French Toast: Breakfast Fast Food Substitute for Pancakes

Breakfast always looms at the beginning of the end of a long weekend of visiting and feasting as something a little to be dreaded. You may, in fact, wake up to be confronted with a sea of hungry little faces and feel ill-inclined to do anything at all about their clearly pressing needs. At such times and on such a very lazy morning, may I suggest you make French Toast? Particularly if your bread is a little old, your children hanker for pancakes and you figure you'd like your husband to volunteer to undertake to do last night's dishes. French Toast (sometimes known as Eggy Bread or Gypsy Toast) is a perfectly elegant substitute for pancakes and really both extremely quick and easy to make. I must note just one small caveat, however, only ever serve French toast hot, straight from the pan to the plate. 

French toast is a great substitute for pancakes

One thing I do find about a breakfast meal, a real, proper hearty breakfast that is, not the cereal mixes that provide substitutes for traditional food - despite which misgivings I nonetheless do buy on the more than odd occasion, thankfully however my children are growing up more and more demanding of traditional breakfast meals to the extent that they are beginning to learn to make their own - is that it must be served hot and fresh, particularly if it contains egg. 

The breakfast maker's lot it is then to make and serve, make and serve; omelettes, fried eggs, scrambled egg, and French toast - all should only be made once your guest is actually sitting at the table, waiting to be served, or doing something useful in the kitchen like making copious amounts of strong coffee.

So, without further ado, may I present to you a recipe for a crisp, hot and delightful French toast. 

French Toast Recipe

The ratio I have found that works quite well is: 

1 egg
dollop of milk (in other words, a large-ish splosh - OK, let's say 50ml of milk (4 Tablespoons)
2 slices of bread 

butter for frying 

The method is quite simple, you beat up your egg and add the milk.

One egg and 50ml of milk will make two slices of French toast or eggy bread

Put the frying pan on, and get the butter sizzling, but not burning, in the pan.

Lightly and quickly coat both sides of the bread in the mixture:

Next, lightly and deftly place the second side of bread in the mixture - do not soak

Add the bread slices to the pan - though you can do one at a time, I do advocate two at a time (speeds up the breakfast process and it means you can serve two guests at a time and guests always get crisply hot toast):

Add bread soaked in the egg-and-milk mixture to the hot pan to make French or Gypsy toast, aka eggy bread

I find that once I have seared the one side, I tend to turn it quite quickly to the other, so to crisp up both sides quickly. You don't have to do this, but I do find that modern-day shop-bought bread goes soggy quickly, and this way works to seal the sides pronto. Never add more milk and egg onto the bread in the pan - it makes it taste more like scrambled egg and less like pancake.

French toast is done when it is crisp and brown

Ensure that the egg is fully cooked, and the outside delightfully crispy; a good rule of thumb is to test the middle of the toast with a utensil, or even poke it with your finger, and ensure it is not soft but springy to the touch and definitely crispy. If so on both sides, it is definitely done. Though the lovely brown look of the French toast is as good an indication as any too. Never forget smell either.

Serve as you would a pancake, with syrup and cinnamon sugar:

French toast with syrup or honey

Or, if you are my husband, you may find yourself going to town a bit with cinnamon sugar and syrup and even cream.

Gourmet French toast with cinnamon sugar and cream

Or, if you are looking to make something more savoury, like my foodie friend +Samia Elsaid, you may crumble in feta and some fresh thyme leaves into the egg mixture, and fry this up in the pan; she says it works a treat and she has now taught her sons how to make it themselves. I will definitely try this the next time we make French toast for ourselves. 

After dishing up such a perfect, quick and filling meal, you can go relax on the couch with coffee and something to read, replete with the happiness of knowing you have dished up a nutritionally satisfying, yet quick and easy-to-make treat of a breakfast meal.