A professional chef has shared how to make French toast that is perfectly crispy and fluffy without frying it at all
French toast is the ultimate comfort breakfast dish, yet many people are discouraged from making it because it often turns out soggy and overly greasy when fried. While it might seem straightforward to cook French toast in a frying pan, it often heats too quickly, scorching the exterior while the interior remains undercooked because it doesn’t have enough time to cook through properly.
Alternatively, Kristin Hoffman, a qualified chef known as Baker Bettie, has shared her homemade French toast recipe, which is “perfectly crispy on the outside with a fluffy custard-y inside”. She explained the recipe is straightforward to prepare, provided 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.
“This will cause the bottom side of the bread to sear immediately when you put it on the pan.”
Preparing French toast in the oven ensures every surface of the bread receives equal heat distribution, resulting in a significantly improved texture and reduced greasiness.
Utilising the oven also requires less effort, as you needn’t flip it or continually monitor it as you would with a frying pan.
This represents a more straightforward approach to creating restaurant-quality French toast without considerable fuss, making it ideal for serving multiple people simultaneously when catering for your household.
However, if you’d prefer your French toast to have a seared finish without using a frying pan, you’ll need to either grill the bread or preheat a baking tray, then cook it in the oven.
How to make tastier French toast without a frying pan
Ingredients (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
Begin by positioning the shelf rack in the middle of the oven, then place a baking tray on top of it. Pre-heat the oven to 230°C (210°C for a fan oven) for a minimum of 20 minutes.
In the meantime, prepare your French toast by combining the eggs, milk, and vanilla extract in a bowl and whisking thoroughly.
At this point, you may incorporate cinnamon if desired, or alternatively, you can stick with just the vanilla extract.
Allow the oven to reach the correct temperature fully. Keep your bread slices and egg mixture close to hand. Using an oven glove, carefully remove the baking tray from the oven and apply a generous coating of cooking spray. Alternatively, oil or butter can be used on the baking tray instead.
Submerge each slice of bread in the egg mixture, ensuring both sides are thoroughly coated, before placing them onto the baking tray. Work swiftly so the bread sizzles upon contact with the hot tray.
Once all the bread slices are arranged on the baking tray, return it to the oven. Your French toast should be ready within five to eight minutes.
Upon removing your French toast from the oven, you’ll find it beautifully golden brown with delightfully crisp edges, while remaining wonderfully soft and fluffy on the inside.
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