Custardy, fluffy and sinfully sweet this is how real french toast is meant to be.

Old-Fashioned French Toast was one of those weekend pleasures I grew up with. There was nothing better than smelling the sweet scent of french toast enveloped in the aroma of percolating coffee. Even to this day, this morning aroma ignites the pleasure sensors in my brain. As a child, the french toast I grew up with was definitely a rushed affair. It was quickly made when we didn’t have time to relax and make pancakes. Our leftover sandwich bread would get a swift dunk in a milky egg wash, swiftly fried, and then gobbled down. However, as an adult, I take a little more time with my french toast to do it justice. My french toast starts with some of my stale homemade Italian bread and a luscious sweetened custard. Fried for several minutes with good quality salted butter and finally topped with plenty of rich maple syrup. Serve it with a good cup of coffee, and you have the most perfect weekend breakfast—no need to go to that expensive brunch place.

Old-Fashioned French Toast

4 large eggs

2 cups heavy cream

¼ cup light brown sugar 

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp spiced rum

¼ tsp grated nutmeg

¼ tsp kosher salt

1 loaf of stale Italian bread or Challah 

Grass-fed salted butter for pan

Cut your loaf of bread into 1-1 ½ inch slices, you want the slices to be thick and substantial to be able to soak up the custard. Lay them out in a single layer on a wire rack and leave out to the air while you prepare your custard. 

To make the custard, add your eggs, heavy cream, sugar, vanilla, spiced, nutmeg and kosher salt into a large mixing bowl or long glass baking dish. Lightly mix with a fork until the brown sugar has dissolved into the cream.

Once the brown sugar has been incorporated, take your immersion blender and blend the custard even further to help incorporate the eggs. Blend until your custard has thickened very slightly and is frothy on top. Blending the custard helps to evenly distribute the eggs and spices into the heavy cream as well as turning it into a luscious custard that can easily cling to your bread slices. 

Soak your bread slices in the custard for 10 minutes on each side of the slice, 20 minutes total. I know this may seem like a long time but it really gives the bread the opportunity to soak up that sweet custard. So while you’re waiting make a cup of coffee or some bacon or even a delicious fruit salad to go with your French toast.

Towards the end of the 20 minutes, place a non-stick pan on medium heat with a tablespoon of salted butter. Cook the butter until it starts to foam before adding the custard soaked bread slices. Using tongs, pick up each soaked slice and let any excess custard drip off. It’s ok if you don’t get every little molecule of excess you can easily trim off any excess after frying.

Working in batches, fry the slices on both sides until they are golden brown and slightly crispy on the edges. You may need to add more salted butter into the pan between batches. Enjoy your fluffy Old-Fashioned French Toast with plenty of maple syrup and enjoy!

*Notes: 

It is very important to not rush the cooking time of the french toast and to be patient with the process. You want to keep the pan on medium heat for the entire time you’re frying the toast. 

Please try to use real maple syrup for your French toast. It would be a shame to cover your great work in a tasteless syrup syrup instead of the real deal. 

Your choice of bread is very important when making French toast. You want a dense bread that has been dried out or stale. Do not use fresh bread when making French toast! Fresh bread will not be able to soak up the custard without falling apart. 

Don’t have a full loaf of stale bread? No need to worry, just simply scale back the ingredients for the custard. Everything is in even increments so it can easily be reduced.