Old Fashion French Toast {Simple French Toast Recipe} (2024)

FAQs

What is the original French toast? ›

According to a collection of recipes from the early 5th century AD, the dish we now know as French toast existed as early as the age of the Roman Empire. In their style of French toast, called Pan Dulcis, Romans would soak bread in a milk and egg mixture, then fry it in oil or butter.

For a solid French toast, aim for sturdy bread with a uniform texture and a soft crust. Hearty sandwich bread, brioche, challah, and shokupan (Japanese milk bread) are all great choices. Avoid rustic loaves with thick crusts or large holes in the interior.

A basic rule of thumb is about 1/4 cup of milk and one egg per two-slice serving—and if you want to avoid that "scrambled" taste, use only the yolks of some or all of the eggs.

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.

French Toast is a delicious breakfast entree that is loved by many. With this in mind, french toast can be very calorie dense with high amounts of added sugar and fat. But, it can be tweaked to reduce the sugar and fat content while adding some fiber to your breakfast - yay!

4Melt 2 tablespoons of butter, uncover the French toast, and slowly pour the melted butter over the top, trying to cover most of the bread slices. 5Scatter the cinnamon sugar over the bread, and then bake, uncovered, until the tips are golden brown and the bread looks puffed, about 10 minutes.

You're adding too much milk or too few egg yolks: 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.

While the Romans may get credit for creating French toast, other cultures developed their own versions of the dish, complete with original names. In Germany, people in the fourteenth century made arme ritter (German for “poor knights”) by soaking sliced bread in milk and eggs and frying it in butter.

À votre santé (“to your health,” plural/formal) is used commonly as a generic toast. If you're only drinking with one other person and it's someone you know well, you'd probably use the singular informal version, À ta santé.

Is French toast different in France? ›

A staple food in France, French toast is named “Pain perdu” which translates literally to lost bread, reflecting the use of stale bread so it doesn't get “lost”. These slices of breads dunked in an eggy mixture and toasted in a pan are comforting, sweet and tender – and a breeze to make at home.

French toast, Roman style

In it, sliced bread was soaked in eggs and several spices plus sugar and salt. In an interesting twist, there is a version of French toast in a 1660 cookbook called "The Accomplisht Cook" that calls for no eggs at all, but instead to soak bread in wine, sugar, and orange juice.

What is the difference between torrijas and French toast? Torrijas are similar to French toast, but boozier, with sherry in the soaking milk. Unlike the process for making French toast, for torrijas, the bread is soaked in milk and eggs separately before it is fried.