This is the time of year when my thoughts turn to French toast. Cold winter mornings, lazy Saturdays, and not to mention the ready availability of eggnog.
Compared to pancakes or waffles, French toast is somewhat labor-intensive and can be tricky to master. But the final results are so, so worth it.
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French toast history
French toast works best with thick, stale bread. Which, in the days before chemical preservatives, was a real issue. Freshly baked bread goes stale within a few days, and while today we might be inclined to just throw it away, in ancient times people could not afford to be so wasteful.
The ancient Romans made the earliest version of this simple dish by dipping stale bread into sweetened milk and frying it. Medieval Europeans made a similar dish, but were more likely to dip the bread into beaten eggs.
Although we think of French toast as being a sweet food, in medieval times they were just as likely to make it a savory dish by leaving out the sweetener (usually honey) and adding salt instead. Fried this way, it makes an excellent base for other foods, sort of like a bread-based omelet.
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Making French toast: an overview
The contemporary American version of French toast involves whipping together eggs, milk, sugar, and flavoring (i.e. vanilla). Slices of bread are dipped in the mixture, then fried until the egg is cooked.
It is not necessary for the mixture to permeate the bread. In fact, this often leads to the heartbreak of soggy French toast. All you need to do is pass the bread through the egg mixture, as if you were dredging a piece of meat in bread crumbs. Give it a good dunking, but don't let it linger too long. The milk in the mixture will soak farther into the bread and make it moist, while the egg will stick to the outside and fry up nicely. And don't pre-dunk it; dunk it right before you're going to set it in the pan, otherwise once again: soggy French toast.
There is no need to stress about the specific amounts of the ingredients you use. Start with 2-3 eggs, add a splash of milk, then sugar and flavoring to taste. I like to sneak in a pinch of salt; salt always makes everything taste better. You can leave out the sugar if you plan to add powdered sugar or maple syrup at the table.
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The most important aspect of French toast is the bread. Each slice should be thick, thicker than a usual slice of sandwich bread. And it should be a little stale and dry, but not rock hard. Stale bread holds up better to the batter, but if the bread is too stale it won't absorb the egg mixture.
The best way to guarantee good French toast is to buy a loaf of French or Italian bread, slice it up, and leave out for a day or two ahead of time. You can also buy a loaf of bread for Friday's dinner, then slice up the extra for French toast on Sunday morning. But this risks not having enough bread left over for French toast.
Bread also freezes well. If you have some left over from a party or dinner, you can slice it up and keep it in the freezer. Bring it out the night before and set it out on the counter to thaw. Be sure to separate the slices, and don't leave it wrapped in plastic as it's thawing, or the condensation will make it soggy.
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French toast recipes
The basic recipe is wonderfully simple. I usually give it 5-7 minutes per side. You will know it's ready to flip when it comes easily loose from the pan. I spend the last few minutes nudging the slices around in the pan, waiting for them to be loose enough that I can lift up a corner and peek underneath. Each side should be well browned, but not scorched.
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French toast variations
This is where the fun starts. During the holidays I like to make French toast with eggnog instead of milk, and add a sprinkle of nutmeg to the batter. You can also dress it up with orange zest, almond flavoring, berries on top, a whole world of ideas.
You can also make a lot of interesting bread substitutes. I know someone who uses a loaf of stale raisin bread for her French toast. A nearby restaurant uses day-old cinnamon rolls (sliced horizontally, so that each slice is a spiral). So good!
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