This homemade Sourdough French Toast is made with a few simple ingredients and ready in 10 minutes! A lightened-up version of classic French toast - perfect breakfast any day of the week!
Plus, I'll teach you my trick to making French toast quick!
I've got to admit, I've joined the homemade sourdough bread bandwagon and I'm not sorry, lol!
Thankfully, turning days-old sourdough bread into sourdough French toast is much easier than you think! It's so easy to make that you won't want to wait for a weekend brunch or a special occasion to make it.
And, because kids love French toast, too, you're going to want to double or triple batch this recipe so all you have to do in the mornings is reheat it in a toaster oven or air fryer.
Of all breakfast recipes, French toast is one of my favorites to make because, just like pancakes and breakfast sandwiches, I can make a lot at once. Let me show you how it's done!
Jump to:
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Easy Recipe Whisk the egg mixture, dip slices of sourdough, and cook it in a skillet. Super easy! While you can make it for weekend breakfasts, it's easy enough for busy weekdays, too!
- Simple Ingredients This recipe uses standard-sized slices (not thick-cut slices) of sourdough bread, eggs, milk, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. Yum!
- Kid-Approved This easy sourdough French toast recipe is made with regular milk (instead of heavy cream) and less sugar... and my kids still love it! In fact, when they drizzle it with maple syrup, they don't even notice anything is missing 😉
- Less Food Waste Making French toast is the perfect way to use up leftover sourdough bread. Believe it or not, it tastes even better when it's made with slightly stale bread, so you'll be able to use up a loaf of sourdough bread quicker than you think!
Dietitian Tip
Sourdough bread has gained in popularity over the years because of potential nutritional benefits, especially as it relates to gut health.
Still, it's important to know that not all sourdough bread is made with the same ingredients. Authentic sourdough bread should be made with four ingredients (flour, water, salt and either natural yeast, sourdough starter, or naturally leavened).
What is Sourdough Bread?
Sourdough bread is a bread made by the fermentation of dough. It has a sour taste which helps balance out the sweetness from maple syrup and fruit that is often served with French toast.
Sourdough bread from a bakery has a different texture than sourdough sandwich bread that you find at the grocery store. Either one can be used to make French toast, but the soaking and cooking times will be different.
Ingredient Notes
- Sourdough bread This recipe calls for homemade sourdough bread, the kind of sourdough bread that you find in a bakery (it has a crusty edge). Still, any kind of sourdough bread will work.
- Eggs Good source of protein, vitamins, and minerals.
- Milk Use skim milk, 2% milk, or whole milk. Whole milk will make the egg mixture thicker.
- Vanilla extract Added to enhance the flavor.
- Cinnamon Adds natural sweetness without any sugar. One-quarter teaspoon ground cinnamon for every 5 slices of bread is all you need.
How to Make Sourdough French Toast
Here is a summary of how to make homemade Sourdough French Toast. For a complete list of ingredients and full instructions, please scroll down to the recipe card.
- Make the egg mixture. Add the eggs, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon to a medium mixing bowl and whisk well. Pour batter into a square baking dish.
- Dip the bread slices in the egg mixture. Use a fork or pair of tongs to dip and flip the slices of bread so that all sides have been coated in the egg mixture.
- Place the slices of dipped sourdough onto a greased hot skillet or well-seasoned cast iron skillet over medium heat. After 2-3 minutes, flip each slice over and continue to cook it in the pan over medium heat for another 2-3 minutes, or until each side is golden brown.
- Continue to cook until each side is golden brown.
My trick for making French toast quick Use two square griddle pans, or one square griddle pan and one large skillet to cook French toast at the same time! It's a game changer because it literally cuts the cooking time in half. I don't know why I didn't think to start doing this sooner!
Helpful Tips
- Cook time will vary depending on the thickness of the slices of sourdough used, as well as how much of the egg mixture the bread soaks up.
- Buying a whole loaf of sourdough and slicing it yourself using a bread knife will help you get the perfect thickness to make sourdough. While I don't like to use very thick slices of bread to make French toast, sometimes pre-sliced store-bought bread are sliced too thin.
- Whisk the egg batter very well using a fork or whisk. This will help keep the French toast from being too 'eggy.'
- If you like French toast to be more 'eggy,' lightly whisk the egg batter.
- Cook each side a little longer on each side if you prefer crispy edges.
- I've heard that sprinkling a small amount of sugar on each side before cooking it will help to caramelize it, but I haven't tried it because I try to minimize the amount of added sugar in main dish recipes like this one.
