French Toast with Maple Whipped Cream
French toast topped with fresh fruit and maple whipped cream is a classic breakfast dish that is simple to make at home. The best French toast transforms good bread with a light custard into slices of golden brown delight.
There are many different ways to make French toast, ranging from throwing some eggs and milk in a bowl to complicated steps that involve day-old bread and imported vanilla.
For this French Toast recipe, I wanted to focus on the ingredients and techniques that make a difference while keeping it simple enough that you’ll want to make it as a weekend treat.
To figure out what works, I tested multiple types of bread, played around with different egg to milk ratios, and researched a plethora of tips from cookbooks and far-flung corners of the internet to develop a recipe that tastes delicious.
To build the flavors in this French toast, I use a hint of cinnamon and a touch of orange zest. I also include a simple way to make maple whipped cream that is the perfect topping to pair with fresh berries and maple syrup.
Highlights
This classic French toast recipe is simple to make at home and uses cinnamon and orange zest to create a luxurious tasting French toast with a light and fluffy texture.
Content
At its heart, French toast is a way to use up stale bread. The earliest recipes date back to Roman times and involved soaking hunks of old bread in eggs and milk, frying them in butter, and covering the slices in honey. By the Middle Ages, the dish was being called Pain Perdue or Payne Perdue, which translates to “lost bread” in French. (Savoring the Past)
The French in French toast is about as French as the French in French fries, according to Frenchly, and is most likely a marketing term because it “made the dish seem fancier.” In the same article, they also debunk the myth that Joseph French created the dish in Albany, New York, in the 1700s.
How to Make French Toast
French toast is a simple dish that involves soaking bread in a custard mixture and cooking it on the stove in a skillet, on a griddle, or in the oven. What separates delicious French toast that feels like a luxurious treat from the pedestrian is the bread being used and the egg mixture.
Choosing the Right Bread
There is no perfect bread for French toast. Choosing the right bread for French toast is more of an art than a science that depends on the flavors and texture you’re looking for. Thick sliced bread made with whole grains will produce a very different French toast than thinner slices from a loaf of rich brioche.
French toast can be made with almost any bread that can hold up to being dipped in the egg mixture and cooked on a griddle. My favorite breads are soft French bread, Brioche, Challah, or Texas Toast. If I feel like mixing things up, I’ll go with a hearty cinnamon raisin bread.
I don’t recommend using regular sandwich bread, which tends to be so thin and soft that it falls apart. I have been able to make passable French toast using gluten free bread for friends who are gluten intolerant.
To help fresh bread absorb the egg mixture and somewhat mimic using older, slightly stale bread, I place the sliced bread in a 200℉ (93℃) oven for 15 minutes. I’ve found this is easier than trying to remember to leave the bread out overnight or waiting until I have a lot of stale bread lying around. This is one of those small steps that makes a dish taste better, but is ok to leave out if you’re running short of time.
When I was working on this recipe, I found that thickness was one of the most important factors in how the French toast turned out. After testing slices at 3/4 inch, 1 inch, and 1-1/2 inch thickness. The 3/4 inch slices turned out to be the winner.
The reason the 3/4 inch slices worked so well is that they’re thick enough to provide a nice, solid bite of French toast, only need a moderate dip into the custard, and cook evenly.
Thicker slices had a harder time absorbing the custard all the way through the entire slice. The thicker slices also take longer to cook through the middle, leaving cooks with a choice of an undercooked middle or a slightly burnt outside.
What’s The Best Ratio of Eggs to Milk
The custard is everything when making French toast. This includes how it’s seasoned and the ratio of eggs to milk. The perfect ratio should produce a light and airy texture with rich flavors that linger, without tasting eggy.
As I read about different ways to make French toast, the most common ratios I found were 3 eggs to 1 cup of milk and 4 eggs to 1 cup of milk. When I tested them side-by-side, I didn’t find a huge difference between them. My testers and I thought the 4 eggs to 1 cup ratio had a slightly richer, more custardy texture.
Since I wanted this recipe to be a French toast that stands out from the crowd and prefer mine to have a richer texture and rounded flavors with some depth, I use the 4 eggs to 1 cup of milk in this recipe.
The best thing about finding a ratio that works for you is that it makes it easy to scale the recipe up or down depending on how many people you’re serving and how much French toast you want to make.
If you’re making a quick batch for one or two, go with 2 eggs and a 1/2 cup of milk. Making a triple batch for a house full of guests uses a dozen eggs and 3 cups of milk.
In addition to the ratio of eggs to milk, the type of milk matters. The more fat in the milk, the richer the custard. To keep things simple, I recommend using the milk you normally have in the fridge. I use 1 percent, because that is what I keep on hand.
Cooking French Toast
The simplest way to cook French Toast is using a nonstick griddle. Using a stand-alone electric griddle with temperature control provides a consistent cooking temperature and enough space that a loaf of bread can be made in one or two batches.
Cooking the toast and getting it on the table quickly is important. French toast cools quickly, and as it cools, the flavor diminishes, and texture turns from light and fluffy to gummy.
Using a small shallow pan, like this one from Pyrex, for dipping the bread speeds up the cooking process. The square opening and shallow bottom make it easy to move slices from the pan to the griddle quickly.
Over many test batches, I found that it takes 3 to 4 minutes to cook 3/4 inch slices of bread all the way through on a griddle set at 350℉ (177℃).
I don’t add any butter or cooking spray to keep the slices from sticking when I’m using a nonstick griddle. If I’m using a regular pan, I will add a little butter to keep the bread from sticking.
Using a large skillet on the stove works well if you’re making a small amount of French toast or you’re going to keep it in a warm oven until you’ve finished making the entire batch.
