Your Oven Is The Secret To Perfect Diner-Style French Toast
Someone, somewhere, is forking down delicious mouthfuls of crispy-yet-pillowy-soft French toast right now. The heavenly aroma of cooked egg and warm bread still lingers in the air, but before you reach for the skillet to join them — hold your horses. The first step to French toast that would make the average diner owner squeal isn't your pan. It's your oven, and for very good reason. Popping the sliced bread into an oven heated to around 275 degrees Fahrenheit for about 5 minutes a side before dipping them in whisked eggs replicates arguably the most important component of French toast: Stale bread.
Some home cooks leave their bread out on the counter-top for up to three days, but if you're making our brunch-worthy caramel French toast recipe on the fly, skip all that planning ahead and switch on the oven! It gets rid of as much moisture in the slices in a fraction of the time, allowing them to soak up more of that tasty eggy mixture, but don't let them cook for too long. You're not trying to make croutons, just warm the inside of the slices and lightly toast the exterior.
Get the right bread, forget skim milk, and watch that heat: The pitfalls of making French toast
I adore the extra crunch from slightly oven-toasted bread yet for others it can lack the gooey, custardy core. It all comes down to personal preference, though that's not to say there aren't a few pitfalls. There are lots of breads from around the United States to try, but stale challah, brioche, or sourdough are best as they've got enough substance to soak up the custard mix. Don't skimp on the ingredients for the liquid either – skim milk is not your BFF for decadent French toast — and give the bread enough time to soak plenty of it up. Be careful with the heat when you drop it in the skillet: Too high and it will scorch, ruining your brunch. Although you can use the oven to cook large batches of French toast, we've found it's quicker and tastes better done in the air fryer.
French toast has been eaten by both the poorest and wealthiest members of society, creating lots of recipe variations over the centuries. Some home cooks thicken their custard with a little all-purpose flour to make a kind of a batter for their bread, you could try this special ingredient for top of the line French toast, while one inventive TikTok user crushed-up breakfast cereal and added it to their eggs for a fun, colorful touch. If you're over the sweet kind, switch the sugar, syrups, and cereals for herbs and spices, and fry your slices in oil to put a savory spin on your Sunday morning French toast.