For the Best French Toast, Should You Toast the Bread First? (2024)

French toast is a classic breakfast dish and for good reason. It's made by soaking stale bread in a mix of milk, beaten eggs, cinnamon, and sugar and then cooking it in a skillet until it's golden-brown. The results are crispy on the outside and custard-like on the inside. It's even better with a pat of butter and maple syrup on top. It's a nostalgic breakfast that many of us grew up with. The basic French Toast recipe has been unchanged for years until our Test Kitchen stumbled across a new TikTok hack.

Where the Toasted French Toast Hack Comes From

Sheena (sheenamarie3568) nearly broke the internet when she shared her hack for toasting the bread before soaking it in the egg and milk mix. The video has gotten more than 38.5 million views and 43,100 comments like "It makes so much sense!" There were also some skeptics with comments like "Nope, don't do this."

We were admittedly unsure about this hack. Would it really be worth the extra step? Could toasting the bread make that much of a difference? To answers these questions once and for all, our Test Kitchen made the TikTok-famous recipe alongside our tried-and-true French toast recipe and did a side-by-side taste test that left our reviewers firmly divided.

How to Make Toasted French Toast

Just like Sheena demonstrated in her original video, we prepped on batch of French toast with the bread toasted before dipping it the egg mixture. We also made a batch of our classic French toast using the more traditional stale bread.

For both recipes, we dipped the bread in a mixture of milk, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar. Then we placed it on a buttered skillet and cooked it until the French toast was golden-brown, crisp around the edges, and the egg was set. We cooked the pieces side-by-side for the same amount of time to ensure it was a 1:1 comparison.

Taste Test: How We Liked the French Toast Hack

Surprisingly, toasting the bread first made a pretty big difference in the consistency of the finished French toast. The center of our classic French toast was quite soft and custardy while the center of the toasted French toast was much firmer. Both pieces cooked fairly evenly on the outside but the toasted version was far less wet than the stale bread.

Some of our tasters loved the toasted French toast hack, calling it a "game changer" and "texturally way better." While others thought it was "too firm and too dry". They missed the custardy center and eggy texture. In short, it all comes down to how you like your French toast. If you love the crisp, crust around the edges, this is the hack for you. If you prefer a thick, custardy center, stick to the classic recipe.

If you try this at home, there are a few things to keep in mind for French toast success.

• Choose the right bread. For best results, choose a buttery, thick bread like challah, brioche, or Texas toast. A thicker slice helps prevent the finished dish from ending up gummy.
• Use stale bread or toast the bread until it's golden-brown. It needs to be sturdy to hold up to the egg mixture. If the bread is fresh from the bag or you toast it too lightly, the finished dish will be soggy.
• Soak the toasted or untoasted bread for about 10 seconds per side to achieve the optimal texture. Our Test Kitchen recommends using tongs to help keep your fingers clean.
• Cook the French toast in butter for the most flavor.

Either way, you can't go wrong starting the day with plate of buttery French toast. Once you've tried this spin on the classic, try whipping up homemade French toast cubes or stuff the slices into a rich French toast casserole.