, I’ll cut the bread into quarters and overlap the pieces in a circle around a ramekin of maple syrup.

Popular toppings for French Toast at our home are fresh sliced strawberries, bananas, and sometimes whole blueberries. For Christmas, my daughter added kiwi slices for that green and red theme. Some folks like a sprinkle or powdered sugar. Others enjoy a dollop or two (or 3) of whipped cream. Maple or strawberry syrup is always a favorite. Recently, we use homemade maple butter. So good! But I typically find that just the fruit and the whipped cream are enough sweetness for me. If you would prefer you could also add a teaspoon or two of sugar to your strawberries to create syrupy compote.

This of course is just one way to make delicious French toast. I hope you’ll try it and share what you’ve created in the comments below. Thanks for reading and enjoy!