Best French Toast Recipe (Pain Perdu)
by Sommer Collier — last updated on Sep 19, 2024 
How To Make The BEST French Toast Recipe: Perfectly crispy-on-the-outside custard-like-on-the-inside authentic Pain Perdu. Our Easy French Toast Recipe is pure magic!
Why We Love This Pain Perdu Recipe
After making French toast for many years, I thought I had perfected it. Yet a few years back I had the opportunity to take not one, but three trips to France in a relatively short amount of time. On these trips, it became clear that I still needed to learn a few things about making French toast… The way the French make it! So now, after a couple of Parisian cooking classes, and a lot of at-home experimentation, my French toast is just as amazing as the Pain Perdu we ate in Paris.
Let’s take a moment to compare the key differences between American French toast and the traditional French version, Pain Perdu, so you can create the best French toast you’ve ever tasted. American French toast often ends up eggy, overly spiced, and too thin due to the use of sliced sandwich bread. It can also be dry and “bready” in the middle if the bread isn’t soaked long enough or if too many eggs are used, while sometimes it turns out soggy because the liquid mixture isn’t properly portioned. On the other hand, Pain Perdu should be thick, with a crispy golden exterior and a soft, custard-like interior. It’s sweet enough to stand on its own without needing syrup or toppings, yet not overly sweet, and it offers a delicate vanilla custard flavor.
I can guarantee that after you learn how to make real French toast, you will never want to go back to the American version again.
Ingredients You Need
Here’s What You’ll Need:
- Brioche bread loaf – Unsliced. You will want to slice it into thick pieces yourself. If you can’t find brioche, challah is the next best bread.
- Half & half – Full-fat. This is not the time to be worried about calories or fat. Some recipes call for whole milk and heavy cream in various proportions, but I’ve found buying just one carton of half & half works perfectly and saves money.
- Egg yolks – Don’t want an eggy Pain Perdu Recipe? Well then, just take out the egg whites! The silky quality of the yolks will create the perfect custard texture.
- Sugar – To sweeten the French Toast, making it a stand-alone dish.
- Vanilla extract – Just a little splash to create the vanilla custard flavor.
- Salt – A little pinch of salt does a lot of good, bringing the best flavors to the forefront.
- Butter – To fry the pain perdu.
How To Make French Toast
Are you ready to make a mind-blowing and easy breakfast recipe? Ok, good!
- Preheat the oven. This helps keep the first batches warm, and “finishes off” this recipe’s cooking.
- Whisk. Mix the half & half, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, and salt together in a shallow dish/bowl.
- Cut. Slice a brioche loaf into 1 inch slices. The bread can be fresh or stale. Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to use day-old bread.
- Prep the skillet. Set a large skillet over medium heat. Add a little butter.
- Soak. Soak the brioche in the batter, flipping to coat.
- Fry. Gently move the soaked bread to the hot pan. Fry the coated bread slices until golden brown.
Pro Tip: Perfect French Toast should be golden and crispy on the outside, and custard-like and pillowy in the center… But not raw.
- Keep Warm. Move the cooked bread to the baking sheet and place it in the oven to keep warm.
- Repeat. Continue cooking the remaining thick slices of bread until all the bread is cooked.
Pro Tip: Placing the pieces of French Toast in the oven under low heat, puffs them up a little and keeps the pieces from getting soggy over time. If you are worried about the French Toast being undercooked in the center, the oven also slowly finishes the French Toast off, so to speak. Don’t skip the oven step!
Get The Full Printable Best French Toast Recipe (Pain Perdu) Below. Enjoy!
Topping Suggestions
The beauty of making this recipe authentic is that it’s sweet enough to serve as-is. No toppings needed!
However, feel free to add:
- Maple syrup
- Powdered sugar
- Whipped cream
- Toasted nuts
- Fresh fruit (peaches, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries)
- Caramel sauce
- Chocolate shavings
Frequently Asked Questions
The main difference between French toast and Pain Perdu lies in their preparation, texture, and flavor profile.
French Toast (American style) typically uses thinly sliced sandwich bread and a mixture of eggs, milk, and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. It’s often served with toppings like syrup, powdered sugar, or fruit. The texture can vary, but it’s often eggy or slightly dry if not soaked long enough.
Pain Perdu, which translates to “lost bread” in French, is made from thick slices of day-old or stale bread that are soaked in a custard-like mixture of eggs, cream, vanilla, and sugar. This results in a rich, creamy texture inside, with a crispy, golden exterior. Pain Perdu is meant to stand alone without the need for syrup or toppings due to its balanced sweetness and flavor.
French Toast should never be soggy, but it shouldn’t be bready in the middle either. A perfect Pain Perdu recipe should have a pillowy, well-saturated, custard texture on the inside. That means it will be moister than most Americans traditionally make it. However, if you turn the heat down and cook it a little longer, the crust will become brilliantly caramelized on the outside, while the inside will puff into a soft custard cloud.
Perfect Pain Perdu should be golden and crispy on the outside, and custard-like and pillowy in the center… But not raw.
