By Garrett Kelly, Staff Writer
French toast stands among the holy trinity of American breakfast pastries along with the illustrious waffles and pancakes. But of the three, I find French toast the most accessible. Whether you’re new to cooking, looking for a quick snack or trying to feed a group, my recommendation of the three would have to be the toast. If you have a few of kitchen staples you’ll probably have much of what you need for this already.
Ingredients
1 large egg
2 tablespoons of butter (you’ll need extra if you intend to go the optional fried route)
¾ cup of milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 tablespoons of sugar
⅓ cup of flour
¼ teaspoon of salt
About 6 pieces of thick cut bread (think Texas Toast)
(Optionally, ground cinnamon or powdered sugar to garnish)
Toss your egg in a bowl along with your melted butter and vanilla. Beat the egg and combine with butter and vanilla. Once your egg is nicely beaten and your mixture is homogeneous, add sugar flour and salt, once again whisking to combine. Try not to beat the mixture too quickly or it will fluff up too much. What you’re looking for is to beat all of the clumps out of your mixture until the liquid is even and smooth.
Next up, you’re going to throw your pan on medium heat. Be careful not to go above medium or your mixture will likely burn too quickly which reduces the rich yolky flavor that we’re hunting for. With your mixture at the ready, you’re going to dunk a slice of your thick cut bread in. Make sure that you thoroughly coat both sides of the slice, such that the surface is covered thickly and evenly.
Place your toast on heat and let it cook but don’t go far! This process is extremely quick and each side will likely not take much more than 30 seconds or so each. The layer of egg is relatively thin and you want to be careful not to overcook, as it would be the same detriment as overheating it. The real trick to this simple recipe is trying to hit that perfect sweet spot between sweet and savory that makes the perfect French toast.
You can also optionally add more butter to the pan before placing each slice down for an even richer variant. If you go this direction, I recommend adding small amounts of butter before each and every slice is cooked so that no one slice gets overly saturated.
I recommend a touch of ground cinnamon or powdered sugar plus thin slice of butter for that extra touch of diner presentation, but that’s really it. French toast is a super easy and ingredient-efficient recipe that I’d recommend to cook’s of any competence or confidence level. I promise the reward for your effort will be worth it.
