Homemade sourdough French toast makes an easy and delicious breakfast option any day of the week. Consider this a lightened-up version of classic French toast, made with a few simple ingredients and ready in just 10 minutes!
Plus, I'll teach you my trick to making French toast quick!
Who knew that making delicious French toast using sourdough could be so easy? I started making French toast for my kids years ago when I realized how much my kids loved it even after I lightened it up by using regular milk (instead of heavy cream) and less sugar than most traditional recipes.
Of all breakfast recipes, French toast is one of my favorites to make because, just like pancakes, I can make a lot at once. Then all my kids have to do on busy mornings is reheat it and choose what they want to top it with!
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Easy Sourdough French Toast
Sourdough bread has gained in popularity over the years because of potential nutritional benefits, especially as it relates to gut health.
And thankfully, turning days old sourdough bread into sourdough French toast is so much easier than you think! In fact, it's so easy to make, that you won't want to wait for a weekend brunch or special occasion to make it.
This recipe uses standard-sized slices (not thick cut slices) of sourdough bread, eggs, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon to make the most easy and delicious breakfast for any day of the week.
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!
What is Sourdough Bread?
Sourdough bread is a bread made by the fermentation of dough. It has a sour taste which helps to 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.
Recipe Highlights
- This easy French toast recipe is made with simple ingredients like sourdough bread, eggs, and milk.
- Sourdough French toast helps to use up a loaf of sourdough bread before it goes bad.
- This recipe is easily doubled, which makes it great for meal prepping.
Ingredient Notes
- Sourdough bread This recipe calls for the kind of sourdough bread that you find in a bakery (it has a crusty edge), but any kind of sourdough bread will work. Also, it doesn't necessarily have to be stale sourdough bread, but it should at least be two or three days old.
- Eggs Good source of protein, vitamins, and minerals.
- Milk I use skim milk or 2% milk to make French toast, but any kind of milk will do.
- 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.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- 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 skillet over medium heat. I like to use a square griddle pan to make French toast because more slices fit on it, but you can use a large skillet instead. 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!
Recipe Notes
- 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.
- 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 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, add a dash of ground nutmeg in addition to the cinnamon.
- Although I haven't tried it, I've heard that a well-seasoned cast iron skillet works very well for making French toast. If you use one to make this, let me know how it turns out!
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.
- Two of my kids prefer French toast drizzled with 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.
- Other delicious topping ideas: almond butter, hemp hearts, blueberries, peach slices, toasted walnuts, granola, honey, Greek yogurt, or coconut flakes.
What to Serve with French Toast
- A glass of milk, yogurt, or kefir.
- Fresh fruit on a stick, as a fruit salad, or slices of fruit.
- Baked eggs
- Uncured turkey bacon or sausage.
Questions You May Have
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.
Sourdough bread, cinnamon raisin bread, and brioche bread are pretty popular to use for 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 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 freezer-safe resealable bags 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 or place individual slices of frozen French toast in your air fryer to reheat.
Related
Did you make this sourdough French toast from scratch and love it? Please let me know by leaving a comment or 5-star review below!
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.
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