If the exterior seems to be browning too fast, lower the heat to medium-low. This will allow more time for the interior to cook.
Also, placing the pieces of finished toast in the oven under low heat, puffs them up a little and keeps the pieces from getting soggy over time. If you are worried about your breakfast being undercooked in the center, the oven also slowly finishes this recipe off. This is a very important step!
Really, just a few minutes of “dry time” as you finish cooking the other pieces will do. Around 5-10 minutes, or possibly up to 20 minutes.
Sure! Try using thick canned coconut milk and plant-based “butter”. The thick canned coconut milk helps bring the custard-like consistency instead of using other dairy-free substitutions like almond milk or oat milk.
This recipe tastes its best when it is freshly made, but if you do end up having extra afterward, leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Looking for More Breakfast Recipes? Be Sure to Also Try:
- Best Air Fryer French Toast Sticks
- Easy Almond Flour Pancakes
- Sweet Potato Hash
- Tropical Breakfast Muffins
- Egg White Frittata with Spinach and Peppers
- Budwig Cheese Spreads
- Spinach Scrambled Egg Muffins
- Corned Beef Hash
- Cinnamon Twist Recipe
- Ginger Blackberry Muffins
- Cheater Kouign Amann
- Bruleed Grapefruit
- Greek Omelette Casserole
Get The Full Printable Best French Toast Recipe (Pain Perdu) Below. Enjoy!
How To Make French Toast
Video
Ingredients
- 1 loaf brioche bread, unsliced
- 3 cups half & half
- 5 egg yolks
- 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 pinches salt
- 6 tablespoons butter
- Possible Toppings: Toasted almonds, fresh berries, powdered sugar, maple syrup, caramel sauce, chocolate shavings
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Lay out a large baking sheet.
- In a large bowl, whisk the half & half, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, and salt together. Make sure the sugar is fully incorporated.
- Use a serrated knife to slice the brioche loaf into 1 inch slices. (About 10 slices.)
- Set a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1-2 tablespoons butter, depending on the size of the skillet.
- Soak 2-3 pieces of brioche in the egg mixture for about 30-60 seconds, flipping to coat. The bread should soak just long enough to be fully saturated, without dissolving it.
- Carefully move the soaked bread to the hot skillet. Fry the French Toast slices for 2-3 minutes per side, until golden brown. If they are cooking faster, lower the heat to medium-low, to make sure the inside is cooked through the middle.
- Move the French Toast to the baking sheet and place in the oven to keep warm. (The longer it sits in the oven, the puffier it will become.)
- Wipe the skillet out with a paper towel and add more butter to the skillet. (You only need to wipe the skillet if the butter residue looks dark.)
- Repeat with the remaining slices of bread until all the French Toast is cooked. Place each batch in the oven to keep warm.
- Serve warm with fresh berries, maple syrup, or your favorite toppings!
Amazing! Best recipe I’ve found
This is soo good. I had to sub the half & half for evaporated milk since I’m out of cream, but I’m still in awe of the final product. It’s like an entirely different dessert from the French toast we know. It’s like vanilla custard bread or single-serving bread pudding. So simple and refined. I really thought I’d miss the cinnamon and nutmeg, but I didn’t.
I will say, this is probably very different from the French toast you’ve been eating your whole life if you grew up in the states, so if you were to serve this to someone else as “French toast”, they’ll either have their minds blown like I was, or be very disappointed and maybe even offput by the creamy center if they’re not used to it. I still have another more “classic” French toast recipe on the back burner using some egg white and spices to achieve a more familiar final texture and taste, but I’m so glad to have this variety now too.
Also, this does NOT need any syrup in the end, it’s really sweet on its own. I find that, like a regular vanilla custard, fresh fruit works best, to offset a bit of the richness.
Amazing! Just like all you other recipes. My favorite still- Better than Cinnabon cinnamon rolls! Thanks for sharing such great recipes!
Delicious!! Great recipe , so easy and WAY WAY better than the traditional way Americans make it! Whoa!!! I used full fat coconut milk as I try to avoid dairy whenever possible and it came out incredible
I’ve been trying for over a decade and finally! This is the best French Toast I’ve ever had! No syrup necessary. For those that might not be able to find a fresh unsliced loaf of Brioche. I used the St. Pierre Sliced Brioche Loaf found at Target. 😫AMAZING
I’ve made french toast before – but never using brioche. WOWZA that made such a delicious difference! Never going back to plain old white bread for this recipe ever again. Brioche is the way to go. Tastes like a restaurant quality breakfast! Thanks.
Delicious! The whole family loved it!
These thick slices of heaven is what my dreams were made of! I am in love with these and will only make this recipe ever again!
So yummy!!! It looks very yummy.
Made this recipe twice since finding it three days ago. I thought I made great French toast. Boy was I wrong. This is amazing. Thank you.
So good! Perfect actually
This was unbelievable! Best French toast I’ve had…such a creamy custard-y inside and a crisp outside. My only issue was it deflated in the oven for some reason but it was still excellent! Can’t wait to have an excuse to make this again