Ditching the pan will improve the texture of your favourite breakfast.
French toast is a popular breakfast, enjoyed by many foodies for across the world. In theory it should be easy to perfect as it only involves a couple of ingredients, however mastering the correct texture can be tough.
Frying french bread in a pan might seem like an obvious way to cook it, but actually it can make it ruin it. The oil in the frying pan can make your bread turn greasy. It can also make it burn on the outside, yet still be soggy on the inside as it doesn’t get a chance to fully cook.
Kristin Hoffman, a trained chef who goes by Baker Bettie, believes ditching the pan and following her cooking method will produce french toast which is “perfectly crispy on the outside with a fluffy custard-y inside”.
She said the recipe is easy to make as long as you bake it in the oven instead. Kristin said: “The key to perfect pan-baked French toast is a pan heated in the oven. You want to get a sheet pan roaring hot in your heating oven while you prep your other ingredients, reports the Express.
“This will cause the bottom side of the bread to sear immediately when you put it on the pan.”
Cooking French toast in the oven means every side of the bread receives the same amount of heat, so it will have a much better texture and be less greasy.
Using the oven is also less effort, as you do not have to flip it or constantly hover around it like you do a frying pan.
This is a simpler way to make professional French toast without much hassle, which makes it great for feeding lots of people at once if you are cooking for your family.
However, if you want the French toast seared without a frying pan, you will need to either broil the bread or heat a baking tray before cooking it in the oven.
How to make tastier French bread without a frying pan
You will need (for eight servings)
- Eight pieces of bread
- Two eggs
- 120ml of milk
- Half a teaspoon of vanilla extract
- Cooking spray or butter or some oil
Instructions
To begin, place the shelf rack in the centre of the oven and then a baking tray on the rack. Preheat the oven to 230C (210C for a fan oven) for at least 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare your French toast by placing the eggs, milk, and vanilla extract in a bowl and whisking them together.
You can add cinnamon at this stage if you wish, or if you prefer, you can add the vanilla extract.
Wait for the oven to be properly preheated. Have your pieces of bread and egg mixture nearby. Use an oven mitt to remove the baking tray from the oven, then add a generous amount of cooking spray. If you wish, you can add oil or butter to the baking tray instead.
Dip each piece of bread in the egg mixture, coat both sides, and then add to the baking tray. Try to do this quickly so the bread sears when it hits the hot tray.
Once all the bread has been added to the baking tray, place it back in the oven. Your French toast should be cooked between five and eight minutes.
When you take your French toast out of the oven, it will be golden brown with perfectly crisp edges while still being soft and pillowy on the inside.
Don’t miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond – Sign up to our newsletter here.