- This French toast recipe is not sweet at all. If you will be serving this French toast to kids and don't have maple syrup, fresh berries, or (whipped cream;) to top it with, consider adding a tablespoon of maple syrup to the egg batter to give it a little sweetness to balance out the sour taste from the sourdough bread.
- To enhance the flavor even more, add a dash of ground nutmeg in addition to the cinnamon.
- Allow leftover slices of French toast to cool completely before storing refrigerated in an airtight container.
French Toast Topping Ideas
- When I'm really hungry, I like to top my French toast with peanut butter, slices of banana or strawberries, and a drizzle of maple syrup.
- My youngest likes to eat French toast plain with a side of fresh fruit. Sometimes she will want a sprinkle of powdered sugar, but no maple syrup.
- More delicious topping ideas: maple syrup, almond butter, hemp hearts, blueberries, peach slices, toasted walnuts, granola, honey, Greek yogurt, or coconut flakes.
What to Serve with French Toast
- Milk A glass of milk, yogurt, or kefir.
- Fruit Top French toast with fresh berries or banana slices. Or serve fruit on a stick or fruit salad on the side.
- Uncured turkey bacon or sausage
Questions You May Have
Sourdough bread, cinnamon raisin bread, and brioche bread are pretty popular to use for French toast.
The only kind of bread that you absolutely should not use (or eat) is moldy bread. Otherwise, you can change up the kind of bread you use to make french toast.
Even though it is often suggested that you only use thick slices of bread to make French toast, I have found that my kids like it better when I use regular slices of bread.
Also, thick slices of bread soaked in the egg batter are harder to cook through on the stovetop. For all of these reasons, I choose regular slices of sourdough bread.
French toast can be reheated in a microwave, toaster oven, or air fryer. I prefer to reheat French toast in my air fryer so that the sides crisp up a bit.
Yes! You can freeze French toast in resealable freezer bag. Store in the freezer for two to three months.
To reheat the frozen French toast, place the bag of frozen French toast slices in the refrigerator overnight to defrost before reheating. Another option is to place individual slices of frozen French toast in a single layer in your air fryer to reheat.
Related Recipes
Did you make this easy sourdough French toast recipe and love it? Please let me know by leaving a comment and ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating below. A 5-star review is the best compliment!
📖 Recipe
Sourdough French Toast
Equipment
- 1 square griddle pan I use two pans at the same time to cook several slices of French toast at the same time.
- 1 Whisk
Ingredients
- 10 slices sourdough bread
- 6 eggs
- ½ cup milk I use skim milk.
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Heat one or two greased square griddle pans on the stove over medium heat.
- Place eggs, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon in a square baking dish and whisk very well.
- Place each slice of sourdough bread in the egg mixture. Use tongs to flip the slices over to make sure all sides of each slice of bread are coated in the egg mixture.
- Place each slice of bread coated in the egg mixture on the hot greased griddle pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Use a spatula to flip each slice over and continue cooking over medium heat for another 2-3 minutes, or until each side is lightly browned.
- Serve right away or place on a baking sheet in a warm oven to keep warm until ready to serve.
Notes
- The slices of sourdough should not sit in the egg batter for more than a few seconds. If you leave the bread to sit in the batter, your French toast will be soggy.
- Cook time will vary depending on the thickness of the slices of sourdough used, as well as how much of the egg mixture the bread soaks up.
- Use avocado oil spray or butter to grease the skillet or pan(s).Whisk the egg batter very well using a fork or whisk to blend the egg whites and yolk together well. This will help keep the French toast from being too 'eggy.'If you like French toast to be more 'eggy,' lightly whisk the egg batter.
- If you don't like French toast to be 'eggy' at all, you can increase the amount of milk.
- If you like French toast a little darker and crispy on the sides, cook each side a little longer.
- I've heard that sprinkling a small amount of sugar on each side before cooking it will help to caramelize it, but I haven't tried it because I try to minimize the amount of added sugar in main dish recipes like this one.
- If you will be serving this French toast to kids and don't have maple syrup, fresh fruit, or whipped cream to top it with, consider adding a tablespoon of maple syrup to the egg batter to give it a little sweetness to balance out the sour taste from the sourdough bread.
- To enhance the flavor even more, consider adding a dash of ground nutmeg in addition to the cinnamon.
- Buying a whole loaf of sourdough and slicing it yourself using a bread knife will help you get the perfect thickness to make sourdough. While I don't like to use very thick slices of bread to make French toast, sometimes pre-sliced store-bought bread are sliced too thin.
- If you only have one pan or skillet to use, it will take longer to make 10 pieces of French toast.
Leave a Reply