If you’re cooking for a big group, work in batches by placing the cooked pieces on a baking sheet in a warm 200℉ (93℃) oven while the additional slices are cooking. To prevent the French toast from getting soggy when it’s being kept warm in the oven, it should be placed in a single layer on a baking sheet.
Better Tasting French Toast
There are hundreds of ways to flavor French toast. Some of the most common seasonings include cinnamon, sugar, allspice, orange zest, vanilla, and cardamom.
I’ve tried mixing in lots of different seasonings over the years and have found that baking spices work the best.
The simplicity of this basic recipe and ease of modifying it is a great reason to get creative; just about any scone or muffin combination you’ve ever enjoyed could be a fun experiment.
There are lots of intriguing ways to use herbs for savory flavors and chocolate for more of a dessert take on the dish.
The reason I only include a little cinnamon, orange zest, and a pinch of salt in the batter in this recipe is to keep it simple. Cinnamon is such an amazing spice; it has the ability to add warm notes and a bit of bite to the French toast while using its aroma to announce to everyone in the house that breakfast is on its way.
If there’s a secret ingredient to this recipe, it’s the orange zest. Freshly grated orange zest brightens the flavors in the French toast and adds depth that helps it stand out from the everyday. If fresh oranges aren’t available, orange extract or dried orange peel will work as substitutes.
Topping French Toast
My favorite way to top French toast is with fresh fruit and Maple Whipped Cream. The combination of fresh strawberries, blueberries, or bananas combined with real whipped cream and warm maple syrup is a symphony of texture and flavor.
One of the best things about French toast is how well it works as a blank canvas for creative toppings. You can go simple and cut up whatever fruit is in season or chef things up a bit with Brown Sugar Bananas or fresh grilled peaches. Sprinkle a little dusting of powdered sugar over the top to add some visual flare.
Living in Minnesota, I’m a huge proponent of real maple syrup and feel like I’d be run out of the state if I ever served the fake stuff. A tip when you’re serving maple syrup is to warm it up. Heating the syrup helps open up its flavors and gives it a more robust aroma. Also, cold syrup cools down warm French toast, pancakes, etc.
A tip with the whipped cream is to make it first and then store it in the fridge until you’re ready to serve. The cold from the fridge helps the whipped cream hold its shape and slows down how fast it melts.
It never hurts to serve French toast with Homemade Bacon, freshly made POG Juice, or a pitcher of Bloody Marys.
Classic French Toast Recipe
Ingredients
French Toast
- 1 loaf French bread
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 3 tsp orange zest, freshly zested
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1 pinch salt
Maple Whipped Cream
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp sugar
Instructions
French Toast
- Cut the bread in 3/4 inch slices on the bias. Slicing the bread on the bias gives the French toast a distinctive look.1 loaf French bread
- Place the sliced bread on a baking sheet in a 200℉ (93℃) oven for 15 minutes to dry the bread out.
- Whisk the eggs, cinnamon, salt, and orange peel together in a large bowl. Once they’re combined, whisk in the milk and pour the mixture into a shallow baking dish.4 eggs, 1 cup milk, 3 tsp orange zest, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1 pinch salt
- Dip each slice into the custard, flipping them over to coat both sides. When you take the slices out, hold them over the pan for a second to get rid of any excess custard. The slices of bread should immediately go from the custard to the griddle.
- Cook the French toast on medium-high heat for 3 to 4 minutes per side.
- The French toast has finished cooking when the slices are a nice golden brown on the outside and have cooked all the way through.
- Serve with warm maple syrup, fresh fruit, and maple whipped cream.
Maple Whipped Cream
- Using a mixer, whisk the heavy cream, sugar, and maple syrup on medium speed until it starts to thicken and develops soft peaks.1 cup heavy cream, 1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup, 1 tsp sugar
- The whipped cream should be stored in the fridge until you’re ready to serve. Storing it in the fridge helps it hold its shape and slows down how fast it melts.
Notes
Tips for the Best French Toast and How to Fix Common Mistakes
When I started updating this recipe, I wanted to add a section on tips and fixing some common mistakes. I’ve always found that with simple recipes, the small things make a big difference.
Better Carmelization – Sprinkling a little sugar over the top of each slice before it goes on the griddle will help it caramelize. I didn’t include this as a step in the recipe because I found it a bit fussy and didn’t think it made enough of a difference.
Bread Falling Apart – The two main reasons why French toast falls apart are if the bread is too soft or lacks structure to hold together through the dipping or cooking process. This can also be a sign the slices soaked for too long.
Burnt Toast – A common problem is ending up with blackened or burnt sections on the outside of the slices. This can come from using too high of heat or using too much butter on a nonstick griddle. I’ve found that I usually don’t need any butter or oil when I’m using a nonstick pan.
White Streaks of Egg – Ending up with white streaks on the toast is a sign that the eggs weren’t fully whisked.
There are a couple of ways you can make French toast ahead of time, depending on how many people you’re serving and how far in advance you want to prepare everything. The egg mixture can be made in advance and stored in the fridge for several hours. This lets you prep everything in advance and then cook the French toast to order.
If you need to cook the French toast in advance, it can be stored in the fridge and warmed in the oven. It won’t be as good as when it’s cooked fresh, but it will still be very good.
Leftover French toast can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 or 4 days. The best way to reheat it is in a 350℉ (177℃) oven for 6 to 8 minutes to make sure it heats all the way through and sheds the moisture it picks up in the fridge.
Mark is an experienced food writer, recipe developer, and photographer who is also Umami’s publisher and CEO. A passionate cook who loves to cook for friends, he can often be found in the kitchen or by the grill testing new recipes.
More Info About Mark Hinds
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