French Toast
French toast, sometimes referred to as "eggy bread" in the United Kingdom, is a common breakfast or dessert item made by frying a piece of bread soaked in an egg batter. French toast was developed as a way to use day-old stale bread. The literal translation of pain perdu is lost bread, referring to old or stale bread. When lacking stale bread, toasting your bread lightly will help it absorb more of the egg and milk…
Ingredients
French toast
- 1 egg
- About ¼ cup (60 ml / 2 oz) milk or cream (more for softer, less eggy French toast; less for firmer, more eggy toast)
- 2–3 slices bread (see notes)
- Butter, margarine, or cooking oil
Optional flavorings
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract or similar
- ¼–1 teaspoon nutmeg, cinnamon or other powdered spices suitable for sweet foods
- ½ teaspoon sugar or honey
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Suggested toppings
- Maple syrup
- Jam, jelly, fruit syrup
- Whipped cream
- Powdered sugar
- Nuts
- Honey
- Bacon
- Raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and/or bananas
Steps
- Whisk eggs, milk and optional ingredients until fully combined, with no streaks of egg white.
- Heat frying pan, skillet or griddle to medium-low.
- Grease pan with butter, margarine or cooking spray.
- Soak each side of bread in egg mixture only until coated and slightly absorbed.
- Keep bread from falling apart. Dip soft bread quickly; sturdier bread can soak a few seconds longer.
- Cook, turning once, until both sides are browned and inside is cooked through.
- Serve with toppings as desired.
Notes from the original
- The goal is to get both sides of the French toast nicely browned, while making sure the center is cooked. Using excessive heat could scorch the outside of the toast while leaving the inside undercooked.
- If making a small batch, soak the two slices until almost all of the mixture has been absorbed. If the bowl is small, place the two slices on top of each other, and keep switching and flipping them, so that all four sides will absorb the mixture.
- The cooking process is too short to use most raw spices, but some fresh herbs might be very tasty.
- If using sandwich bread, a plastic sandwich container may be used for the egg-milk mixture. This allows maximum use of the mixture, as the container is a good size and shape.
- Toast your bread before dipping it into the mix to create a solid base.
- The following types of bread are good used for French toast. Hard crust breads are recommended. Softer breads will create a soggy toast.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:French Toast” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2026-07-19, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Frenchtoast.jpg by jspatchwork, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.