Should You Toast the Bread Before Making French Toast?

Key Takeaways

Toasting the bread first creates a firmer consistency in French toast compared to the traditional method.
The TikTok French toast hack has some preferring the firmer texture and others missing the custardy softness.
For optimal French toast, choose challah or brioche and soak it in the egg mixture for about 10 seconds per side.

French toast delights breakfast and brunch lovers with its crispy exterior and custard-like inside. This go-to dish involves soaking stale bread in a mixture of milk, beaten eggs, cinnamon, and sugar, then cooking it in a skillet until golden brown. It's tasty on its own, but top it off with a pat of butter and a drizzle of maple syrup for extra flavor.

The basic French Toast recipe has been unchanged for years until our Test Kitchen stumbled across a new TikTok hack.

Credit: Joe Crimmings

The TikTok French Toast Hack

Sheena (sheenamarie3568) nearly broke the internet when she shared her hack for toasting bread before soaking it in the egg and milk mix. The video has gotten more than 36.7 million views and 42,800 comments, including "It makes so much sense!" Some skeptics also commented, "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 answer 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.

Credit:

BHG Test Kitchen

How to Make Toasted French Toast

Just like Sheena demonstrated in her original video, we prepped a batch of French toast with the bread toasted before dipping it in 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 a 1:1 comparison.

Credit:

BHG Test Kitchen

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." 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. Stick to the classic recipe if you prefer a thick, custardy center.

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 becoming gummy.
Use stale bread or toast it until golden brown. It needs to be sturdy to hold up to the egg mixture. The finished dish will be soggy if the bread is fresh from the bag or you toast it too lightly.
To achieve the optimal texture, soak the toasted or untoasted bread for about 10 seconds per side. 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 a 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.

More TikTok French Toast Tips

French toast is a hot topic on TikTok, with 159,600 posts using the hashtag #Frenchtoast. @sobadash shared her recipe, which has 7.4 million views and 597,000 likes. The custard mixture includes heavy cream, vanilla creamer, sugar, and honey. She promises you won't need syrup with this version. One fan said, "Ditching my French toast recipe for this one. Sorry, Ina Garten."

Another creator, @sandradgm, added crushed-up Fruity Pebbles cereal to her French Toast, giving it a delightfully colorful look that any kid would love, as did TikTok, where it got 2.3 million views."OMG have Fruity Pebbles, making this TOMORROW," commented one person. Sounds like a great idea!