If you’re hankering for carbs, we have tips and a recipe for the best French toast

French toast, pancakes or waffles? Decisions, decisions.

I like them all. Each contain unique flavors and textures that culminate into the perfect example of a diabetic’s nightmare. But which is the best? Is it a matter of opinion? Or is there a superior breakfast sugar carb sponge? I don’t know the answer, but all should be served with a truckload of maple syrup and butter.

My wife and I have gone back and forth through the years as to which is superior. I say waffles and she says pancakes. Naturally, as a loving husband and the primary cook in the household, I make pancakes a lot. As the saying goes “happy wife, happy life.” Also, I like pancakes quite a bit, so I would still make them for myself. (Don’t tell her though, she thinks I make pancakes special for her and I get major husband points for making them.)

But sometimes I’m just not in the mood for pancakes. After a recent spousal debate, we decided French toast would be a comfortable compromise. After all that, and my most recent batch, my wife is now a French toast convert.

French Toast is a simple dish, but there are a handful of tricks that you can apply to make something simple into something extraordinary.

Tips for the best French toast

▪ Bread choice matters. Use an enriched dough such as brioche or challa. If you can’t find any, use something like French bread. The final product won’t be as rich, but still delicious. Most importantly, avoid any bread that has lots of big holes or is super crusty.

▪ Go thick or go home. Cut you your bread 1½ to 2 inches thick. This will greatly improve the texture of the final product

▪ Give yourself enough time to properly make your French toast. After you cut your bread, let it dry out on a wire rack overnight, or in a low oven for a couple hours. The drier the bread gets, the faster and easier it will absorb your custard base. Also, give your bread enough time to fully absorb your custard base. Overnight in the fridge should be enough time if your bread was properly dried prior to soaking it.

▪ Brush your French toast with maple syrup while cooking it. It will caramelize into a wonderful, glistening delicious crust that will make your mouth water.

▪ Don’t skimp on the butter. Both while cooking and also while serving. This is a decadent dish, keep it that way, and eat in moderation.

French Toast

Start to finish: 24 to 36 hours (1 hour cooking time)

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

Bread:

Four 1½- to 2-inches-thick bread slices

Custard base:

1 dozen eggs

1 cup milk

¾ cup heavy cream

¼ cup sugar or brown sugar or maple syrup

1 vanilla bean, scraped, or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Zest of half an orange (Optional)

Cooking/serving:

2 cups maple syrup (Use the real stuff please)

3 tablespoons butter plus some extra for serving

Pro tip: Use cultured butter. It has more flavor and will add depth to the final dish.

Super pro tip: Heat your serving plates in the oven before serving your French toast. This is something restaurants do that makes a huge difference and will keep the food warm while you eat it.

Instructions:

▪ Slice your bread into 1½-to-2-inches-thick slices and either leave on a wire rack overnight to dry out or place in a low oven (150F to 200F) for a couple hours

▪ In a mixing bowl with a whisk or immersion blender, mix all the “custard base” ingredients together.

▪ Place your dried bread into a 1 or 2 gallon Ziploc bag and pour the custard base over the top. Push out as much air as possible and seal. Place on a flat surface in the fridge.

▪ After a few hours flip the bag and let sit overnight.

▪ The next day, preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

▪ Preheat a cast iron pan (or other oven safe frying pan) that is big enough to fit all your pieces of toast. If you don’t have a big enough pan, use two pans.

▪ In a small sauce pot on low heat, heat the maple syrup until hot.

▪ Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in the griddle or cast iron pan and add the toast.

▪ Cook the toast until golden brown and then flip. (3 to 5 minutes)

▪ With a pastry brush, brush the toast with some of the hot maple syrup

▪ Once the other side of the toast is golden brown, flip it and brush with more maple syrup.

▪ Place the pans in the oven and cook until the internal temperature hits 165 degrees.

▪ Remove from the oven and brush with more maple syrup.

▪ Cut the French toast in smaller pieces if you like and serve with remaining maple syrup and more butter.

This story was originally published November 9, 2020 at 7:28 AM with the headline "If you’re hankering for carbs, we have tips and a recipe for the best French toast."