How To Make French Toast

French toast wasn't something that was made with a recipe when I was growing up. So what you're about to read here is a recipe, but it's not a formal one with anything measured.

French toast turned up for breakfast on weekends or holidays. My mom would take a pie plate, crack an egg or two into it (depending on how many people she was feeding), pour an unmeasured "splash" of milk into the egg and then whisk it a bit with a fork. Some people add spices at this point (cinnamon or nutmeg) but not at our house.

She often used "fancy" bakery-bought bread or challah if it was a holiday, but for weekends with just the family, the same sliced white bread we used for sandwiches would be used. She'd lay one or two pieces in the pie plate for a bit and let the outside of the bread soak up the egg/milk mix, then flip it over so that the second side got soaked too. Then she'd melt some butter in an electric frying pan, lay the egged bread in the pan and brown both sides.

These slices were served up most often with warmed maple syrup on the side, but once I had french toast at a friend's house with powedered sugar sprinkled on top, that became my preference. So Mom would bring out the powdered sugar for mine. Sometimes she put sliced fruit on top (bananas or strawberries) and sometimes we had bacon on the side.

As an adult, I don't often cook french toast at home, but it's definitely a favorite option if I go out somewhere for breakfast with friends.

If you'd like to make quick French Toast, here's what to do. This is a 1-2 person serving depending on how hungry you are or what else you're making for breakfast so multiply/repeat for a larger group.

- Get a pie plate
- Crack 2 eggs into the plate
- Whisk up with a dash of cinnamon, a dash of nutmeg and a splash of milk or cream
- Soak two pieces of bread in the egg, turning over after a minute to make sure you get both sides well coated (that's the picture shown here)
- Heat a large frying pan and melt some butter in it
- Cook the soaked bread so that both sides are well-browned
- Serve up on a plate with maple syrup or powdered sugar on the side